Starvation and Malnutrition in Abundance
On the occasion of the World Food Day on 16. October 2013 and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17. October 2013 party chair of DIE LINKE, Katja Kipping, declares:
Every three seconds someone dies from the consequences of starvation and malnutrition. All together 870 million people suffer from starvation. On the other hand 1.3 billion tons of food get lost or are disposed of – which is a third of the annual global production. Only 0.24 per cent of the gross domestic product of the wealthy countries would suffice to globally eradicate starvation.
German, being economically the most powerful country in Europe, spends a mere 0.4 per cent of its GDP for development aid. It intends to raise development aid to 0.7 per cent of the GDP until 2015. Would the governments of Germany and the other rich countries do so the worst consequences of poverty – starvation and misery – would be abolished. Would the poor countries and the people in development countries regain their right to food sovereignty, instead of being looted and given no chance to compete, they could develop their own sustainable economies and live healthily. They would not have to risk their life as migrants – neither in the Mediterranean nor anywhere else.