OCEANIA/AUSTRALIA - “It is completely immoral to be diverting food stocks to fuel when people are starving!”: Caritas’ commitment to fighting the Asian food crisis

Tuesday, 15 April 2008

Sydney (Agenzia Fides) - The international institutions making appeals for the fight against the food crisis that is dealing a low blow to many Asian countries- with the soaring costs of basic food products like rice and grains (see Fides 14/4/2008) - have found a prompt response in Caritas Australia that has announced its commitment, above all, to the countries of southeast Asia.
Caritas CEO, Jack de Groot, said that malnutrition continues to spread in developing countries and the recent economic patterns and inflation are worsening the situation. “Currently we have over 40 times the population of Australia who are malnourished. And if the governments, international organizations, NGOs, and civil groups don’t do their part, the situation of food security will worsen.” De Groot also mentioned the climate patterns as a factor in the situation and denounced the fact that the present food crisis is, in part, due to the use of food stock in producing biofuels. “It is completely immoral to be diverting food stocks to fuel when people are starving,” he said, mentioning the statistics from the World Bank that reveal the hundreds of millions of people now falling into poverty from the situation.
Caritas Australia has already contributed its resources in helping people in East Timor, the Philippines, Haiti, and Malawi, in an attempt to avoid uprisings and public disorder that come as a result of the starving population. World food security should be a priority, says Caritas, echoing the call being made by the major international institutions, and encouraging the Australian government to place it as one of its main priorities. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 15/4/2008; righe 21, parole 263)


Share: