Oxfam reaction to the Global Report on Food Crises 2024

Today’s Global Report on Food Crises warns that 281.6 million people across 59 countries are now experiencing acute hunger – 24 million more people than last year.

Reacting to the report, Emily Farr, Oxfam Global Food and Economic Security Lead, said:

“The global hunger crisis is fundamentally a moral crisis. It is unforgivable that over 281 million people are suffering acute hunger while the world’s richest continue to make extraordinary profits, including the same aerospace and defence corporations helping to fuel conflict, the main driver of hunger.

“The number of people on the brink of famine has almost doubled since last year, the majority of whom are in Gaza where children are already dying of malnutrition and disease as a result of the Israeli government’s policy of using starvation as a weapon of war.

“We cannot drastically change course without a global awakening. States must prioritise justice and peace over politics, and radically reform global peace and security bodies to protect international law rather than perpetuate impunity.

“Governments must also rehaul our global food system, tax the rich to invest in the public majority - the small farmers, workers and vulnerable communities - and support green economies.”

Ends

Notes to the Editors

• The Global Report for Food Crises (GRFC) 2024 is an annual report published by The Food Security Information Network and the 16 partner agencies of the Global Network Against Food Crises.
• The increase of 23.8 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC3+) is partly due to greater analysis coverage and country inclusion (1.1 billion population in 2022 to 1.3 billion population in 2023). The net increase is 17.5 million people in IPC3 (see Technical Notes for comparability issues).
• Over 705 000 people in five countries were projected to be in Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) in 2023 – the highest number in GRFC reporting and almost double that of 2022.
• The escalation of hostilities in Palestine (Gaza Strip) in late 2023 has created the most severe food crisis in IPC and GRFC history with the entire population of 2.2 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity, and half of the population (about 1.1 million people) estimated to be experiencing catastrophic acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 5) Source: IPC report in December 2023 and March 2024.