New Delhi: A Member of European Parliament (MEP) Fulvio Martusciello has urged the international community to hold Pakistan accountable for the ongoing turmoil in the Kashmir valley and its genesis.
In an opinion piece for EU-Chronicle on Wednesday, Martusciello called out Pakistan’s attempt to distort history by observing October 26 as a “Black Day” to commemorate the war fought in Kashmir in 1947-48.
“Under directions of the political leadership, Pakistan’s military invaded and illegally occupied Kashmir and dethroned ruler Hari Singh in order to annex Kashmir. The move was part of its grand design to enhance its power, territory, and influence in the region – Pakistan’s political leadership and Pakistan’s military failed.”He urged the international community to recognise that the Jammu and Kashmir issue has been concocted by Pakistan for its own gains. “Islamabad must be held accountable for the ongoing turmoil inflicted in Kashmir,” the MEP wrote.
He even questioned the citizens of Pakistan who “do not deplore the rape of Kashmiri women and girls, nor the horrors and atrocities inflicted by the Pakistani military and its tribesman on innocent Kashmiri citizens”. “And Pakistanis do not regret the illegal activities of their government or military…, nor the nihilism they imposed in (Pakistan-occupied) Kashmir,” Martusciello went on to write.
“The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been mired in campaigns of disinformation and deception by Pakistan for decades, and now the youth need to know the truth to be empowered to follow their own destinies…”
Martusciello also talked about a former Pakistani Army General who made some revelation in a book regarding the Kashmir strategy. “Akbar Khan confirms how intimidation and threats of the Pakistan regime forced the ruler of Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, to be left with no option but to ask for protection and support from the Indian government – this request then led to the accession of Kashmir to become a part of India under the internationally recognised agreement, The Instrument of Accession, which was accepted under the provisions of the Indian Independence Act, 1947,” the MEP claimed.
On Thursday, the two opposing sides in Yemen’s ongoing civil war exchanged prisoners in the largest swap of its kind during the conflict
“This operation that means so much to so many families is under way,” Fabrizio Carboni, International Committee of the Red Cross said regional director for the Middle East told the media.
Over 1,000 prisoners departed three airports in the operation which was designed to build trust to enable new talks to end a devastating war which is now in its fifth year.
The swap was included as part of a UN peace deal brokered in Sweden several years ago.
Yemen’s government, supported militarily by a Saudi Arabian-led coalition, and Houthi rebels have conducted sporadic prisoner exchanges in the past.
Mohammed Abdulsalam, a Houthi spokesman said the swap “brings hope for peace-building”.
In a related development, two American hostages held by Houthi rebels were released earlier this week. The remains of a third American captive were repatriated at the same time.
The conflict in Yemen has been raging since 2014, when, working with forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Houtis seized much of the nation including the capital Sanaa.
Yemen today is the home of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It is estimated that more than 22.2 million people – or 75 percent of the population – is in need of humanitarian assistance. The conflict has left 2 million people displaced from their homes.
“We deplore Turkey’s unilateral actions and provocations,” Michel said, noting that the EU planned to assess the situation in December with a view to possible sanctions.
Referring to Boris Johnson’s comments on the impending Brexit with or without an agreement, Michel said the European Union is “fully united and fully determined to work to make an agreement possible. However, he will not do it at any cost … We are ready to negotiate, we are ready to continue the negotiations and I hope that we will make progress in the future “.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded after a European Union summit Thursday proposed a fresh round of talks next week in London, while demanding Britain give ground on key stumbling blocks.
“As far as we’re concerned the trade talks are over,” Johnson’s official spokesman told reporters.
“The EU have effectively ended them, and only if the EU fundamentally changes its position will it be worth talking.”
Johnson, accusing the 27-nation bloc of failing “to negotiate seriously” in recent months, said the summit outcome had ruled out a comprehensive, Canada-style free trade agreement between the EU and Britain.
“They want the continued ability to control our legislative freedom, our fisheries, in a way that is obviously unacceptable to an independent country,” he said in a broadcast interview.
“And so with high hearts and complete confidence we will prepare to embrace the alternative,” Johnson said.
He said Britain should “get ready” to operate on stripped-down World Trade Organization rules from January akin to Australia’s relationship with the EU, pointing to sector-by-sector arrangements in areas such as social security, aviation and nuclear cooperation.
