We must not forget the victims of war outside of Europe
Millions could die of starvation this summer, partly as a consequence of the war in Ukraine. Also this year, Norway's Ukraine program should include countries in the south.
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Petition signed by
- Dagfinn Høybråten, Norwegian Church Aid
- Jan Egeland, Norwegian Refugee Council
- Trygve Svensson, Agenda (think tank)
- Eirik Mofoss, Langsikt
- Henriette Killi Westhrin, Save the Children
- Gry Ballestad, Norwegian People's Aid
- Catharina Bu, UN Liaison
- Kaj-Martin Georgsen, Secretary General, CARE Norway
- Maria Greenberg Bergheim, UNICEF Norway
- Erik Lunde, Strømmestiftelsen
- Selma Bratberg, SAIH
- Ingrid Rosendorf Joys, Caritas Norway
- Ida Oleanna Hagen, FORUT
- Ulf Flink, The Development Fund
Last year, the government allocated five billion kronor to developing countries that were particularly affected by the ripple effects of the Ukraine war. The aim was to help in the fight against hunger and curb potential migration flows to Europe.
Travelling to the Horn of Africa and Sudan The foreign minister himself says that enormous crises come in the shadow of the war in Ukraine and Gaza. And Development Minister Tvinnereim warns of the consequences for the civilian population of Sudan, where millions are on the brink of famine.
The agreement in the Storting agreed that aid should be continued if the war continued to bring extraordinary consequences to the world's poor. It has.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, food products became record expensive. At the end of February 2022 was fertilizer prices four times higher than normal. Since then, prices have dropped significantly, but not enough.
Still, international food prices are almost 25% higher than the average in the four years before the pandemic, According to the World Bank.
The same report shows that 40 out of 47 sub-Saharan countries had higher inflation in February this year than before 2020, and that changes in food prices are one of the main drivers of inflation.
We know that increased food prices go hardest beyond those who already have the least. World Bank Food Safety Update from 25 April shows that the situation in South and East Africa is deteriorating.
By October 2024, 75 million people will experience food insecurity, and very many of these are living with severe food shortages and risk of death.
The war will also have long-lasting consequences. According to the United Nations Organization for Nutrition and Agriculture (FAO), by 2030 there will be 120 million more chronically malnourished than if it were not for the pandemic and Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
These are figures from the Foreign Office itself, in their Parliamentary Notice on the Nansen Programme.
Norwegian aid has drifted away from Africa and the world's poorest countries in recent years, partly because of large transfers to Ukraine from existing budgets.
This has happened in most donor countries, and it contributes to greater unmet needs than before. This is how the poorest countries are doubly affected by the war.
What is happening in Gaza and Ukraine is horrific, but as Dagens Næringsliv writes in a leader comment last week: it's not just those who suffer extreme distress. Sudan has for many years been entirely dependent on imports of wheat from Russia and Ukraine.
In addition, a brutal civil war started last spring. Now 18 million people suffer from food shortages, and 2.5 million people risk dying of hunger before October.
Today, Thursday, June 13, the Prime Minister will come to Parliament to give an account of the security policy situation in the world, and for debate.
This is an excellent opportunity to ask him to answer whether the government plans a new extraordinary appropriation also to those in the south affected by the war in Ukraine.
Resolving humanitarian crises today leads to a better and more peaceful world in the long run. We want the same commitment for those affected by the war in the south as for those affected in the north.
