One in four children at risk of poverty in Europe

More than one in four children in Europe are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, which will have repercussions for them throughout life.

Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children should be guaranteed the right to education, health care services, housing, leisure and a balanced diet. Yet in Europe things look rather different. According to Eurostat, about 26 million children (anyone under 18) were at risk of poverty and social exclusion in 2014. This represents 27.7% of all children in the EU. Children living in poverty can be found in every EU country, even if percentages vary. Children are at greatest risk of poverty in Romania (51%), Bulgaria (45.2%) and Hungary (41.4%), whereas the percentage is much lower in countries such as Denmark (14.5%), Finland (15.6%), Sweden (16.7%). UK and Ireland are doing worse than the EU average of 27.7% with 31.3% and 33.9% (figure for 2013) respectively.

The problem of malnutrition among children is also growing in Europe. According to Unicef, the percentage of children who cannot afford to eat meat or fish every second day has doubled in Estonia, Greece and Italy since 2008.

More at the European Parliament

‘Stop feeding homeless’

A British homeless charity is being threatened with prosecution if it continues to serve hot food to homeless people. Hull City Council's environmental health officials have contacted Hull Homeless Outreach to say they are breaching food hygiene regulations by serving the food at St Mary's Church in Lowgate.

Without a working kitchen, the local authority insists there are concerns over the potential for food poisoning. Now, Hull Homeless Outreach can only serve tea, coffee and tinned soup, serving its last hot meal this week. Sarah Hemingway, of the charity, fears for the welfare of the city's homeless population. She said: "Environmental health called us out of the blue to tell us we couldn't serve hot food anymore because we don't meet the criteria. They told us they would prosecute if we carried on.

"We have been providing curries and sausage casseroles, which are cooked by our volunteers at home. "Now we are not even allowed to provide sandwiches made by volunteers. This has left us deeply frustrated, as about 50 people come to our soup kitchen on each of the two nights we are here. For some, this is the only chance of a hot meal they get each week. How can us serving this food be any worse than them having to rummage around bins for something to eat? This is a lifeline for our homeless population."

More at Hull Daily Mail

UN: Food Challenge At Worst Level Since World War II

The World Food Program is confronting its worst challenge since World War II in trying to tackle five top-level humanitarian crises at the same time, the head of the U.N. agency said Friday. Ertharin Cousin said in an interview with The Associated Press that the five crises — in Syria, Iraq, Central African Republic, South Sudan, and the Ebola epidemic in West Africa — currently require large-scale operations by WFP and other humanitarian agencies.

In addition, she said, WFP is doing preparatory work for a potential scale-up in food assistance to four other countries where there is growing political instability — Yemen, Nigeria, Ukraine and Libya. Cousin said the demands are overwhelming the donor community and as a result WFP had to cut food assistance to six million Syrians inside and outside the country by 30 percent in January. "We have more crises that require surge operations of the humanitarian community, and WFP specifically, since World War II," she said.

AP

805 Million Names – Zlatan Ibrahimović

On 14 February 2015, Paris Saint-German played against Caen at Parc des Princes. For most players this game was just another day on the job. For Zlatan Ibrahimović this was his most important game to date.
Underneath his sweater he had 50 new names tattooed. Names of people he’d never met, but still wanted to keep close. Names of some of the 805 million people suffering from hunger today.
These people don’t often make the front page, yet hunger and malnutrition are the number one risk to health worldwide — greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
This is a campaign from the World Food Programme, the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. In emergencies, they get food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. WFP is part of the United Nations system and is voluntarily funded.
On average, WFP reaches more than 80 million people with food assistance in 75 countries each year. About 11,500 people work for the organisation, most of them in remote areas, serving the hungry.
Support The United Nations World Food Programme and Zlatan Ibrahimović’s fight against hunger at http://WFP.org/805millionnames

1.7m Syrian refugees face food crisis as UN funds dry up

More than 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt are facing a disastrous and hungry winter after a funding crisis forced the UN’s World Food Programme to suspend food vouchers to hundreds of thousands forced into exile by the conflict. Since the war began in March 2011, the WFP has brought food to millions of Syrians inside the country, and has used the voucher programme – which allows refugees to buy food in local shops – to inject about $800m (£500m) into the economies of those countries hosting them.

But after finding itself unable to secure the $64m it needs to support Syrian refugees in December, the WFP announced on Monday that it was halting the scheme. Severe funding shortfalls have already led the UN body to reduce rations within Syria, where it is trying to help 4.25 million people. Its executive director, Ertharin Cousin, issued a blunt and urgent appeal to donors, asking them to honour their commitments and warning that the suspension would have a devastating effect on the lives of more than 1.7 million people.

