G20 urged to deliver pledges for world hunger (OneWorld.net)

June 19 (OneWorld.net) - Evidence continues to emerge that the release of international donor funds to support global food security is matching neither the scale of the promises nor the urgency of the situation.

According to its June report, grants have been awarded to a total of 12 developing countries by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a key multilateral fund established to support national hunger plans by G20 leaders at the Pittsburgh summit in 2009.

But 20 countries have been turned away, according to Lael Brainard, under-secretary for international affairs at the US Treasury. And GAFSP administrators say that new proposals must remain on hold, "pending availability of funding."

Only six of the richer countries, together with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have so far made pledges to GAFSP. The total of $925 million includes offers from Spain and Ireland whose economies are facing exceptional difficulties.

Lael Brainard has emerged as a cheerleader for GAFSP fundraising. "Without swift support from the rest of the G8 and the G20, the global fight against hunger could be put at great risk," she wrote in the UK Guardian last week.

This is a bold position for the under-secretary to adopt because the current gap between funds received by GAFSP and funds promised is almost entirely attributable to the US. Of $475 million pledged, only $167 million has been approved by Congress.

Ms Brainard did acknowledge the embarrassment in a recent speech at the Chicago Council of Global Affairs. "Without greater progress on our pledge, it is difficult for the United States to convince other development partners to contribute. That's why it will be critical for Congress to fund the Administration's request of $308 million in FY2012," she said.

This funding tension comes at a time of rising concern about hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Escalating global prices of staple grains combined with persistent extreme weather conditions in vulnerable regions have driven an additional 44 million people into poverty, according to the World Bank.

Fearing a possible repeat of the 2008 food crisis, agriculture ministers from the G20 group of countries will assemble for an unprecedented meeting in Paris on Monday.

Recent days have witnessed a deluge of advice from international development agencies on action that ministers should take to protect global food security in general and the poor in particular.

Top favourite is a curb on speculative trading of food commodities. In its role as G20 chair, the French government is known to be sympathetic to this call but may be forced to rule the matter as the business of finance rather than agriculture ministers.

Shenggen Fan, Director General of the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute, is amongst those who have published advice on food security. But he prefers not to lose sight of the underlying financial imperative.

"Before the international community issues any new recommendations, they first need to make good on previous commitments," he says, referring to the 2009 pledge by G8 leaders to raise an additional $20 billion for agriculture in poor countries. Less than a quarter of this amount has been disbursed, according to the G8 accountability report published last month.

Ethiopia is a key country to monitor for progress on agriculture. Already seriously affected by the drought in the Horn of Africa, the country has over 10 million people in need of food assistance.

For longer term development of its farming sector, Ethiopia is one of the fortunate few countries to be funded by the GAFSP program. The grant totals $51.5 million.

But this figure may only scratch the surface. Ethiopia's Policy and Investment Framework, its ten-year plan for agriculture, estimates the funding gap that will have to be sought from international donors. It totals $6.2 billion.

* More Information:

Food Security in Ethiopia, a OneWorld briefing

Yahoo! News

Obama urged to reverse policy on no condolence letters for suicides

A group of senators is asking President Obama to send condolence letters to families of troops who commit suicide.No condolence letters are sent from the president to families of troops who kill themselves Eleven senators sign a letter urging a change of the "insensitive" policyThe policy has been in place for several administrations

Washington (CNN) -- A bipartisan group of senators is asking President Barack Obama to change the current "insensitive" policy of not sending condolence letters to families of service members who commit suicide.

A letter signed by 11 senators -- 10 Democrats and one Republican -- and sent Wednesday urges the president to "take immediate steps to reverse the long-standing policy of withholding presidential letters of condolence" to families of troops who killed themselves.

The policy, which goes back several presidents, has been the subject of protest by military families. CNN first reported in 2009 about the family of Spc. Chancellor Keesling, who killed himself while serving in Iraq.

The family set up a wall to pay tribute to Keesling in their Indiana home. Along with his uniform and the flag from his burial service, a space was left for the expected condolence letter from the commander in chief.

