37th CFS Plenary Session, 17-22 October 2011, Rome
The CFS is the United Nations' forum for reviewing policies concerning world food. It is the most inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for all relevant stakeholders to work together to ensure food security and nutrition.
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24 August 2010 – United Nations agencies are gearing up efforts to ensure that hundreds of thousands of people affected by the recent violence in Kyrgyzstan have enough food and adequate shelter ahead of the upcoming winter season.
A nationwide assessment carried out by the World Food Programme (WFP) in July found that more than one quarter of Kyrgyz households – or some 1.4 million people – were food insecure.
The report warned that a further 340,000 people are at risk of becoming food insecure over the coming months, due to the deteriorating economic situation and winter hardship, when food stocks are exhausted and additional expenses are required for heating and winter clothing.
10 August 2010 – The United Nations and its aid partners today voiced concern that immediate humanitarian needs in Kyrgyzstan will go unmet since they have only received 30 per cent of the $96 million requested to provide life-saving assistance to civilians affected by recent violence.
Launched in June, the appeal would enable aid agencies to assist over a six-month period some 300,000 people who have been internally displaced by the conflict that erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan earlier that month, and another 765,000 people who have been affected by the crisis.
The clashes between Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks led to a number of deaths and injuries, as well as widespread arson, sexual violence, looting of property and destruction of infrastructure.
Press Release No:2011/050/ECA
BISHKEK, July 27, 2010 — The High Level Donors Meeting for the Kyrgyz Republic was held in Bishkek, bringing together representatives of the Kyrgyz Government, civil society, private sector, international development agencies, and bilateral donors to pledge US$ 1.1 billion in emergency response for the country, and to determine the role each partner can play in support of the country’s reconciliation and recovery.
27 July 2010 – The United Nations refugee agency today called on Kyrgyz authorities to improve conditions to allow 75,000 people who remain uprooted after last month’s deadly ethnic clashes, as the world body and its partners appealed for more funds to help those affected by the violence.
The clashes between Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks in early June displaced at least 300,000 people within Kyrgyzstan, sending many fleeing to neighbouring Uzbekistan.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) said today that its teams in the hard-hit cities of Osh and Jalalabad have heard of frequent instances of detention and harassment.
22 July 2010 – More than 1,100 people affected by the violence that erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan last month have been given short-term jobs under a United Nations scheme aimed at injecting much-needed cash into the local economy and providing incomes so people can restart their lives.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) launched the cash-for-work initiative in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad, which bore the brunt of the deadly clashes between Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks that uprooted nearly 400,000 people and sent many fleeing to neighbouring Uzbekistan.
According to UN agencies, many families have returned to their places of origin with some sheltering in camps or staying with host families since their homes have been destroyed.
14 July 2010 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners have embarked on a project to open safe spaces where children who have suffered during the recent violence in Kyrgyzstan can play together and receive counselling.
“Children need a safe space to pick up threads of their lives,” said Samphe Lhalungpa, Acting Officer-in-Charge for UNICEF Kyrgyzstan.
“This is a place for them to play, draw, sing and dance and be active together. Communities need these spaces to overcome fear and return to some kind of normalcy.”
1 July 2010 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is continuing to distribute supplies to people who have been affected by the recent deadly ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan.
According to the agency, nearly all of the 75,000 ethnic Uzbeks who fled across the border to Uzbekistan after violence erupted in the Kyrgyz towns of Osh and Jalalabad have returned. Many are sheltering in camps or staying with host families since their homes have been destroyed.
So far, WFP has reached 270,000 people uprooted by the violence which broke out three weeks ago with food supplies.
30 June 2010 – The top United Nations refugee official today urged the international community not to forget the plight of the thousands of civilians uprooted by the recent violence in Kyrgyzstan, as he continued his visit to the Central Asian nation.
António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, highlighted the difficulties for those left homeless or living in fear of further unrest, as well as those who now have to rebuild their lives following the clashes that erupted between Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan in mid-June.
“The world was taken by surprise with Kyrgyzstan, we must not be taken by surprise again,” Mr. Guterres told reporters at a site for returned refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The spike in food prices of last year (2008) underscored what experts have been telling us for many years: the world's food systems are in crisis