A friend once told me: You only really start to understand the world we live in once you’ve seen a food distribution in a refugee settlement. He was right. Watching thousands of people queue up in the scorching sun for a bit of rice and beans is painful. Looking into the faces of mothers and fathers unable to feed their children breaks your heart. But watching them chatter and laugh despite the struggle they endure also gives you hope.
People from countries like Syria, South Sudan and Afghanistan, either living as refugees in neighbouring countries or internally displaced in makeshift camps, sadly often depend on food assistance. They have lost their jobs, struggle to make ends meet and live in settlements where access to shops, markets or land to grow your own food may be difficult. That’s why aid agencies jump in and provide monthly rations of rice, sorghum, beans, cooking oil and other food.
COVID-19 is making things far tougher and more complicated. Right now, the number of people around the world going hungry is increasing at the fastest rate in decades. According to the United Nations, those who needed humanitarian assistance in 2021 worldwide jumped by to 2020. World Vision has warned that 19 million people, half of them children, in 12 mostly conflict-affected countries are experiencing life-threatening hunger. This is because the pandemic has ravaged economies, disrupting food supply chains and driving up food prices, precisely at a time when people lose their incomes and find it even harder to get by.
In Uganda’s refugee settlements, food supplies to South Sudanese refugees have been cut almost in half since the start of the pandemic. Three million refugees across East Africa currently face ration cuts, with less than a third still receiving a full ration of 2100 calories per day. Some adults are now receiving the amount of food recommended for three-year old children. This is due to major funding shortfalls in food aid, as well as COVID-related logistical challenges.
A Yemeni baby receives treatment at Sabeen Hospital on 13 January, 2021 in Sanaa, Yemen. Source: Getty
I believe the possible return of famine is nothing short of a catastrophic moral failure. There is more food available on earth per capita than ever before. Wealthy governments stimulus packages in the wake of COVID-19, yet they funded less than half of the UN’s .
For its part, Australia contributed just . But it’s not too late.
Now is the time for governments to take action and show leadership. That’s why World Vision believes the Australian Government needs to immediately adopt a $AU150 million emergency famine-prevention package, to help avert catastrophic hunger and child malnutrition in conflict hotspots across Africa and the Middle East.
This funding should be new and go straight into mechanisms such as the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the Australian Humanitarian Partnership. Australia led the world during the 2011-12 East African food crisis and can do so again. Australia should also address the root causes of food insecurity and massively ramp up investment in building hunger resilience. We know that supporting self-reliance and helping communities prepare for shocks is the best way to safeguard against hunger.
The pandemic has given us all a small taste of what food insecurity may feel like. In the early days, we rushed out in fear that flour, cereal and pasta would run out. We then became progressively addicted to door-to-door food delivery services.
Thousands walk for hours to reach a food distribution site, as South Sudan is named as one of the countries most affected by the famine. Source: AAP
But let’s not forget that we are the lucky ones. Families in war zones who were barely getting by before the pandemic now worry about starvation. Mothers and fathers fear for their children’s health, unable to provide a healthy and nutritious diet. After fleeing their countries for survival, they are now at risk of losing their dignity.
This year Australia must resolve to step up again as a humanitarian leader once again. Helping avert famine in countries like South Sudan and Yemen would be a good place to start. Because compassion towards families on the brink of starvation is what makes countries good global citizens.
Carsten Bockemuehl is a senior policy adviser for conflict and fragility at World Vision Australia. He has worked to protect children from hardship and distress in Syria, West Africa, Papua New Guinea and at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
