A group of Christian NGO and denominational leaders have joined in calling for the G7 – which meets in Italy on 26th and 27th May – to ramp up their response to save the lives of 20 million people – including 1.4 million children – who face famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria.
In an open letter published earlier this week, the Christian leaders – who include Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Bishop Efraim M Tendero, of the World Evangelical Alliance, Rev Dr Martin Junge, general secretary of the Lutheran Federation, Henry Capello, president and executive director of Caritas in Veritate International, General André Cox of the Salvation Army, and representatives of World Vision – say that “not nearly enough” is being done to address the famine.
“In this day and age, famine cannot be tolerated, not just because every human being is valued in God’s sight and has the right to eat but also because starvation singles out the weakest and most vulnerable from among us,” they write. “It is the moral duty of wealthy nations to do all they can to provide life-saving funding and assistance and to work to end the underlying conditions that drive starvation: conflict, poor governance and climate change.”
They point out that the current crisis is happening against a “backdrop of worsening hunger”.
“The number of people needing food assistance has risen by 35 per cent in the last year, from 80 to 108 million people. This appalling statistic flies in the face of global commitments to end poverty and hunger by 2030 and suggests that while things are improving for the vast majority of the world, things are worsening for the already worst off.”
The leaders say the crisis – the largest since 1945 – “demands inspirational leadership” from the G7 heads of state to raise the $US4.9 billion needed to address the crisis (of which only some $US1.6 billion has been received), to address the drivers of conflict and injustice and reject the ideas of those who “call for less intervention and for clawing aid money away from humanitarian and development work”, and to inspire all governments to stand with the “world’s most vulernable”.
“The famine crisis we are now witnessing is the death rattle of extreme poverty,” they write. “It requires the continued political will, engagement and funding of governments and their citizens to end it. Now is the time to save lives and get on with the job of eradicating this scourge.”
The letter and an accompanying video have been released in the wake of last Sunday’s Global Day of Prayer to End Famine in which millions of Christians took part around the world.
