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EP and Council teams have reached an agreement on grounds for suspending visa-free travel for short stays into the EU.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Tuesday, 17 June

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Tuesday, 17 June

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Tuesday, 17 June

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Tuesday, 17 June

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Nadia Malyanah Azman
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jun 17 2025 (IPS)

Wars, economic shocks, planetary heating and aid cuts have worsened food crises in recent years, with almost 300 million people now threatened by starvation.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Why hunger?
World food production has increased almost fourfold since 1960. FAO statistics indicate enough output to feed the world’s eight billion plus another three billion!

Clearly, inadequate food due to population growth cannot explain persistent hunger. Yet, the number of hungry people has been rising for more than a decade. So, why are so many hungry if there is more than enough food for all?

The multi-stakeholder 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) notes 2024 was the sixth consecutive year of high and growing acute food insecurity, with 295.3 million people starving!

In 2023, 733 million people experienced chronic hunger. Over a fifth (22.6%) of the 53 countries/territories assessed in this year’s GRFC were especially vulnerable.

Food output in 2024 continued to rise. In 2022, the world produced 11 billion metric tonnes of food, including 9.6 billion tonnes of cereal crops, such as maize, rice and wheat.

Most hungry people are poor. The poverty line is supposed to reflect the poor’s ability to afford basic needs, mainly food. But the discrepancy between poverty and hunger trends implies inconsistent data and definitions.

Nadia Malyanah Azman

Over 700 million worldwide survive on less than $2.15 daily without enough food. Presumably, the 3.4 billion with less than $5.50 daily can barely afford enough nutrition.

New World Bank data estimates 838 million, 10.5% of the world’s population, were in extreme poverty in 2022, 125 million more than previously estimated. It expects one in ten (9.9%) to be in extreme poverty in 2025, with about 750 million hungry.

The extreme poverty line is now $3/day instead of $2.15/day. The poor comprised almost half (48%) the world’s population in 2022. With bleak medium-term growth prospects and inequality still growing, their prospects look especially dismal.

While dietary or caloric energy is essential for human activity, adequate dietary diversity is crucial for human nutrition. Hence, the poor typically cannot afford to eat enough, let alone healthily.

Women and girls are generally more likely to go hungry than men, with hunger rates in women-headed households usually higher. UN-recognized ‘indigenous peoples’ are under 5% of the world’s population but account for 15% of the extreme poor, suffering more hunger than others.

Why food crises?
The multi-stakeholder 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) notes 2024 was the sixth consecutive year of high and growing acute food insecurity, with 295.3 million people starving!

Worsening conflicts, economic crises, deep funding cuts and less humanitarian assistance all threaten food security. As planetary heating worsens, those experiencing acute food insecurity will likely increase again this year.

Food insecurity has worsened in 19 countries/territories, mainly due to internal conflicts, as in Myanmar, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Even before the aid cuts, half the countries/territories featured in GRFC 2025 faced food crises. Despite La Niña rains, droughts in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan are expected to worsen.

USAID and other recent aid cuts have defunded food programmes for over 14 million children in Sudan, Yemen and Haiti alone. G7 countries are expected to cut aid by 28% in 2026 from 2024. Meanwhile, the GRFC 2025 reported humanitarian food assistance “declined by 30 percent in 2023, and again in 2024”!

In 2024, 65.9 million in Asia were food insecure, the worst in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Food crises threatened 33.5 million, or 44% of those in the eight MENA territories assessed in GRFC 2025.

Starvation as weapon
The number of starving people more than doubled in 2024! Over 95% of this increase was in the Gaza Strip or Sudan. Wars destroy and disrupt food production and distribution. A famine was declared in Sudan in December 2024, with more than 24 million starving due to the civil war.

Sudan has the largest land area for farming in Africa. Two-thirds of Sudan’s population relies on agriculture, but the ongoing conflict has caused the destruction and abandonment of much farmland and infrastructure.

Despite the Sudanese military’s devastating factional war, the country remains the world’s largest exporter of oily seeds (groundnuts, safflower, sesame, soybean, and sunflower), reflecting its agronomic potential.

Many more are starving in Haiti, Mali, and South Sudan. The UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) deems such starvation, death, destitution and severe acute malnutrition “catastrophic”.

Food deprivation has become the primary Israeli weapon against the people of Gaza. Gaza’s 2.1 million Palestinians have been at “critical risk” of famine due to the Israeli blockade on food and humanitarian aid since October 2023!

Despite official Israeli denial of mass starvation, growing international outrage, including from some of its staunchest allies, has forced the Netanyahu government to gloss over its actions. In May, it set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to “calibrate” calorie rations to continue starvation but not to death.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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In today’s edition of The Capitals, read about the EU deregulation coming today to help the defence industry, Pegasus tapes revealing Tusk’s calls as European Council President amid an election row, and so much more.

