UN / HUNGER WEAPON OF WAR

Humanitarian Chief Mark Lowcock said, “starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited, as is the destruction of objects that are indispensable to civilians’ survival,” but “the problem is that too many people don’t comply with the law.” UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:14
• Production Date: 17 September 2020
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: DAVID BEASLEY; MARK LOWCOCK; QU DONGYU
• Corporate Name: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION - FAO; OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS - OCHA; WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME - WFP
• Subject Topical: CIVILIAN PROTECTION; CONFLICT SITUATION; DISEASE CONTROL; FOOD SECURITY; HUNGER
• Geographic Subject: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO; NIGERIA; SAHEL; SOUTH SUDAN; YEMEN
• MAMS Id: 2558942
• Parent Id: 2558942
• Alternate Title: unifeed200917g

Description

STORY: UN / HUNGER WEAPON OF WAR
TRT: 02:14
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 17 SEPTEMBER 2020, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters

17 SEPTEMBER 2020, NEW YORK CITY

2. Multiple screens
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Andrew Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“Starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited, as is the destruction of objects that are indispensable to civilians’ survival. The problem is that too many people don’t comply with the law.”
4. Multiple screens
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Andrew Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“Humanitarian aid helps to avert food insecurity. And humanitarian workers are committed to staying and delivering. But they face unacceptable risks. This year more than 200 humanitarian workers have been attacked, including dozens in countries I have mentioned today. Humanitarian operations face repeated attacks and other forms of obstruction on movement and access.”
6. Multiple screens
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Andrew Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“The history proves that even in the midst of conflict, famine can be prevented. In order to prevent it, we must act. And we have to act in time to make a difference. Unfortunately, in too many places, time is now running out.”
8. Multiple screens
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“We are deeply concerned by the most recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis which shows that the Democratic Republic of the Congo now has the highest number of people experiencing cases of the worst level of acute food insecurity ever recorded in a single country. Today 31.8 million people are on a daily basis unable to access enough food.”
10. Multiple screens
11. SOUNDBITE (English) David Beasley, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP):
“Global hunger crisis caused by conflict and now compounded by COVID is moving into a new and dangerous phase, especially in nations already starved by violence. The threat of famine is looming again so we have to step up and not step back, and quite frankly 2021 will be a make or break year.”
12. Multiple screens

Storyline

Humanitarian Chief Mark Lowcock today (17 Sep) said, “starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited, as is the destruction of objects that are indispensable to civilians’ survival,” but “the problem is that too many people don’t comply with the law.”

Briefing the Security Council during a meeting on the Implementation of Resolution 2417, Lowcock said, “humanitarian aid helps to avert food insecurity. And humanitarian workers are committed to staying and delivering. But they face unacceptable risks.”

This year, he said, “more than 200 humanitarian workers have been attacked,” including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), northeast Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen.

Lowcock told the Council that “history proves that even in the midst of conflict, famine can be prevented,” but, he said, “in order to prevent it, we must act. And we have to act in time to make a difference. Unfortunately, in too many places, time is now running out.”

Also briefing the Council, the Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Qu Dongyu, expresses concern “that the Democratic Republic of the Congo now has the highest number of people experiencing cases of the worst level of acute food insecurity ever recorded in a single country.”

31.8 million people, he said, “are on a daily basis unable to access enough food.”

For his part the Head of the World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, said, “global hunger crises caused by conflict and now compounded by COVID is moving into a new and dangerous phase, especially in nations already starved by violence.”

Beasley said, “the threat of famine is looming again so we have to step up and not step back, and quite frankly 2021 will be a make or break year.”

Resolution 2417 of May 2018 requests the Secretary-General to report swiftly to the Council when there arises “the risk of conflict-induced famine and widespread food insecurity.”

A letter sent to the Council on 4 September is the third such note that the Secretariat has submitted to the Council since the adoption of resolution 2417.