WFP funding shortfall serious human rights concern affecting 100 million people in 75 countries by Universal Rights Network 12:12pm 15th Jan, 2011   To the Secretary General of the United Nations, Member Nations and all relevant international institutions,    We the people you are charged to represent do not accept the World Community"s frontline humanitarian agency - the World Food Programme, acting on behalf of the Government"s of the World, representing their peoples, delivering school feeding programs in some 75 countries will experience effectively a $3 billion shortfall in funding to assist the poorest and most vulnerable people"s of the world.    Malnutrition in young children, leads to lifelong health issues and harms their development irreparably. Food prices are at their highest since the 2008 food crisis, according to new figures released by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).    We demand that the $6.86 billion budget request that was made in 2010 be met in 2011.    In 2010, the World Food Programme (WFP) received only a little over half of the $6.86 billion it had requested. It raised around $3.77 billion to assist nearly 100 million people in some 75 countries, or effectively $37 for each person for the year.    It is the United Nations and international community"s first priority to act to ensure those most vulnerable in the human family, most basic human needs are met.    We the People, do not accept and unequivocally condemn the proposition that the new budget request is now for $$4.4 billion for 2011 to feed 100 million hungry people in nearly 75 countries, the same number of people as in 2010.    In effect a net loss of $2.4 billion. The situation of those poorest and most vulnerable in the world remains unchanged. This loss represents the equivalent of almost half the current budgetary request.    The World Food Programme is charged by the international community, to provide the specialist expertise to provide accurate needs assessments on the situations of those most vulnerable in the world community. It is a fundamental denial of the most basic human needs of those most vulnerable to in effect suffer a 40% reduction in their percieved needs in the proposed 2011 annual budget request.    It is the mandate and responsibility of the World Food Programme to make its assessment based solely on their expertise of the defined needs. It is not their role to reduce the budget in the face of global financial circumstances. If the needs assessment is not fully met, this is of great concern. But what is of even greater consequence is to not accurately account for the most basic human needs of the poorest and most vulnerable peoples due to any perception of limited financial resourcing which most sadly is what the WFP has felt compelled to do.    This in effect becomes a denial of the most basic human rights of tens of millions of people around the world. If such a practice is followed, it sets a most dangerous precedent, that could be followed by other agencies. The world community must have confidence in the provision of specialist expertise of international institutions to accurately reflect the needs assessments regardless of the monies realised in their funding requests. Budget requirements cannot be diminished to meet the failures of the world community to meet the needs.    As demonstrated by the reframed WFP annual budget projection, this is in effect what has occured. The most basic human needs of those most vulnerable in the world community is no longer accurately reflected in the reckong/accounting of the WFP budget request. This is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and all international fundamental human rights standards.    The World Food Program reports to the the FAO and the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) member countries.    To all countries concerned with international security, desperate poverty has national and international security implications, as sadly desperately hungry people are more likely to fall prey to "agents of violence" nationally and internationally (diminishing economic prospects and requiring future costly interventions, with Somali piracy being just one telling example).    The World Food Programme is one of the threads that binds humanity, the world"s peoples together. It is an expression of our common humanity. It responds in emergency situations on behalf of us all.    The Universal Rights Network calls on all civil society members worldwide, all religious leaders of all faiths, all media agency"s and sympathetic Governments and agency"s to mobilize to act on behalf of the world"s poorest children, and peoples, to immediately bring all pressures to bear to restore the WFP budget to it"s 2010 budget request needs assessment.    Meeting the WFP budget shortfall must be now G20"s first priority, it must be the United Nations first priority, it must be the World Bank"s and IMF"s first priority.    China is now the World"s 2nd biggest economy with foreign currency reserves of $2.7 trillion dollars. China has been spending many hundreds of billions of dollars making investments worldwide and internally on it"s infrastructure. As a permanent member of the Security Council it has contributed just $4 million dollars to the World Food Programme. One billion is required.    To the OPEC oil producing countries, with soveign wealth funds of similar dimensions - one billion dollars. To the US, where the current financial turmoil originated and where trillions of dollars have been spent to stablize the economy, $500 million to restore the recent cut backs.    To Wall Street, and the financiers and economists who run the World economy one billion from your bonuses.    This request is non-negotiable. As members of the human family, as the member nations of the United Nations, as beneficiary"s of an estimated $56 trillion dollar global economy, the projected budgetary requirement of the World Agency charged by the international community to protect those most vulnerable members of the human family amongst us, demands that the humanity and fundamental human rights of the world"s poorest children and peoples most basic needs be recognised and met.    The G20 must act to fully fund WFP budgetary requirements in full, defined by the specialist expertise of the WFP needs analysis requirements.    Kim Gleeson    Director, Universal Rights Network Visit the related web page
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