More at The Guardian

South Sudan Pushed Toward Famine

The World Food Program warns fighting and lack of access to the displaced in South Sudan are pushing that country towards a hunger catastrophe. WFP says this humanitarian disaster still can be prevented, but time is running out. 

Before fighting erupted in mid-December between the government and rebels, 140,000 people in South Sudan were suffering from severe food shortages. Now, World Food Program spokeswoman Elizabeth Byrs says that number stands at 1.3 million.
“WFP is concerned about the food security situation and about the possibility of the food catastrophe or even famine developing over the coming year.  But, we can prevent this if we act now…This disaster can be prevented.  This is what I would like to point out.  We can prevent, but it is absolutely critical to stop fighting," said Byrs.
But, that seems unlikely. A second truce enacted between the warring factions on May 9th broke down not long after it was signed. 

VOA News

No Child Born To Die

In the poorest countries, children are dying, at a rate too awful to think about. Basic illnesses claim 8 million young lives a year. It's in our power to stop this. No child is born to die.

savethechildrenuk

Jailed Pussy Riot Member in Hospital on Seventh Day of Hunger Strike

A jailed member of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot was hospitalized Tuesday on the seventh day of a hunger strike to protest what she calls a persecution campaign against her.

Maria Alekhina was transferred to a hospital in her prison colony in the Ural Mountains town of Berezniki. Alekhina went on a hunger strike last Wednesday after she was barred from attending her own parole hearing. The court, which is across the street from the colony, denied her release.

Three members of the band — Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich — were convicted last year of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” for an impromptu punk protest against Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral and given two-year sentences.

Reason.com

The closing statements from Maria Alyokhina in trial 8 august 2012, Khamovnichesky Courthouse, Moscow

Please turn subtitles on.

Half of the world food is just thrown away

As much as half of all the food produced in the world - two billion tonnes worth - ends up being thrown away, a new report claims. The waste is caused by poor infrastructure and storage facilities, over-strict sell-by dates, "get-one-free" offers, and consumer fussiness, according to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Each year countries around the world produce some four billion tonnes of food. But between 30% and 50% of this total, amounting to 1.2 to two billion tonnes, never gets eaten, says the report Global Food; Waste Not, Want Not (PDF).

In the UK, up to 30% of vegetable crops are not harvested because their physical appearance fails to meet the exacting demands of consumers. Half the food purchased in Europe and the US is thrown away after it is bought, the report adds.

More on The Independent

Almost a billion go hungry worldwide

An unparalleled number of severe food shortages has added 43 million to the number of people going hungry worldwide this year. And millions of children are now at risk of acute malnutrition, charities are warning. One week ahead of David Cameron's "hunger summit", they say that unless action is taken urgently, many more could fall victim.

For the first time in recent history, humanitarian organisations have had to respond to three serious food crises – in West Africa, Yemen and East Africa – in the past 12 months, according to Oxfam. Almost a billion people are now hungry – one in seven of the global population – and the number of acutely malnourished children has risen for the first time this decade.

The Independent

The Malnutrition That Shouldn't Be

This is 1 of 7 short films about childhood malnutrition for MSF/Doctors Without Borders and the VII Photo Agency. Other Short Films in the Series: Djibouti, Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, Mexico, India, USA

Don't just watch. Take action and sign the petition: starvedforattention.org

North Koreans will 'die from malnutrition within months'

Humanitarian groups fear that the death of Kim Jong-il could worsen North Korea's dire food situation, after the US postponed a decision on potential aid. The country has relied on foreign supplies since the devastating famine of the mid-90s killed hundreds of thousands of people. But the World Food Programme (WFP) and NGOs have warned that the situation is particularly bleak this year.

Aid groups warned that North Koreans would die from malnutrition within months unless donations increased. The WFP launched an emergency programme in April, but has received less than a third of the funding it needs. "We are concerned. Time is of the essence," said Ken Isaacs of Samaritan's Purse, a US-based NGO that helped to distribute the last American food aid in North Korea, almost three years ago.

David Austin of Mercy Corps, who visited flood-hit regions in September, warned: "The longer you delay this decision, the more suffering there's going to be." He said it would take six weeks to three months to set up new deliveries, and warned that based on current conditions, people's food rations would be cut "quite substantially" by April. "As that goes on and on, you'll see the effects of stunting in people's growth and their development. You'll see children dying," he said.