“And we will prosper mightily as an independent free-trading nation, controlling our own borders, our fisheries, and setting our own laws.”
More talks?
The comments depressed the British pound on currency markets.
After nearly five decades of British integration with Europe, a “no deal” outcome will mean tariffs and potential chaos for companies trading across the Channel, especially for goods transportation.
It could also arrive in the middle of a winter surge of the coronavirus pandemic, which has already been worsening since last month across Britain and the rest of Europe.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said every hour spent preparing for a no deal Brexit was an hour lost to the fight against Covid-19.
“So I feel deeply depressed about the Brexit situation,” she said.
Johnson had set the EU summit as a deadline for a deal but he is under pressure after fresh warnings that British companies are far from ready for the consequences of a cliff-edge divorce, when a post-Brexit transition period ends on December 31.
The prime minister has repeatedly refused to extend the transition period, but London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged a change of mind.
“The last thing London needs is the chaos and uncertainty of a no-deal Brexit. With businesses already facing huge challenges due to coronavirus restrictions, now is the worst time to put more jobs and livelihoods at risk,” he said.
Britain wants to reassert sovereignty over its waters and refuse EU legal oversight over any deal, insisting it wants an overarching trade deal of the kind the EU adopted with Canada in 2017.
Brussels in turn stresses that Britain’s economy is far more integrated with the EU’s than Canada’s, and that its single market must be protected from backsliding on regulation or state aid in Britain.
At their Brussels summit, EU leaders demanded Britain compromise on fair trade rules to unblock the stalled post-Brexit talks.
Chief negotiator Michel Barnier also proposed the meetings in London next week and the EU confirmed it would be in the British capital to intensify negotiations from Monday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday both sides should compromise to break open the stalled talks.
But Johnson’s spokesman indicated there was “no point” in Barnier coming as things stand.
“It’s over to the EU now,” he said, demanding Barnier only visit if the EU is willing to negotiate “on the basis of legal texts in an accelerated way without the UK being required to make all the moves”.
The insistence of France and other northern EU fishing nations on maintaining access to British waters has been one major hurdle in the talks so far.
“We are ready to continue to talk, in good faith, to advance, but I will also be very clear: we will not sacrifice any position, any interest and we will not sacrifice our fishermen,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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Statement of the Secretary General of COMECE on the eve of the EU Anti-Trafficking Day
Trafficking in persons and other contemporary forms of enslavement are a worldwide problem that needs to be taken seriously by the international community. It represents one of the most dramatic manifestations of the commercialization of the other, a crime that disfigures both the victims as well as those who carry it out, and a source of shame for humanity that our authorities and societies must no longer tolerate, as Pope Francis has emphasized.
On the eve of the EU Anti-Trafficking Day (18 October), I would like to make a call to the EU and its members states to continue their work and prioritize their fight against trafficking in human beings in order to prevent the crime, prosecute and punish their perpetrators and protect and support the victims, in particular women and children.
The engagement of all layers and actors in society in this fight is needed, too. In this regard, the Catholic Church adopted in 2018 its Pastoral Orientation on Human Trafficking, which draw also from the longstanding practical experience of many international Catholic NGOs working in the field. Engagement in structured collaborations with public institutions and civil society organizations will guarantee more effective and longer-lasting results.
Statement of the Secretary General of COMECE on the eve of the EU Anti-Trafficking Day Trafficking in persons and other contemporary forms of enslavement are a worldwide problem that needs to be taken seriously by the international community. It represents one of the most dramatic manifestations of the commercialization of the other, a crime that disfigures both the victims as well as those who carry it out, and a source of shame for humanitythat our authorities and societies must no longer tolerate, as Pope Francis has emphasized.
On the eve of the EU Anti-Trafficking Day (18 October), I would like to make a call to the EU and its members states to continue their work and prioritize their fight against trafficking in human beings in order to prevent the crime, prosecute and punish their perpetrators and protect and support the victims, in particular women and children. The engagement of all layers and actors in society in this fight is needed, too. In this regard, the Catholic Church adopted in 2018 its Pastoral Orientation on Human Trafficking, which draw also from the longstanding practical experience of many international Catholic NGOs working in the field. Engagement in structured collaborations with public institutions and civil society organizations will guarantee more effective and longer-lasting results.
The Solidarity Therapeutics Trial, overseen by the World Health Organization (WHO), shows that medications Remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon, repurposed to treat new coronavirus infections, “appeared to have little or no effect on 28-day mortality or the in-hospital course of COVID-19 among hospitalized patients”, WHO said in a statement on Friday.
