China News Service, Beijing, June 20 (Reporter Bo Wenwen) On the occasion of World Refugee Day on June 20, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) issued a warning that due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the emergency rescue reserve fund is short of hundreds of people worldwide. Ten thousand refugees cannot guarantee their lives, and the hunger plight is getting worse.
The World Food Program announced that due to the severe shortage of aid funds in eastern, southern Africa, and the Middle East, the World Food Program was forced to cut rations to vulnerable groups in parts of the world, who rely on the World Food Program’s Food to survive.
On May 24, 2021, Ange, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, receives food rations in a refugee camp in Rwanda.
Photo by the United Nations World Food Program
Sources say that almost three-quarters of refugees’ rations in eastern Africa alone have been cut, reducing the quota by 60%.
In southern Africa, refugees in Tanzania are completely dependent on the assistance of the World Food Program to survive, but their food rations have been cut by almost one-third.
The Syrian regional refugee response plan is also facing a serious shortage of funds, which means that if more funds are not raised, assistance to the 242,000 refugees in Jordan is likely to stop at the end of August.
Margot van der Velden, Director of Emergency Affairs of the World Food Program, said, “The new crown epidemic has a negative impact on government donations, which will weaken our ability to assist and support some of the world’s most vulnerable groups. The world’s most marginalized people live in hunger. We call on donors to extend a helping hand when refugees need more help.”
On January 13, 2021, refugee children from Syria eat in a refugee camp in Lebanon.
Photo by the United Nations World Food Program
The World Food Program stated that funding is increasingly scarce, food prices are rising, the daily economy is shrinking due to the epidemic prevention blockade, and there are fewer opportunities to supplement food aid.
At the same time, conflicts, disasters and economic shrinkage have worsened hunger, and more and more people are in urgent need of help worldwide.
A recent report by the World Food Program pointed out that the population on the brink of famine has increased sharply.
From 34 million people estimated at the beginning of this year to 41 million people estimated in June.
It is vital that countries around the world take action to support the most vulnerable groups.
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