President Michael D Higgins has said that people in Gaza are being subjected to “forced starvation” and hunger is being used as “an instrument of war”.
Addressing the National Famine Commemoration in Kilmallock, Co Limerick, on Saturday, the president said the world must act to prevent “a massive loss of life”.
“Famine is a horrific reality in so many parts of the world, repeated again and again, accepted by too many with indifference,” he said.
“The occurrence of repeated famines, surely, is a great human failure. We are now seeing starvation being used as an instrument of war.”
Marriage equality a decade on: ‘Things have gone backwards’
Rhasidat Adeleke on life in the spotlight: ‘How do people like Beyoncé handle this? This is crazy!’
Dara Ó Briain: ‘I’m a man, I can’t manage family at the best of times ... now I’ve willingly taken on a 600% increase in family members’
Michael Gaine: Suspected body parts found in search for missing Kerry farmer
President Higgins said the UN Security Council had failed “again and again” to respond to current conditions in Gaza and called on the UN General Assembly to step in.
“The General Assembly must speak and act if, in fact, the Security Council refuses to deal with the terrible famines that are now facing us in those parts of the world,” he said.
President Higgins spoke about ongoing humanitarian crises in Yemen and Sudan, but paid particular attention to Gaza when discussing the “consequences of a forced starvation”.
Quoting United Nations secretary general António Guterres, Mr Higgins said: “As aid dries up, the floodgates of horror have reopened ... Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop.”
In his keynote address, Mr Higgins said the Irish Government, with others, “is asking all of the members of the European Union to act together to avoid what will be, what is now facing us, as I speak: a massive loss of life”.
“The collapse in humanitarian aid and assistance across the globe has led to significantly reduced humanitarian capacity.”
Mr Higgins noted that, while he spoke, trucks containing “vital food, medicine and water” were blocked from entering Gaza.
UN experts have warned that famine looms in Gaza after Israel blocked aid deliveries to the strip 76 days ago, with UN aid chief Tom Fletcher earlier this week asking the Security Council if it would act to “prevent genocide”.
Mr Higgins said “hunger and displacement are among the greatest challenges facing the world”, adding that one of their root causes “may be the impact of climate change”.
He also noted that his speech was the last time he would address the commemoration, in advance of the presidential election later this year.
Minister for Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport, and chair of the National Famine Commemoration Committee, Patrick O’Donovan, also addressed the event.
Mr O’Donovan, who represents the Limerick County constituency, said the Great Famine has “shaped us as a people; we are defined as a nation for our spirit of empathy, generosity and compassion – especially to all those who are suffering from hunger, disease and poverty today”.
“The people of Gaza, Sudan, areas of South Sudan, Haiti and Mali; we stand with these communities. This is the only way that we can truly honour the victims of the past.”
Mayor of Limerick John Moran said the commemoration is “a reminder that across the globe, many families still suffer from famine”.
“We as a global community need to continue to act,” he said.
