数百万人の飢餓リスク、コロナ禍と気候変動で悪化　国連事務総長

【国連本部ＡＦＰ＝時事】国連のアントニオ・グテレス事務総長は11日、世界で数百万人が飢餓により命を落としかねない状況が、新型コロナウイルスの流行と気候変動で悪化していると述べた。（写真は国連のアントニオ・グテレス事務総長）
　国連安全保障理事会の食糧と安全保障に関する会議で、グテレス氏は「直ちに行動を起こさなければ、何百万もの人々が極度の飢餓と死の瀬戸際に立たされることになる」と語った。
　グテレス氏は、３０か国以上で３０００万人超が飢饉（ききん）宣言の「一歩手前」に置かれていると指摘。「気候ショックと新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）が、状況を悪化させている。私のメッセージはシンプルだ。人々を食べさせなければ、対立をあおるということだ」と述べた。
　同氏によると、紛争や政情不安のせいで深刻な飢餓に苦しむ人は、昨年末時点で８８００万人以上となり、１年で２０％増加した。今年はさらに悪化する傾向だという。
　飢餓リスクが高いとされているのは、アフリカ大陸北東部の「アフリカの角」地域、サハラ砂漠南部のサヘル地域、南スーダン、イエメン、アフガニスタンなどだ。
　グテレス氏によると、国連とその機関は高リスク地域の計３４００万人を救済するために５５億ドル（約６０００億円）の緊急支援を訴えている。
　同氏はまた「大惨事を回避するため」に、世界食糧計画（ＷＦＰ）と国連食糧農業機関（ＦＡＯ）の代表から成るタスクフォースを立ち上げると発表した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/03/12-10:47）

Millions of people around the world risk dying of hunger and the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change are increasing the threat, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday.
Without immediate action, millions of people will reach the brink of extreme hunger and death, Guterres told the Security Council during a meeting on the links between food and security.
Guterres said over 30 million people in more than three dozen countries are just one step away from a declaration of famine.
Climate shocks and the Covid-19 pandemic are adding fuel to the flames. I have one simple message: if you don't feed people, you feed conflict, he said.
Famine and hunger are no longer about lack of food. They are now largely man-made -- and I use the term deliberately There is no place for famine and starvation in the 21st century.
At the end of 2020, more than 88 million people were suffering from acute hunger due to conflict and instability -- a 20 percent increase in one year, he said, pointing to a worsening trend in 2021.
High-risk zones include the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, South Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told how she saw a two-year-old girl die of hunger in Uganda in 1993.
There's no reason we can't get resources to people in acute need, the ambassador said.
In today's world, famine is human-made. And if it is caused by us, that means it must be stopped by us too, Thomas-Greenfield added.
Oxfam International executive director Gabriela Bucher said people in these areas are not starving -- they are being starved.
She added: It makes little difference to the hungry whether they are being starved by deliberate action or the callous negligence of conflict parties or the international community.
Guterres said that in order to save 34 million people in the high risk zones, the United Nations and its agencies have appealed for emergency mobilization of $5.5 billion.
Guterres announced he was launching a task force to avert catastrophe, with representation from the World Food Program and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Countries' responsibilities do not end with simply donating money for food aid, said Bucher of Oxfam.
She denounced an international community whose most powerful states too often drive starvation with a plentiful supply of weapons.
She cited as examples the Tigray region of Ethiopia, and Yemen.
She said the council should deepen its work on this topic, guarantee humanitarian access to dangerously hungry people and also take any opportunity to create meaningful accountability for starvation crimes.