The Presidency of the Republic announced this Sunday that the United Nations (UN) has asked the Dominican government for its cooperation “to stop world hunger”.
The request was made through a letter sent by the secretary general of the entity, António Guterres, to President Luis Abinader.
“Faced with this request from the international organization, the Dominican Republic, which has been able to increase food production, successfully deal with the pandemic and maintain an enviable climate of peace and stability, will show solidarity as always to avoid this threat”, said the Presidency in a press release.
According to Guterres, the urgent action is to provide “substantial funding to the humanitarian system through the humanitarian response plans, the Central Emergency Response Fund and the Country Specific Pooled Funds”.
The UN Secretary General informed in the letter addressed to the Dominican Head of State that “more than 41 million people around the world are currently at risk of famine or living in conditions of virtual starvation”.
Time to avoid famine is running out
He emphasized that “we must act immediately. I must warn that the time we have to avert famine is rapidly running out”.
The specific need for money for the humanitarian organizations mentioned, according to the Secretary General’s letter, is “US$ 6 billion to provide assistance in the affected countries”.
António Guterres states that in the coming months famine will devastate the populations of more than 20 countries if the international community does not take urgent measures to prevent it.
Most of the affected countries are in Africa
According to the document prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP), most of the affected countries are in Africa, and the scourge of hunger is present in practically all regions of the world, including Latin America.
Guterre further added that “in March of this year I created a high-level task force on famine prevention that includes the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Executive Director of the World Food Programme”.
FAO and WFP include some Latin American countries
The UN Secretary-General recalls in his letter that “the last time the world faced the specter of famine, in 2017, I wrote to all member states to sound the alarm and request their help. Member states responded generously and we were able to avoid the worst-case scenario possible.”
In the UN Secretary General’s letter nothing else refers to people living in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, southern Madagascar, northeastern Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen.
But the report prepared on the subject by FAO and WFP includes some Latin American countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela and Haiti as countries at risk as a result of the pandemic, climatic phenomena or political and social crises.