The Guardian

The Face of Hunger in DPR Korea

This video shows the starved and malnourished children of a nursery of Hwanghaedo area, and flood-destroyed bridges, roads, and rice paddies.
The children of the nursery have no focus in their eyes due to the malnutrition, and skin diseases all over them due to unsanitary water. With just skin and bones, they don't even have the strength to stand; the whole nursery is full of children just sitting like living corpse. It is an extraordinarily saddening scene.
The food shortage of North Korea only worsened after the recent flooding. European Union and the USA have been showing willingness to provide food aids, but it is unclear whether the government of North Korea will actually and honestly deliever the food to the starving citizens.
Little children who should be playing outside innocently are dying helplessly because of a flawed society. We can only hope for North Korea's willingness to solve this food shortage problem.

WORLDFOODPROGRAM

US Poverty Level Reaches Record High

Nearly one in six Americans are living in poverty. That is the result of the US Census Bureau's annual report.

The number of Americans living below the poverty line has now risen for four years in a row. The figures showed that children under the age of 18 suffered the highest poverty rate at 22 per cent.... euronews

UN to Announce Somalia Famine Has Spread

The United Nations is expected to announced Monday that the famine in Somalia has spread to a sixth region in the drought-stricken country.

A U.N. official has told VOA the famine now includes the Bay region in south Somalia. Bay is a major food-producing region of Somalia and the official said food production there has dropped 82 percent. Many Somali refugees who flee to camps in the capital, Mogadishu, and neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya come from the Bay region.

In a release this week, the United Nations cited reports that the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab has restricted movement in the Bay area. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is also expected to announce that more than half of Somalia's population – about four million people – now need urgent aid.

The United Nations says more than 12 million people in the Horn of Africa need immediate assistance. The U.N. has also declared a famine in the Somali regions Bakool, Lower Shabelle, Middle Shabelle, the Afgoye Corridor and parts of Mogadishu. Most of the famine areas are under the control of al-Shabab, which has banned most foreign aid groups from operating in its strongholds. (VOA)

United Nations Declares Famine In Southern Somalia

The United Nations has declared a famine in Somalia as east Africa continues to suffer through its worst drought in 50 years. The UN said that in two regions of southern Somalia, Bakool and Lower Shabelle, the rate of serious malnutrition among children was now high enough to be considered a famine.

More than 30 percent of children in the region are now acutely malnourished. Around four in 10,000 children are now dying every day. It is the first time in almost twenty years that Somalia has seen famine inside its borders.

"Across the country nearly half of the Somali population - 3.7 million people - are now in crisis, of whom an estimated 2.8 million people are in the south," the UN said in a statement. "Consecutive droughts have affected the country in the last few years, while the ongoing conflict has made it extremely difficult for agencies to operate and access communities in the south of the country," it added.

The UN also warned that famine could spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia in two months if more is not done to halt the crisis.

More on Huffington Post

GOP to Hungry Americans: You Can Starve

Hunger and starvation is no excuse to welch off the Federal Government.

That's the Republican response, in any event, to how to deal with the budget deficit. While Republicans defend billions of dollars in subsidies for Big Oil and propose further tax cuts for the wealthy, they see food aid for hungry people here and around the world as a bad idea. Bug Guvmint should get out of the business of keeping people from starving. Now isn't that special:

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans are targeting domestic nutrition programs and international food assistance as they try to control spending in next year's budget.

In a bill released Monday, Republicans proposed cutting $832 million - 11 percent from this year's budget for the Women, Infants and Children program, which provides food for low-income mothers and children. The 2012 budget proposal for food and farm programs also includes a decrease of almost $457 million, or 23 percent, from international food assistance.

Full story on AlterNet

Also see Hunger in America on mikemalloy.com

U.N. warns of catastrophe as hungry people top one billion

High food prices have pushed another 105 million people into hunger in the first half of 2009, the head of the U.N. World Food Programme said on Friday, raising the total number of hungry people to over 1 billion.

Urging rich nations at a meeting of G8 development ministers not to cut back on aid, Josette Sheeran said the world faced a human catastrophe as more people struggle to eat a decent meal.

"This year we are clocking in on average four million new hungry people a week, urgently hungry," Sheeran told Reuters.

"For the first six months of this year, 105 million people have been added," she said, citing figures to be released by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization next week that will raise the total number of undernourished people to over 1 billion.  Reuters