Ms. DiCarlo strongly condemned the aerial strikes this week on the ports in Odesa, Chornomorsk and Mykolaiv, which destroyed critical infrastructure and killed or injured civilians. The attacks followed Russia’s decision on Monday to effectively end the Black Sea Initiative, the UN-brokered accord that facilitated Ukrainian grain and foodstuffs to be shipped to international markets
Read MoreThe latest integrated food security phase classification (IPC) analysis, reported on Sunday that of the total number of affected people, 1.8 million are in an emergency-level phase of need. This means that households face large food consumption gaps resulting in high acute malnutrition and excess mortality, or are forced to adopt negative coping mechanisms to
Read MoreWFP’s Country Director in Sudan, Eddie Rowe, told reporters in Geneva that in a major breakthrough, the agency distributed food assistance to 15,000 people in both Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) controlled areas of Omdurman, part of the Khartoum metropolitan area, beginning on Saturday. Speaking from Port Sudan, Mr. Rowe highlighted other recent
Read More“The United Nations and its partners made strides in rolling back the worst food insecurity last year, but these gains remain fragile, and 17 million people are still food insecure in Yemen,” said David Gressly, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the country. Compared to the same period in 2022, the levels of acutely
Read MoreAhead of World No Tobacco Day on Wednesday 31 May, WHO deplored that 3.2 million hectares of fertile land across 124 countries are being used to grow deadly tobacco – even in places where people are starving. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that governments across the world “spend millions supporting tobacco farms”, and that choosing
Read MoreMartin Griffths, the UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefed ambassadors on the eve of the expiration of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has allowed nearly 25 million metric tonnes of foodstuff from Ukraine to reach global markets. The accord was signed in Türkiye in July 2022, in parallel with a Memorandum of
Read MoreWith funding from the European Union, the project will help sustain agricultural production in Ukraine, after Russia’s full-scale invasion last February forced many rural producers to scale down or abandon their activities, amid the destruction of crops and farm equipment, and disruption to supply chains. Some 13 million people living in rural areas rely on
Read MoreThe Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement brokered by the UN and Türkiye in July, which was set up to reintroduce vital food and fertilizer exports from Ukraine to the rest of the world, is due to run out in the second half of November, but it can be extended, if all parties, including Russian
Read MoreDescribed as a “beacon of hope” by UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the signing ceremony for the plan on 27 July in Istanbul, with representatives from Russian and Ukraine, the agreement has made it possible for almost 240 vessels to leave Ukrainian ports with some 5.4 million metric tons of grain and other foodstuffs, since 1
Read MoreThis “remarkable achievement” was made possible through the collective efforts and hard work of the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC), he said, referring to the Istanbul-based mechanism that monitors ships’ movements to ensure their compliance with the Initiative. The JCC brings together representatives from Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye and the UN – the signatories of the landmark
Read More