News releases

Transcript as delivered of remarks by UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley to today’s virtual session of the UN Security Council on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Segment on food security risks in DRC, Yemen, Northeast Nigeria and South Sudan).



NEW YORK – Five months ago, I warned the Council the world stood on the brink of a hunger pandemic. A toxic combination of conflict, climate change and COVID-19, threatened to push 270 million people to the brink of starvation. Famine was real. It’s a terrifying possibility in up to three dozen countries if we don’t continue to act like we’ve been acting.

NEW DELHI: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM) of Uttar Pradesh are setting up over 200 supplementary nutrition production units to support distribution under the government’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme that, among other services, provides nutrition services to children under 6 years of age.

Beirut – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley announced today that the organization is bringing 17,500 metric tons of wheat flour and a three-month supply of wheat into Lebanon to help replenish the country’s food reserves as part of a rapid logistics operation that will also involve setting up warehouses and mobile grain storage units.

London - The GSMA and United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are expanding their partnership to help the world’s most vulnerable people. Through the GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation programme, which has been funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) since 2017, this three-year collaboration will primarily focus on the use of mobile money to deliver digital assistance through cash-based transfers to save lives in global emergencies, including pandemics and natural disasters.

KATHMANDU – Fortified rice, lentils and vegetable oil, totalling to nearly 1,500 MT, donated by the United States have been distributed by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Nepal to school children (from Grade1-8) in rural areas who are missing out on nutritious school lunches they used to receive in Sudur Paschim and Karnali provinces.

DHAKA: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Oxfam Bangladesh and Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd. launched a new insurance scheme on 1 July to protect casual agricultural labourers in Bangladesh from catastrophic floods during this year’s monsoon season. The on-going flood has affected more than 1 million people in South Asia this month.

MOROTO, Uganda –The Government of Uganda and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are distributing take-home food rations to school children in the Karamoja sub-region in north-eastern Uganda to support home-learning while schools remain closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak across the country.

KAMPALA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) received US$1 million from the Government of Denmark today to assist refugees in Kampala struggling because of the socio-economic impact of lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19.

DAMASCUS – Syrians today face an unprecedented hunger crisis as the prices of basic foods reach levels unseen even at the height of the nine-year conflict and millions of people are pushed deeper into poverty, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said, on the eve of a donors pledging conference for Syria.

ROME – With much of the world’s commercial transport systems, particularly airlines, grounded by COVID-19, WFP - the world’s largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger and a global leader in logistics – has stepped in to move passengers and huge volumes of health and other supplies needed in the fight against the pandemic.

DHAKA - Bangladeshi cricket star and current captain of country’s one day international (ODI) cricket team, Tamim Iqbal has been appointed National Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Bangladesh.

We are increasingly alarmed about the situation in Yemen.

COVID-19 is spreading rapidly across the country already experiencing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, driven by an unabated conflict. But we are ready to stay and deliver life-saving assistance to those who need it.

Vientiane – Rice and lentils donated by the United States arrived in Laos this week and was received by the U.S. Ambassador to Lao PDR, Dr. Peter M. Haymond today at WFP’s Vientiane warehouse.

DAR ES SALAAM – On 15 May, a passenger flight ferrying humanitarian and health workers into Tanzania is set to arrive from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. This is the first flight of its kind since commercial air services were suspended in Tanzania in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus

BAGHDAD – The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are stepping up their collaboration to help meet the essential needs of vulnerable people in Iraq. WFP has worked with UNHCR and partners to identify an additional 35,000 Syrian refugees and 10,000 people displaced by conflict who will be included in WFP food assistance programmes to help them cope with the impact of COVID-19.

ROME/LIÈGE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has kick-started a network of global logistics hubs that will support the entire aid community and ensure the delivery of vital medical and humanitarian supplies to developing countries at a time when commercial air transport is at a virtual standstill.

NEW YORK/PARIS/ROME, 30 April 2020 – UNESCO, UNICEF, WFP and World Bank today issued new guidelines on the safe reopening of schools amidst ongoing closures affecting nearly 1.3 billion students worldwide.

BEIJING - The first consignment of humanitarian cargo consisting of COVID-19 medical supplies is scheduled to arrive today at a Global Humanitarian Hub in Guangzhou, from where it will be shipped to other UN hubs worldwide, as well as directly to affected countries and regions. Established earlier this month by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), with support from the Government of China, the hub will support the global COVID-19 emergency response for the international community, including the UN, national governments and other humanitarian partners.

JUBA - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a US$3.1 million contribution from the Government of Japan to help strengthen communities’ resilience to food shocks as South Sudan braces for tough times ahead.

Transcript as delivered of remarks by David Beasley, UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director to today’s virtual session of the UN Security Council on the Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Protecting Civilians Affected by Conflict-Induced Hunger

NEW YORK – Forgive me for speaking bluntly, but I’d like to lay out for you very clearly what the world is facing at this very moment. At the same time while dealing with a COVID-19 pandemic, we are also on the brink of a hunger pandemic.

ROME/GENEVA – The first United Nations “Solidarity Flight” is scheduled to leave Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today - from there, the aircraft will transport the vital medical cargo to all countries in Africa, where supplies are desperately needed to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Rome – The closure of schools around the world due to COVID-19 risks having a major impact on the health and nutrition of school children.

TRIPOLI/TUNIS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is facing a funding shortfall in Libya that risks the continuation of its operations supporting the most vulnerable communities inside the country.

Dhaka, Bangladesh - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Bangladesh welcomes a contribution of EUR 2.5 million (USD 2.7 million) from the German Foreign Federal Office (GFFO) towards its Rohingya refugee response in Cox’s Bazar.

Dhaka - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Bangladesh welcomes a new contribution of GBP 8 million (USD10,296,010) from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) to support the Rohingya refugee response in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.