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11.09.2018 | Press Release

Fighting Hunger is Important to the People of Germany

Welthungerhilfe on the New UN Hunger Figures.

A group of Rohingya refugees in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh have received food from the local population.
A group of Rohingya refugees in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh have received food from the local population. © Daniel Rosenthal
Simone Pott Team Communications

Bonn / Berlin, 11/09/2018 The global figures on hunger released by the UN today show a further rise. According to the UN, 821 million people around the world were suffering from hunger in 2017. Conflicts, climate change, and slow economic growth were the main causes.

A current survey carried out by Infratest Dimap for Welthungerhilfe shows that fighting hunger is an issue close to the German public’s heart: Nine out of ten Germans say that fighting hunger around the world is important, and 53% even say it is “very important”. Almost two thirds of those surveyed (64%) believe that Germany should increase its commitment to fighting hunger, indicating stronger support than for any other area of development policy.

“Our survey shows that the German federal government has a clear task of doing more for the global fight against hunger”, says Bärbel Dieckmann, President of Welthungerhilfe. “Above all this means supporting peasants and other people in rural areas - not just with technical projects but also by strengthening their rights. These people are being deprived of productive resources like land, water and seeds. Human rights defenders are increasingly threatened or even murdered.”

On 19th/20th September 2018 the “UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas” will be finalised in the UN Human Rights Council. On 27th/28th September the member states will make a decision. “Protecting human rights and developing the institutional framework is a central task for German foreign policy”, continues Dieckmann. “That is why we call on the federal government to support the declaration.”

On 11th October Welthungerhilfe will publish the current Global Hunger Index, which examines the global causes of hunger and shows which countries are winners and losers in the fight against hunger.

Welthungerhilfe is one of the largest private aid organisations in Germany and enjoys both political and religious independence. It is fighting for “Zero Hunger by 2030”. Since being founded in 1962, it has provided funding of EUR 3.53 billion for more than 8,900 overseas projects in 70 countries. Welthungerhilfe bases its efforts on the principle of empowering people to help themselves, which it implements with measures ranging from rapid disaster relief to rehabilitation to long-term development cooperation projects with national and international partner organisations.

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Women are waiting at a food distribution centre at the refugee camp in Bentiu, Southern Sudan. © Stefanie Glinski
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In a Welthungerhilfe project in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, people are learning methods of vegetable cultivation in a training garden. Garlic is planted here. © Kai Löffelbein
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A group of Rohingya refugees in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh have received food from the local population. © Daniel Rosenthal
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Bärbel Dieckmann, President of Welthungerhilfe. © Barbara Frommann
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