Alors que l’Allemagne redouble d’efforts pour finaliser l’accord de libre-échange entre l’Union européenne et le Mercosur, la France intensifie ses démarches pour le bloquer. Ce désaccord entre les deux grandes puissances agricoles du continent annonce un nouveau bras de fer à Bruxelles.

The post UE-Mercosur : Berlin pousse à l’accord, Paris rallie ses alliés pour le bloquer appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Over 10% of Europe’s GHG emissions stem from agriculture. Fertilizers account for 25-30% of the climate impact of most crops. Low-carbon fertilizers offer a fast, scalable opportunity to decarbonize food production, but uptake requires value chain collaboration and enabling policies.

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Americas The US Army has officially closed its M10 Booker armored infantry support vehicle program, which had been set for full-rate production. The termination appears rooted in the tank’s design, which was conceptualized as a light, air-deployable system that eventually evolved into a heavier, less agile platform. The resolution comes after the US Department of Defense’s planned shift to a “leaner, more lethal force,” a large part of which is diverting investment priorities from “outdated, redundant, and inefficient” programs to modern initiatives. Swedish defense company Saab has announced a strategic partnership with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to develop airborne early warning and control capabilities for the MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft platform. The collaboration combines Saab’s sensor technology with General Atomics’ unmanned aircraft systems to create what the companies describe as an affordable alternative to traditional manned early warning platforms. Middle East & Africa The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier rerouted from the South China Sea to the Middle East on Monday, a move that will put two U.S. aircraft carriers in the region as the conflict worsens between Israel and Iran. Dozens of Air Force refueling aircraft also left their U.S. bases this weekend in a new deployment to Europe, a preventative measure […]

The compromise text seen by Euractiv sets out a three-stage approach, with targets rising from 15% after six years of approval, to 20% in eight years, and finally 25% in ten years.

26 après la fin de la guerre, de nombreux crimes n'ont toujours pas été jugés au Kosovo. Plus grave encore, il n'existe pas de cadre juridique faisant consensus auprès de toutes les communautés. La question des crimes de guerre demeure encore un enjeu dont jouent les politiciens.

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Emmanuel Macron said Trump had made an offer for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

La Commission de l'UEMOA et celle de la CEMAC organisent, du 16 au 20 juin à Cotonou, un atelier de formation dédié au traitement des données du volet Unités Non Standards (NSU) de l'Enquête Harmonisée sur les Conditions de Vie des Ménages (EHCVM).

La cérémonie d'ouverture a été présidée par Mahamadou GADO, Commissaire de l'UEMOA chargé du Département des Politiques Économiques et de la Fiscalité intérieure, aux côtés de Nicolas BEYEME NGUEMA, Commissaire de la CEMAC chargé du Département des Politiques Économiques, Monétaires et Financières. Étaient également présents Félicien ACCROMBESSY, représentant la Banque mondiale, et Jules DAGA, Directeur général adjoint de l'Institut National de la Statistique et de la Démographie du Bénin.

L'atelier vise à renforcer les compétences des États membres dans la conduite d'enquêtes de grande envergure sur les conditions de vie des ménages, tout en garantissant des standards régionaux harmonisés. L'enjeu est de produire des statistiques comparables et fiables, notamment sur la pauvreté, afin d'éclairer les décisions économiques et sociales.

Les travaux permettront aussi de consolider les compétences des experts des Instituts Nationaux de la Statistique et de finaliser le traitement des données collectées sur les Unités Non Standards, contribuant ainsi à la mise en œuvre efficace de l'Enquête Harmonisée dans les États concernés par le Projet d'Harmonisation et d'Amélioration des Statistiques en Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre (PHASAOC).

« Les activités d'implémentation de l'édition 2025/2026 de l'EHCVM dans la majeure partie des Etats se poursuivent convenablement selon le calendrier convenu au niveau régional », a souligné le Commissaire GADO avant de saluer le rôle de coordination régionale et d'assistance technique, que la Banque mondiale et les Commissions de l'UEMOA et de la CEMAC ont joué dans le cadre de l'Enquête Harmonisée sur les Conditions de Vie des Ménages (EHCVM 3).

Le Commissaire BEYEME NGUEMA a mis en avant la qualité de la coopération entre les Commissions de l'UEMOA et de la CEMAC, souhaitant que les données collectées soient traitées de manière harmonisée et conforme aux standards régionaux.

Les représentants de la Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (BCEAO), de la Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD), de l'Observatoire économique et statistique d'Afrique subsaharienne (AFRISTAT), ainsi que des cadres des Commissions de l'UEMOA et de la CEMAC, prennent part aux travaux qui se clôtureront le 20 juin 2025.