The study, which began in March and spans more than 30 countries, looked at the effects of these treatments on overall mortality, initiation of ventilation, and duration of hospital stay in hospitalized individuals.
Other uses of the drugs, for example in treatment of patients in the community or for prevention, would have to be examined using different trials, the WHO explained.
In a related announcement, the UN health agency said that COVID-19 had also highlighted the increased vulnerability of people with high blood pressure to the coronavirus.
The warning is based on data from more than 120 countries showing significant COVID-related disruption to treatment for people suffering from chronic health conditions, with findings showing these patients make up 50 to 60 per cent of all deaths from COVID.
Dr. Bente Mikkelsen, Director of WHO’s Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, said that more than 1.13 billion people around the world suffer from hypertension.
Of this number, 745,800,000 live in low and middle-income countries and 80 per cent of these nations have fewer than 50 per cent of people on treatment.
Many unaware they are sick
On average, one in four men suffer from the condition, compared with one in five women, according to WHO data. In addition, two in five people are not aware that they even have hypertension.
“When it comes to COVID-19 and hypertension, the 122 countries that have reported tells us that in over 50 per cent of the countries their health care services is disrupted fully or partially…In addition, we see a high number of fatalities”, Dr. Mikkelsen told journalists in Geneva.
Noting that global figures have yet to be calculated, she added that for those countries where data was available, “we see in the range of 50, 60 per cent of the people that are severely ill and die in hospitals from COVID have hypertension, diabetes”, and other non-communicable diseases.
Pandemic resurgence
Highlighting how the pandemic has made a resurgence in many countries across all continents after the easing of restrictions, and the additional health threat posed by the impending influenza season in the global north, the WHO official appealed to governments everywhere to address hypertension urgently.
She also cited growing evidence that poor and salty diets along with rising inactivity, have contributed to worsening hypertension rates globally.
To coincide with World Hypertension Day on 16 October, Dr Mikkelsen unveiled a series of recommendations and products developed by the WHO to promote action on hypertension “during and beyond the pandemic”.
By doing so, health authorities can help people to keep their blood pressure under control and prevent stroke, heart attack, and kidney damage, the WHO believes.
The new protocols are based on successful patient blood pressure management in 18 countries involving more three million people.
Today, only 20 per cent of the world’s nations are on track to reduce hypertension by 25 per cent by 2025, a global target set by the World Health Assembly in 2013, according to the UN health agency.
She’s smart, she’s with it, she’s the youngest ambassador the Vatican has ever welcomed to be part of its diplomatic corps… her name is Chiara Porro, and she is the new Australian Ambassador to the Holy See.
Speaking to Vatican Radio as she goes about “settling in” and learning the ropes in a new and challenging environment, 36-year-old Ambassador Porro told me she also happened to be one of the first to be received by Pope Francis in a person-to-person meeting after months of coronavirus lockdown.
“That’s possibly why he was so generous with his time,” she modestly said, recalling her audience with the Pope in August when she presented her credentials.
When I asked her what her priorities are as she begins her mandate to nurture and strengthen the bilateral relationship between the Holy See and Australia, the Ambassador said that right now, “It’s difficult to set out any priorities without thinking of the coronavirus context, as this pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives.”
Listen to the interview with Ambassador Chiara Porro
Ambassador Porro, who is trained as a career diplomat and already has a good number of postings under her belt, is the only resident ambassador to the Holy See from the whole Pacific region. She is convinced that Australia has much to contribute to the global coronavirus response, and that, she said, is one of her top priorities as she begins to “think and work with the Holy See.”
She mentioned how early in the crisis, Australia very quickly pivoted its development assistance to the most urgent needs of the weakest, immediately setting up humanitarian corridors throughout the region with which to provide support.
“As you can imagine the small Pacific island countries are very dependent on supplies coming in from outside, and with travel shutdown, there was a real need for food, medicines,” she said, explaining that the Australian government also put a lot of resources into providing PPE and training for health workers, as well as working with all the countries of the region affected by travel restrictions.
Migration
Another area in which the ambassador is convinced her country has much experience to share concerns specific mobility programmes for people on the move, a humanitarian sector Pope Francis has close to his heart.
