“ Hear the word of the LORD, you land of oppression and extortion.”
[Sep.20.2022]The United Nations estimates that 345 million people worldwide suffer from hunger. That’s more than 4% of the world’s population.
According to the United Nations, David Beasley, executive director of the UN World Food Program said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the 15th (local time) that the figure was the highest in history and “the world is facing an unprecedented state of emergency.”
“The number of people living in extreme food instability has increased more than 2.5 times compared to before the outbreak of COVID-19,” said executive director Beasley. He pointed out that conflicts around the world are a major factor in the surge in the number of starving populations.
“Extreme conflicts are pushing millions of innocent civilians to hunger,” Beasley said. “We requested the Security Council to show humanitarian leadership to break the vicious cycle of conflicts that fuels the food security crisis.”
Civil wars in the Middle East and Africa in recent years have had significant impacts on the rapid increase in the number of starving populations. In Yemen, where the conflicts began at the end of 2014 and have been in a civil war state for more than seven years, around 19 million people are facing a serious food crisis. It is estimated that 538,000 children in particular suffer from severe malnutrition.
Martin Griffiths, the UN’s Vice-Chancellor for Humanitarian and Emergency Relief, said on a recent visit to Somalia that “200,000 people are suffering from famine in Somalia, and by November it will reach 300,000.”
According to the UN’s classification of food crises, hundreds of thousands of people around the world are in famine, the deadliest stage of food crisis. According to the severity of the food crisis, the United Nations classifies it into five stages: Minimal, Stressed, Crisis, Emergency, and Famine. The third and above stage is classified as an acute food crisis.
Vice-Chancellor Griffiths pointed out that “an extreme case occurs in which the parties in conflicts intentionally block access to goods by civilians” and that “starvation is used as a tactic.” (source: Yonhap News Synthesis).
He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the Lord. “But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.” O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord. (Jeremiah 22:16-17, 29)
God, with the world’s hunger population at an all-time high, Heavenly Father, please meet those who are suffering from hunger. May You establish a church that prays for the poor brothers of the nations, and when the food is delivered, the gospel that saves the soul is also delivered so that their souls and flesh can be revived. May You rebuke those who follow greed and block the access of civilian goods so that those who belong to the earth will listen to the LORD and stop the violence.
Prayer 24·365
prayer@prayer24365.org
