Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL4245):
Question by Lord Alton of Liverpool:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the announcement by Somalia’s United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on 19 November, that in Somalia (1) more than 2 million people face food and water insecurity, and (2) an estimated 2.3 million people face water, food and pasture shortages. (HL4245)
Tabled on: 22 November 2021
Answer:
Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park:
The UK is deeply concerned by the humanitarian situation in Somalia with large parts of the country now experiencing severe drought. The UK is working closely with the Somalian Government, the UN and international partners to support an early and rapid response.
Eighty percent of the country is now facing severe famine, and the Government of Somalia has declared a ‘humanitarian emergency’. Multiple shocks, including threats from Covid-19, desert locusts and floods, have deepened Somalia’s protracted climate and conflict-induced humanitarian crisis with over 5.9 million people in need of assistance and disrupted progress towards stability and economic recovery. In 2020 the UK provided 2.5 million vulnerable Somalis with life-saving cash assistance (874,409), nutrition (303,938), health (453,639) and emergency WASH-Water and Sanitation (895,002).
Date and time of answer: 06 Dec 2021 at 12:08.
