Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Somalia: Hunger

Tuesday 8 November 2022 · 4 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The humanitarian situation in Somalia has worsened significantly over the past 12 months, with more than 7.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
  • Nearly 1 million people worldwide, including 300,000 in Somalia, are at risk of starvation under the category 5 definition.
  • The World Bank and the African Development Bank have announced more than $35 billion of funding for food security across east Africa.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Tan Dhesi Lab Slough
Context

The humanitarian situation in Somalia has worsened significantly over the past year with more than 7.8 million people in need of assistance and almost 300,000 facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Question

What assessment he has made of trends in the level of hunger in Somalia in the last 12 months?

Answer from Andrew Mitchell

The humanitarian situation throughout Somalia is grave and has worsened significantly over the past 12 months. The number of people affected by drought has more than doubled since January, with more than 7.8 million people now in need of humanitarian assistance.

Answered
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Q2 Tan Dhesi Lab Slough
Foreign Affairs Children & Families
Context

Mortality and malnutrition levels are at alarming heights with half a million children needing treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Families make desperate survival decisions, including gender-based violence and child marriage.

Question

Mortality and malnutrition are at alarming levels, with 300,000 people expected to face famine in Burhakaba and Baidoa. Sadly, children in Somalia are bearing the brunt, with half a million needing treatment for severe acute malnutrition, and they are much more likely to die of diarrhoea and measles. Rather than continuously, callously cutting aid budgets, what will the Government do to honour their commitment to protect women and girls before it is too late?

Answer from Andrew Mitchell

Under the category 5 definition—those people who are on the brink of starving to death—there are nearly 1 million people in the world today, and 300,000 of them are in Somalia. UK-funded programmes are ensuring that emergency cash transfers are reaching 310,000 people.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific actions to protect women and girls were not addressed

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Q3 David Davis Con Goole and Pocklington
Foreign Affairs Benefits & Welfare
Context

The Times reported that millions of British money allocated for aid is being diverted from saving the lives of children in north-east Africa to the Home Office.

Question

May I bring my hon. Friend back to the issue raised by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Preet Kaur Gill) about the resources available for aid? Yesterday, The Times told us that millions if not billions of British money is being diverted from aid, saving the lives of children in north-east Africa, to the Home Office.

Answer from Andrew Mitchell

These matters are very much the subject of discussions between the Foreign Office and the Treasury.

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Q4 Lyn Brown Lab
Climate Foreign Affairs
Context

Someone is dying of hunger every 36 seconds across east Africa, and the Government is cutting support despite urging at COP to help countries facing existential threats.

Question

I also welcome the Minister to his post. Across east Africa, somebody is dying of hunger every 36 seconds. One hundred people will die in the time that Ministers are at the Dispatch Box. At COP, countries such as ours are urged to cover the cost of adapting to global heating in extremely vulnerable nations, but, despite soundbites from No. 10 about helping countries with the existential threats that they face, our Government are cutting support for countries such as Somalia. Will he demonstrate that he understands the real human cost of climate change by promising immediate assistance for food and climate support in Somalia?

Answer from Andrew Mitchell

The international community is scaling up in Somalia and in Ethiopia. The World Bank and the African Development Bank have announced more than $35 billion of funding for food security across the region.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific promise for immediate assistance was not made

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