“They call it the Seasonal Work Programme and this has been going on for years, but it was particularly relevant during the pandemic because we were able to pivot and have some of these workers work in aged care and other health care sectors,” making it, she said, “a real mechanism to enable opportunities.”
Thanks to this system, she said workers can get visas to work with various sectors while directing those resources to where they are most needed thus allowing everyone to benefit. It also shows local populations that there is a need for migrants to come in and support the economy, she added.
Human trafficking
Ambassador Porro said that amongst her meetings and contacts with various Vatican offices so far, she has met with the Covid-19 Commission established by the Pope and had interesting conversations, particularly with the Dicastery for Promoting Human Integral Development, where she engaged in conversations regarding the suffering of migrants and refugees.
The fight against human trafficking is another area in which she says the Holy See and Australia can productively work together, as “Australia has put a lot of effort into stopping people smuggling” she said, admitting its methods have sometimes been controversial. “But we were able to break the cycle and I think that’s a positive thing.”
Above all, the ambassador said, she is excited to be able to have the opportunity to work with the Holy See and its global diplomatic network that provides so much scope in working to promote values like the common good and human fraternity.
Especially in light of a post-pandemic world, she said, and at a time in which we see increasing tensions and nationalism, “it is absolutely fundamental” to uphold those basic principles and values.
The Holy See and Australia
On the other hand, the Holy See, she said, is very interested in watching how Australia manages its relationships and how it plays its role in the region.
Ambassador Porro noted the strategic and delicate position of Australia and its Pacific partners that are currently “right at the centre of the China-US dynamic” and she explained that her country has a complex role to play as it finds itself at the centre of global politics.
Another perspective that is of interest, in particular to the Pope, she said, is the fact that the Pacific is a “frontier” region and its populations are directly and powerfully affected by environmental issues.
“I think there’s a real space for a Pacific voice here, and that also links-in with the fifth anniversary of Laudato sì”, she said.
Ultimately, Ambassador Porro explained, she sees her job as providing a link to her area of concern, “facilitating connections, bringing expertise from our region, finding avenues for collaborations, for projects, translating some of the Holy See’s policies and agendas and seeing where they align.”
Particularly with Pope Francis, she said, there are lots of opportunities to do things together on the global stage, and while there may be sensitive issues and areas where the Australian government and the Holy See don’t agree, there are is much work to be done.
An important mission for Australia
And from the opposite perspective, the Ambassador is convinced her government cares deeply about this mission and finds it important. She revealed it is part of her role to demonstrate the value of having a presence here at the Holy See and to communicate the influence of Pope Francis and his message across the world and the Pacific region.
It’s only a half-joke, she noted, when she says “it’s the post with the largest diaspora” because of the number of Catholic communities back in Australia and across the Pacific region who, she said, “are very interested in what she is doing here.”
“So there’s definitely still a role for me to explain our purpose and the value we bring from being represented here, but there are lots of opportunities for work.” It’s a question, she concluded, “about prioritising and really focusing on where we can add value.”
While the pandemic “has skimmed off everything that is not essential” in the world’s richest countries, in others it risks becoming the trigger for a very serious crisis, especially in places where the coronavirus’ problems only add to others like hunger, war and instability. In a paired interview, two experts of the Vatican’s Covid-19 Commission – Maryann Cusimano Love (The Catholic University of America) and Dan Plesch (director of the “Centre for International Studies & Diplomacy at SOAS”) – explore various scenarios created by the coronavirus in areas where social inequalities are further exacerbated, and call for a global ceasefire as invoked by Pope Francis and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Q: You are part of the Vatican COVID 19 Commission, Pope Francis’s response mechanism to an unprecedented virus. What do you personally hope to learn from this experience? In what way do you think the Commission’s work can inspire society as a whole?
Cusimano Love – Global problems require global cooperation. We have more people on the planet than ever before in human history. So we must create better ways of cooperating than ever before to meet crises like this pandemic. Pope Francis’s Covid-19 commission is a model of global cooperation at a time when many in the world are going in the opposite direction, closing borders, not being inclusive or not prioritizing the needs of the most vulnerable.
Plesch – It’s a huge honour and a privilege to be part of Pope Francis’s commission looking at the responses, the security responses to the terrible developing dangers coming from Covid-19. The work of the commission has been immensely informative to me personally. I’ve learnt a great deal from the wisdom and compassion and practical ideas of my fellow commissioners. And I think one of the key lessons that we have to communicate is that the virus is making worse many existing threats to our safety.
