Vol. 519 No. 1
32 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the degree to which he has motivated and co-operated with the EU and the UN in an effort to alleviate the extent of starvation and famine in various parts of Africa; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13130/00]
Ireland and the international community works at two levels to alleviate hunger and the threat of famine in Africa, through long-term development and through a speedy and effective response to humanitarian emergencies as they arise. Support for long-term sustainable development which aims to reduce poverty, the root cause of vulnerability to chronic food deficiencies, is crucial to saving lives. Countries must be empowered to prevent or at least mitigate the worst effects of these cyclical weather-related emergencies.
The international community is also working with national and local governments to improve early warning systems and to put in place effective national disaster response mechanisms and processes. It is particularly important that these mechanisms are in place in disaster-prone countries. Both the United Nations and the European Union support these types of initiatives on an on-going basis. Ireland, through our missions to the UN and the EU, participates actively at official level in these efforts.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and I are consistent in our interest in improving the situation of the millions of chronically food insecure people in Africa and elsewhere in the world. I have just returned from an assessment visit to Ethiopia where I saw for myself the effects of three years of drought. I had discussions with the Prime Minister and the Minister for Economic Planning and Development. I also held consultations with the director of the World Food Programme. The Secretary-General of the UN has appointed a special humanitarian co-ordinator to ensure that the necessary assistance reaches those most in need in the Horn of Africa in the most effective way. The Secretary-General has also set up a special committee to look at long-term food security in the region.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs raised the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia at the last General Affairs Council and I will be raising it with my colleagues at the Development Council next week.
With regard to the international community's commitment in general to addressing the problem of chronic food shortages in parts of Asia and Africa, in 1996 the World Food Summit agreed a target of reducing the number of food insecure people by half by the year 2015. At the international level Ireland Aid is working with its partners in the UN and the EU to achieve this target.
The international Food Aid Convention, of which Ireland is a member, has the objective of securing the World Food Conference target of at least ten million tonnes of food aid annually for developing countries. The convention was recently updated to provide greater flexibility in the provision of food aid.
