UNPO Presidency

Calls For Urgent Action

to Prevent Famine in Sindh

The Hague, 21 February 2011

The Presidency of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), further to its Indus River Statement of 23 August 2010:

- joins the international community in expressing its deep concern at the chronic malnutrition and extreme poverty that persist in rural areas of Pakistan that remain affected by the flooding that occurred in 2010;

- believes, however, that the floods cannot be the sole cause of malnourishment and poverty in Pakistan rural areas, and that significant responsibility must be borne by the Pakistan authorities for not mitigating the impact of the flooding in 2010 and subsequently;

- considers it of the utmost importance to keep in mind the poor social security in Pakistan, which causes misery everyday to millions, forcing local people to abandon their households and agriculture activities and represents one of the principle failings of the Pakistan government over the past six decades;

- notes that presence such poor governance, based on the misplaced priorities of the Pakistan authorities, is compounding a situation where Sindh, and other areas suffer from a chronic lack of resources for basic health and nutrition;

- considers the growth of security-related expenditure in Pakistan to be inconsistent with the current desperate and human security situation within the country, which shows little sign of improving at the current time;

- believes that the improvement of the political values and governance priorities, are imperative to improving the human security and nutrition situation in Pakistan, in Sindh province, in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan and must be acted upon without delay;

The UNPO Presidency consequently call upon the Pakistan authorities to redouble their efforts to bring relief to the thousands of suffering Sindhis and for the international community to provide direct material assistance and support to nongovernmental organisations working to provide food, shelter, and medical supplies in Sindh Province so that a devastating and avoidable famine may be averted.