Q: Pope Francis asked the COVID 19 Commission to prepare the future instead of prepare for it. What should be the Catholic Church’s role as an institution in this endeavour?
Cusimano Love – Pope Francis warned us that this economy kills and the pandemic showed this to be true. We cannot go back to the old ways of doing business. For example, we can stop investing over a trillion dollars in new nuclear weapons when money is urgently needed for food and health.
Plesch – The church’s role in helping shape and develop the future has always been extremely important, but the combination of threats that we had before from environment, from greed, from poverty, from World War, from weapons – all of these are coming together in a perfect storm that we have to help prepare humanity to survive.
Q: What personal lessons (if any) have you derived from the experience of the pandemic? What concrete changes do you hope to see after this crisis both personally and globally?
Cusimano Love – The pandemic has shorn away non-essentials and forced us to focus on what really matters. With my children schooling at home while I’m teleworking at home and caring for elders, we spend more time in family and in nature. Nature has rebounded in the pandemic showing us it’s never too late to do the right thing. Our economies and our workplaces can and must promote healthier, richer relationships with each other and the earth.
Plesch – The changes we need to see of course are huge and pre-existing, but the priority, I personally think that we have to ask our governments, our communities, our churches and our colleagues in other spiritual communities simply to stop making weapons, the drive to war – 2 trillion dollars a year being spent around the world on weapons –is already great. And we can see violence in the home and violence in communities and violence between governments already increasing.
Q: The coronavirus crisis has brought not only individual but also national selfish attitudes. This type of nationalism sparks dangerous feelings of anger towards others, even if they too have a nationalist bent. History is unfortunately full of such examples that have led to conflicts. Does this risk exist today?
Cusimano Love – You can’t build peace on an empty stomach. The pandemic has disrupted global food supplies, and it’s caused an economic depression making food too expensive for millions, further endangering the world’s most vulnerable people including refugees and displaced people. Previous global recessions caused food riots. To avert that this time around food assistance must be given across conflict lines to reduce the chances for violence. Glaring inequalities, worsen grievance and violence.
Plesch – The explosion impact of the virus has happened, but we have yet to see the tsunami of social impact and helping prepare for that by reducing weapons and looking for other means of security is essential.
Q: Regarding those who today suffer from hunger: how willing are they to fight for access to healthcare? In various African countries, people say they prefer Covid to hunger. Could the combination of the two, pandemic and hunger, be a dangerous spark?
Cusimano Love – Disease can cause war and conflict. Research shows that countries caught in the conflict trap, cycles of war and conflict and revenge need economic growth to break out of these cycles of violence. But instead the pandemic has done the opposite. It’s tanked the global economy. For conflict countries who depend on oil income, like Nigeria, Iraq and others, these countries now with no budget to build peace among warring groups, to implement the peace accords in Colombia, or buy back guns, or offer jobs to armed actors. Peace doesn’t occur magically. It’s built over time by patient effort. But the pandemic disrupts peace building resources and efforts. It has increased violent nationalist and extremist movements as Covid disinformation and conspiracy theories targets kids scapegoats.
Plesch – The interaction, of course, the interaction of hunger and the virus and poverty mean that more people are going to be fighting for survival, fighting for the bare necessities of life. And the tragedy is that the wealthy have more than enough resources to provide what everybody needs. It is beyond obscene that a tiny proportion of the world’s population control so much of the wealth and hold on to, it while many are in peril of their lives for themselves and their families.
Q: Pope Francis and Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the UN, have launched a ceasefire appeal wherever there are conflicts in the world, in order to foster the fight against the coronavirus. Why have these appeals not been heeded?
Cusimano Love – As the United Nations meets in New York in September, the UN secretary-general and Pope Francis are renewing calls for a global ceasefire so communities can focus their efforts on fighting the pandemic, not each other. There’s been too little attention, public awareness and government leadership on the ceasefire. The upcoming 75th anniversary of the UN is a great opportunity to draw more attention and commitment to the call for a pandemic ceasefire. Peace has been breaking out around the world in recent decades. With declines in major wars and peace accords in places like Ireland, Colombia and the Philippines. But these peace processes are fragile and many countries remain trapped in cycles of war, poverty and instability, such as Iraq, Sudan the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria. Pandemic responses must be conflict sensitive ensuring that vaccines, medicine, food aid and assistance begin across conflict lines in ways that build community, social cohesion, trust and peace
Plesch – The challenge of a ceasefire is one that I think will be responded to. The Holy Father and the UN Secretary-General have led the way in this. We have to make the call louder and louder and as the social impact of the virus unfolds over the years, I think the demand to move away from conflict will become more and more effective.
