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STORY: UN / FAMINE APPEAL PRESSER
TRT: 02:22
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 FEBRUARY 2017, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
22 FEBRUARY 2017, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We are facing a tragedy; we must avoid it becoming a catastrophe. This is preventable if the international community takes decisive action. The situation is dire. Millions of people are barely surviving in the space between malnutrition and death, vulnerable to diseases and outbreaks, forced to kill their animals for food and eat the grain they saved for next year’s seeds.”
4. Med shot, photographers
5. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“These four crises are very different, but they have one thing in common. They are all preventable. They all stem from conflict, which we must do much more to prevent and resolve. But even now, we can prevent the worst effects, if we act urgently and strongly.”
6. Wide shot, press room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The lives of millions of people depend on our collective ability to act. In our world of plenty, there is no excuse for inaction or indifference. We have heard the alerts. Now there is no time to lose.”
8. Close up, journalist asking question
9. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I don’t want to need the images of children dying in big numbers alerting the public conscience of states to allow for them to finally come with their support. This is the moment in which this support can - not solve naturally many of the problems that exist and they are already very dramatic – but prevent the worst.”
10. Med shot, journalist asking question
11. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I do believe that if there is a clear conscience of the problem we are facing and a clear conscience of the problems we might face if we do not act, I do believe that governments will step up and that other donors will step up; and we will be able to fund the operations that are already taking place but will be scaled up as soon as resources allow it.”
12. Wide shot, officials leaving press room
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said millions of people in South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, and Yemen were “barely surviving in the space between malnutrition and death” adding that “in our world of plenty, there is no excuse for inaction or indifference.”
Speaking to reporters in New York today (22 Feb), Guterres launched an appeal for over (USD) 5.6 billion this year, with (USD) 4.4 billion needed by the end of March, to avert some 20 million people in the four countries from facing famine. He said famine was already a reality in parts of South Sudan and it was only a matter of time until it affected other areas and countries if the international community did not take “decisive action.” The Secretary-General noted some generous pledges, but said just (USD) 90 million had actually been received which amount to approximately two cents for every dollar needed.
Guterres said, despite difference in the four crises, “they all stem from conflict” and urged all members of the international community to do whatever was in their power, including mobilizing support, exerting political pressure on parties to conflict, or funding humanitarian operations, to bring an end to the suffering.
The Secretary-General said the situation being faced was to either act now or face a devastating situation of famine in those four countries. He said acting now would be cheaper as the capacities to respond were in place to use the resources in the most effective way and would also avoid a much bigger need for humanitarian assistance which would come too late. He added, “I don’t want to need the images of children dying in big numbers alerting the public conscience of states to allow for them to finally come with their support.”
Guterres noted that the issue with funding humanitarian operations was not donor fatigue, rather the fact that humanitarian needs were growing much faster than the growing amounts of resources provided by the donors. He stressed that if there was a “clear conscience” of the problem and the problems that could be faced if no action was taken, he believed governments and other donors would step up to allow for a scale up of the operations already taking place in the four countries.
