Every 10 affected – dramatic situation: 828 million people are starving

“Not least because of the war in Ukraine, but also as a result of the climate crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, local conflicts and inflationary and price pressures, we are currently experiencing a dramatic hunger crisis in many regions of the world,” he said. . Andreas Knapp, Secretary General of the Foreign Aid Charity. “Austria is lagging behind in the field of development cooperation. For example, Germany invests almost four times as much in direct project aid.”

According to Caritas, a famine of unprecedented proportions is looming in East Africa, and the situation is also dramatic in the Middle East. Nine out of ten Syrians already live below the poverty line. Nearly 15 million people depend on humanitarian aid, including about 6.5 million children.

Soon a billion people will starve
The number of people dying from hunger worldwide is set to rise to one billion this year, warns aid organization Care: “Every four seconds one person worldwide dies of hunger,” says general manager Andrea Barschdorf-Hager. “The number of hungry people is rising, while funding for development aid is declining. This is not a question of affordability, but a question of political will. We therefore urgently call on the government to increase funds for bilateral development cooperation in the 2023 budget as planned in the government program.”

Because the federal government had increased the resources for the foreign disaster fund, “Austria was able to respond quickly to the crisis in Ukraine or the devastating floods in Pakistan and help hundreds of thousands of people. Given the multiple crises, these and more investments will also be needed in the long term.”

Take more money
Caritas emphasized that long-term bilateral development cooperation should also be expanded. At 0.31 percent of gross national income, there is still room for improvement up to the internationally agreed target of 0.7 percent. “Investments in humanitarian aid and development cooperation are funds that ultimately benefit us in Austria in the form of stability and security,” emphasizes Knapp.

Ahead of the budget speech, Julia Moser, CEO of Light for the World, also called on the government to “take its international responsibility and develop the resources for bilateral development cooperation (DC) and a binding roadmap to meet the 0.7 percent target to to say goodbye.” In addition, the foreign disaster fund must be adjusted to inflation and be endowed with at least 115 million euros in 2023.