Hunger officially used as a weapon. The number of deaths is increasing terrifying

Although the number of people dying of hunger in 2008-2010 has fallen to zero, in recent years conflicts in Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen and the Gaza Zone have led to a rapid increase in the hungry number, and access to food is used there as a weapon, “Financial Times said on Monday.

– About 10 years ago, hunger began to come back, and in the last few years we have witnessed a terrifying increase in the number of people dying of hunger – he said in an interview with British Dziennik Alex de Waal, a hunger expert and executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the flutcher school of law and diplomacy at the university of Tufts in Massachusetts.

According to the expert, the increase in the number of people dying of hunger is associated with ignorance of the public, while Humanitarian organizations lose the opportunity to oppose leaders ready to use food as a weapon.

The newspaper pointed out that in connection with radical financial cuts on the part of the USA, which entered into force in January, the American system of early warning of the hunger agency of the USAID was suspended, which for decades was a pioneer in collecting data on this subject.

“FT” reminded that on Friday the UN agency announced that the hunger “completely caused by man” was overwhelmed by the city of Gaza, and warned that it could spread to other places. It has been added that half a million people are already in “catastrophic conditions characterized by hunger, misery and death.” Currently, Israel prevents assistance organizations from supplying sufficient food to a half -tencade of 2.1 million people.

“The scale of suffering in Sudan exceeds the scale of suffering in the Gaza Strip” – assessed the British daily. He recalled the data of the World Food Program (WFP), which shows that the civil war in this north-eastern African country forced 15 million people to resettle and led to a clear lack of food safety about 25 million people, i.e. almost half of the population. It is estimated that approx. 638 thousand Sudanians experience “catastrophic hunger”.

On a five -stage scale of hunger is the highest phase, meaning that at least 20 percent. Households suffer from a catastrophic food shortage, and 30 percent Children under 5 years of age are seriously malnourished. In addition, at least two people per 10,000 They die a day because of hunger, malnutrition and diseases.

According to “FT”, scientists from the University of Tufts created a database covering all major hunger defeats since 1876. The peak of the number of deaths due to hunger went to 1960. At that time, as a result of the policy pursued by China's leader, MAO Zedong in 1958–1962 died 36 million people.

Researchers reminded that in the following years there were also hunger defeats, e.g. in Nigeria in 1968–1970 during the war for Biafra, in Cambodia during the rule of Pol Pota in 1975–1979 and in Ethiopia in 1983–1985. As they pointed out, the number of dying due to hunger fell to almost zero in 2009-2010.

The American university estimates that from 2020 the number of fatalities was from 200,000. up to 300 thousand every year. In the opinion of experts, the return of hunger results from several factors, including from the increase in the importance of authoritarian leaders, to a lesser extent subject to democratic control.

De Waal noticed that hunger defeats often leave scars on societies for generations. He also recalled the plunder of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip by desperate people and gangs, as well as reselling stolen supplies. In his opinion, “hunger tears the tissue of Palestinian society.” – Israel is aware of this. (…) In this way, the society will break up, a situation in which people turn against each other – explained the expert.

From London Marta Zabłocka (PAP)

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