A Billion Hungry for EU Action!
Emma Hughes in Luxembourg
Monday June 14
In 2000 192 countries promised to tackle poverty by 2015 when they set the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) but with just five years left to go these promises are simply not being kept. The very first goal set was to halve hunger by 2015 but since then the number of hungry people has almost doubled – pushing hunger to record high levels.
Today a group of EU foreign ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss the MDGs, Actvista were there to remind ministers that the financial crisis could not be used as an excuse for ignoring the hungry. As ministers arrived they were greeted with a street lined with “Hurry Up, Five Years to Halve Hunger” banners. Activista also brought along a giant hunger hour glass, the Activista hunger song and a mass of red people – ministers couldn't ignore them!
After the discussion on the MDGS delegates from the UK and Greece came out to talk to the participants – including Greece's deputy foreign minister Mr Kouvelis.
Activista had two asks for foreign ministers
- That they create a global rescue plan on hunger to get MDG 1 back on track.
- That they commit to providing new money for agriculture – to be targeted at smallholder farmers (ActionAid estimate that $40 billion is needed globally per year if we're to halve hunger by 2015).
Liv Maria Detlif, an Activista participant said “We painted Luxembourg red today, lets hope the foreign ministers listen to us and start taking the action needed. Research shows that supporting smallholder farmers is the most effective way to tackle hunger. We hope the EU start listening to the demands of the hungry and offer them the support being called for”.