Q: Several times, even well before the pandemic, Pope Francis has often spoken of a “third world war fought piecemeal”. So, in your opinion, should we fear another worldwide conflict provoked by an invisible virus, or has one already effectively begun that we should be dedicating ourselves to extinguishing?
Cusimano Love – The Catholic Church can help us imagine and build a better world coming out of this pandemic: one in which we are more connected, more caring, in better relationship with each other. As scripture says, “See, I’m doing something new in you. Can you not see it?” The Catholic Church is not a national church. We work across borders in every country. We work with very long timelines to go beyond the next headliner election, and we are the world’s largest private provider of healthcare. Thus, we are all one human family. But too often we act like a dysfunctional family. Against a rising tide of nationalism and extremism, the Church imagines and prepares a future based on a wider view of our connections as one human family.
Plesch – Now, the threats of a third world war: we see people dying all the time from the use of weapons, war planes on villages, small arms, landmines, rifles, but overall of that is the ultimate “Sword of Damocles” the nuclear threat and I think if there’s one thing we’ve learnt is that there are no group of wise people who will emerge in crises to help solve it. We’ve seen it in country after country: our leaders are flawed, the lies they tell are great and the consequences for all of us if this moves into the dimension of major war with armies, navies and air forces and nuclear weapons – that risk cannot be overestimated. It is a very real one and I hope in working with the commission we can do our bit to keep us safe and secure for the future because these conflicts are unnecessary and obscure the tremendous opportunities for the beneficial integrated development of humanity.
Addressing Qu Dongyu, the Director-General of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Pope Francis noted that “For humanity, hunger is not only a tragedy but it is also shameful.”
His words came on World Food Day which focuses this year on the theme: “cultivating, nourishing and preserving together. Our actions are our future”.
In his video message, the Pope said hunger is caused, “to a large extent, by an unequal distribution of the fruits of the earth, in addition to the lack of investment in agriculture, the consequences of climate change and the increase in conflicts in different parts of the planet”, as well as by the tonnes of food that are discarded.
Faced with this reality, he continued, “we cannot remain insensitive or paralysed” because “we are all responsible.”
The Pope added that the theme underlines the urgent need for everyone to act together so as to “promote hope” in all people.
75th anniversary of FAO
The World Day also marks the UN Organisation’s 75 anniversary.
In these many years, the Pope said, FAO has learned that it is not enough to just produce food, but that “it is also important to ensure that food systems are sustainable and offer healthy diets that are accessible to all. It is about adopting innovative solutions that can transform the way we produce and consume food for the well-being of our communities and our planet, thereby strengthening resilience and long-term sustainability.”
Support during the pandemic
Especially in these difficult times caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis stressed the importance of supporting initiatives that “promote sustainable and diversified agriculture, support small farming communities and cooperate in rural development in the poorest countries.”
We are living in a time “full of contradictions”, said the Pope.
On the one hand, we are witnessing unprecedented progress in different fields of science. On the other, the world is facing multiple humanitarian crises.
Unfortunately, he continued, we note that, according to the most recent FAO statistics, despite the efforts made in recent decades, “the number of people fighting hunger and food insecurity is growing, and the current pandemic will make these figures even worse.”
Concrete action
Pope Francis went on to note that the current crisis shows us that we need concrete policies and actions to eradicate hunger in the world.
At times, he said, “dialectical or ideological debates distance us from achieving this goal and we allow our brothers and sisters to continue to die from lack of food.”
“A courageous decision would be to set up a “Global Fund” with the money used in arms and other military expenditures in order to definitively eliminate hunger and contribute to the development of the poorest countries. This would avoid many wars and the emigration of many of our brothers and sisters and their families who are forced to leave their homes and countries in search of a more dignified life (cf. Fratelli tutti, n. 189 and 262).”
Finally, Pope Francis expressed his hope that the activity of FAO be “ever more incisive and more fruitful”, and prayed for all those who “cooperate in this fundamental mission of cultivating the land, feeding the hungry and safeguarding natural resources, so that we can all live with dignity, respect and love.”
