Europe facing second wave of refugees: UN Food Chief
Europe is on the verge of a second wave of migration as the situation in refugee camps in Africa and the Middle East worsens, the head of the UN World Food Programme has said.
David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP) also told German newspaper Die Zeit that European nations must accept there is a clear link between hunger and migration.
Mr Beasley, according to a translation of the article in Russia Today, highlighted the fact that conditions in refugee camps in crisis-affected regions deteriorated dramatically before the last European migrant crisis struck in 2015.
“We paid a heavy price for this mistake and I’m afraid we’re about to make it once again," he is reported to have said.
'The only way to end #hunger, is to end conflict': @WFP Chief David Beasley: https://t.co/lvq0O8EzUQ @WFPChief pic.twitter.com/39jXaUpHTn
— Self Help Africa (@selfhelpafrica) November 16, 2017
The UN food chief goes on to say that while many asylum seekers wanted to stay in their home region the lack of food was driving them towards Europe.
“If they don’t have enough food, they will leave. And many of them would go to Europe."
Mr Beasley said that while the UN had made progress in fighting world hunger over the last 10 years the number of people suffering hunger worldwide has now dramatically increased.
A WFP report from March claims that some 108m people now face “crisis food insecurity or worse” as result of conflict, record-high food prices and abnormal weather patterns. The figure stood at 80m in 2015.
The blockades in Yemen must end now! If they don’t, hundreds of thousands of children may die soon. https://t.co/e7xCJeTo0f pic.twitter.com/xIldYVHybT
— Cindy McCain (@WFPChief) November 16, 2017
Russia Today go on to report that the number of asylum seekers in the EU during the second quarter of 2017 reached 149,000 according to statistical data from Eurostat. The applications mainly came from Syria, Nigeria and Afghanistan.
