The round table policy dialogue was hosted by the Global Network Against Food Crises, the European Union, the Group of 77 at the United Nations, Italy, and Kenya.
Thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to discuss this critical issue, that is of high priority for Norway.
With regards to the guiding questions on how we - delegates in New York - can support a stronger response to fight hunger, I’d like to make 3 brief points; on gender, protection and prevention:
1. We urge all policy makers and stakeholders to increase awareness, funding and response – to the gendered aspects of food insecurity. 150 million more women than men are suffering from the global food crisis. This gap keeps increasing and it is affecting all parts of society. OCHA has recently released a policy brief with lots of good recommendations. One important point is to rethink localization and strengthen effective collaboration with local implementing partners, particularly with women’s organizations.
2. Protection, particularly of children. Perhaps the most important thing we can do, is to prevent and fight the ongoing nutrition - and hunger - crisis that is affecting children and jeopardizing their health and future. School feeding is one area where we know increased funding will help mitigating many challenges related to hunger – such as SGBV.
As for protecting children in armed conflict, I’d like to share that Norway will be hosting an international conference together with Save the Children, UNICEF, and the ICRC - in partnership with the African Union and the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict. The Conference will take place in Oslo on the 5th and 6th of June. Our goal is to mobilize both political and financial support. Invitations have been sent to all Missions and we hope to see you all there.
3. Third and last – we here in New York can also contribute to increase action to prevent emerging crises from spiralling into full-scale disasters. One example, is to take action on the early warning mechanism in the Security Council resolution 2417, whereby the ‘white notes’ from OCHA to the Council are an important tool. Prevention is the best way to break the cycle of armed conflict and hunger. We must work out the humanitarian-development-peace nexus in practice, by building resilience and creating sustainable livelihoods.