Upset when they learned a suicide did not merit a letter from the president, Keesling's father, Gregg, wrote to the president and the Army chief of staff requesting the policy be changed.

At the time, a White House spokesman said the administration was reviewing the "inherited" policy. Questioned about that review at a White House briefing in December 2009, the White House spokesman at the time, Robert Gibbs, said a review would be completed "shortly."

"If the president didn't care, the policy would remain unchanged and unexamined," Gibbs said.

Keesling has argued that his son's suicide was a result of what he was exposed to during war and deserves to be considered caused by battle.

The letter to the president this week seeks again to reverse the policy. The senators note that the Pentagon has worked hard to try to eliminate the stigma of mental health injuries and to lower the suicide rate.

A recent report, cited in the letter, noted that every 36 hours a service member kills himself or herself, in the examined period between 2005 and 2009.

"Unfortunately, perpetuating a policy that denies condolence letters to families of service members who die by suicide only serves to reinforce this stigma by overshadowing the contributions of an individual's life with the unfortunate nature of his or her death," the letter says. "It is simply unacceptable for the United States to be sending the message to these families that somehow their loved ones' sacrifices are less important."

The letter was signed by Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Barbara Boxer of California, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Richard Durbin of Illinois, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Mark Pryor of Arkansas; Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, Mark Udall of Colorado, and Ron Wyden of Oregon; and Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina.

CNN

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Iran urged not to blind victim's attacker

Majid Movahedi was convicted in 2008 of throwing acid at a woman who rejected his advances.NEW: ISNA: The acid punishment is postponedMajid Movahedi was convicted in 2008 of an acid attack on a womanHe was sentenced to have five drops of acid in both eyes

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- A human rights group on Saturday urged Iranian authorities not to put acid in the eyes of a man found guilty of blinding a woman who scorned him.

Majid Movahedi is scheduled to be blinded by having five drops of acid in each eye Saturday, according to Amnesty International.

It was unclear what time -- or whether -- the punishment will take place Saturday. The semiofficial Iranian Students' News Agency, or ISNA, reported Saturday that the acid punishment had been postponed and another date hadn't been established.

Movahedi was convicted in 2008 of throwing a bucket of acid on Ameneh Bahrami.

The attack blinded Bahrami, who sought to have authorities render the ancient punishment of "an eye for an eye" in accordance with Islamic law.

The rights group is urging Iran to forgo the acid punishment.

"It is unbelievable that the Iranian authorities would consider implementing such a punishment," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, an Amnesty International deputy director.

"Regardless of how horrific the crime suffered by Ameneh Bahrami, being blinded with acid is a cruel and inhuman punishment amounting to torture, and the Iranian authorities have a responsibility under international law to ensure it does not go ahead."

Bahrami said it has been very difficult for her since the attack.

She says she first met Movahedi in 2002 when they attended the same school.

She was a 24-year-old electronics student. He was 19. She never noticed him until he sat next to her in class and brushed up against her. Bahrami says she knew it wasn't an accident.

"I moved away from him," she said, "but he brushed up against me again."

Bahrami said that over the next two years, Movahedi harassed her and made threats, even asking her to marry him.

"He told me he would kill me. He said, 'You have to say yes.' "

On a November afternoon in 2004, his threats turned to violence when he followed her from the medical engineering company where she worked.

As she walked to the bus stop, she sensed someone behind her.

She turned around and was startled to see Movahedi, who threw something over her. What felt like fire on her face was acid searing through her skin.

"I was just yelling, 'I'm burning! I'm burning! For God's sake, somebody help me,' " she said.

The acid seeped into her eyes, and streamed down her face into her mouth. When she covered her face with her hands, streaks of acid ran down her fingers and onto her forearms.

In 2009, Bahrami told CNN that she had undergone more than a dozen surgeries on her badly scarred face, but still imagined that in the future she would have a wedding day.

"I always see myself as someone who can see and sometimes see myself in a beautiful wedding gown, and why not?" She said.

CNN's Reza Sayah contributed to this report.

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