Statement by Mr Gert Auväärt, Deputy Permanent Representative
Mr President,
I would like to thank all briefers for their overview.
As you all recall, two years ago we unanimously adopted resolution 2417, where the link between armed conflict, food insecurity and famine was recognized.
Most of the food-insecure people in the world live in countries affected by armed conflicts, which have devastating consequences for the civilians and often severely hamper the humanitarian relief operations. Conflicts are the reason why immediate assistance is everything that people have to survive. At the same time, it makes the job of the aid workers extremely difficult. The importance of safe and unimpeded access of humanitarian aid to civilians in armed conflicts can never be underlined enough. Hereby, Estonia highly acknowledges the work of all front-line humanitarian and health workers, who continue to carry out their tasks in the already dire circumstances, now further aggravated by COVID-19.
Today, four of the worst food crises in the world are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, Northeast Nigeria and South Sudan, with Afghanistan, Somalia and Burkina Faso not far behind. The common denominator for all of them is armed conflict. In addition, this year a new enemy has been ravaging these countries – COVID-19. The pandemic, natural disasters such as desert locusts and flooding have exacerbated the situation in these vulnerable settings to such an extent that all four countries are potentially facing famine.
Over the years Estonia has supported the World Food Program, ICRC and UNICEF in providing immediate assistance to all four countries. And we will continue to do our part. However, a holistic response is needed to address the root causes of conflict-induced famine and wide-spread food insecurity and offer the people a real possibility to leave behind their dreadful situation. We, the international community, must keep on advancing the dialogue towards finding political solutions as well as countering the economic crises and deprivation to help conflicts and violence come to an end. Otherwise, we keep treating a symptom without paying attention to the disease itself.
In this regard, I take this opportunity to reiterate Estonia’s full support to the Secretary General’s call for a global ceasefire and call on all parties to armed conflict to comply with international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
I thank you, Mr President