NEW YORK, OCTOBER 18 – “With the ‘winterization’ of the Ukrainian crisis and the Russian military escalation, humanitarian assistance is the game changer and must be increased”, the Italian Permanent Representative to the UN, Maurizio Massari, said today at an ECOSOC briefing of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“What we heard about the situation in Ukraine is extremely concerning. It is essential that humanitarian actors are in a position to deliver humanitarian assistance wherever and whenever it is needed, safely and unhindered. It is also important that our response takes into account the specific needs related both to the cold season and to the unacceptable increase of Russian attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructures, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law”, said Massari.
Italy has provided so far 110 million euros as general budget support to the Government of Ukraine and, in addition, more than 41 million euros and 66 tons of goods for the humanitarian emergency of the population.
A further area of concern are the dramatic humanitarian consequences in the Global South of the Russian aggression to Ukraine. Italy – said Ambassador Massari – commends and supports the UN Black Sea Grain Initiative, “which is to be extended”, and also all the other relevant initiatives fostered by the EU aimed at finding alternative routes such as the “EU solidarity lanes”.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative so far has allowed over 7 million metric tons of grain to leave Ukraine, two-thirds of which has gone to the Global South. As the UN has pointed out: the initiative helps calm markets and limit food price inflation. Tthe global Food Price Index has fallen since its spike at the start of the war, and wheat prices are back at pre-war levels. (@OnuItalia)
