Man-made hunger crises have destabilised the globe and could drive new waves of displacement, with major ramifications for European security, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) deputy director has warned.
Speaking to the Telegraph during a visit to Bangkok, Carl Skau, a former Swedish diplomat who is now second-in-command at the WFP, said the world is facing “unprecedented” levels of hunger. Rates of acute food insecurity have more than doubled in the last five years, with 319 million people affected this year.
But at the same time, funding cuts and mounting disregard for humanitarian law have curtailed efforts to help those affected, from Gaza to Sudan and Myanmar to Afghanistan. Mr Skau said this was a mistake – and not just because people will unnecessarily die of starvation.
“Ultimately, this is also about global stability,” he said. “There are all kinds of bad things coming out of populations that are starving. So we’re really worried [about] what the broader implications of this is, beyond the humanitarian imperatives.”
When asked if discussions about immigration in the UK and Europe were ignoring hunger as a driver, he added: “I think European politics in many places are quite introverted at the moment. And that’s short-sighted… Europe is not an island.
“I mean, when you look at migration to Europe, Bangladesh is one of the largest groups. So if we are not able to deal with the Rohingya situation in Cox’s Bazaar, that’s going to have a destabilising impact on [Europe]. The world is connected.”
Mr Skau at Cox’s Bazaar, where at least 150,000 additional refugees have arrived over the last 18 months – Rawful Alam
Two weeks ago Mr Skau visited the densely packed refugee camp, where at least 150,000 additional refugees have arrived over the last 18 months as fighting ramps up in Rakhine state in neighbouring Myanmar.
The camp already hosted nearly one million Rohingya refugees, who have fled targeted violence since 2017, but they are not allowed to work in Bangladesh – leaving them entirely reliant on aid. Yet the WFP’s budget for food is set to run out on December 1.
“After that, we have no more money,” said Mr Skau. “And obviously there’s then a risk that they turn to criminality or join armed groups… and there are a lot of young girls who are vulnerable to be married off or forced into prostitution.”
The WFP’s reduced resources extend far beyond Bangladesh – worldwide, the UN agency faces a 40 per cent shortfall in 2025, and says funding has dropped by 34 per cent compared to 2024. A substantial chunk of this is due to reduced US funding, including a complete cut on all American food aid to Yemen and Afghanistan.
Mr Skau said this has resulted in “impossible decisions” for teams on the frontline, who have had to take food from “the hungry to prioritise the starving”.
In Afghanistan, for instance, he said the WFP has gone from supporting nine million people two years ago to just one million people today.
“We used to support the entire population in a set village, who frankly were all in need of assistance. But now we’re trying to prioritise the most vulnerable,” he said.
“Who are they? Let’s say a widowed woman with more than five children. That means we’re leaving widowed women with four children behind and, in Afghanistan, those women are not going to be able to find work, so that means the children will die.
Mr Skau added: “The stress on our teams to make those decisions is immense, and obviously the suffering of the people we’re leaving behind is unimaginable… We’re taking away everything, basically, for the hungry to prioritise the starving. But that’s only going to push up the number of starving in the next year.”
Mr Skau fears many women and girls will be forced into marriage or trafficked into prostitution – Rawful Alam
Yet funding allocations are not the only tough choices facing the UN agency: security is also a mounting issue as “the rules of the game are being challenged”, with humanitarian law repeatedly ignored.
Just 10 days ago, 15 WFP staff members in Yemen were detained by Houthi authorities, while three drivers were recently killed by a drone in Sudan and staff in Gaza are under “constant attack”.
“Last year was a record in terms of humanitarians being killed. I think we’ll surpass that record this year,” said Mr Skau. “It’s not acceptable that our staff are not safe.”
He added that the WFP intends to lobby hard for more funding and attention on the world’s hunger crises – whether in Gaza, Sudan, or the Democratic Republic of Congo – at the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York.
But the agency is also looking to diversify its funding streams. Mr Skau has recently visited Indonesia – which is set to step up funding for Gaza and Afghanistan – as well as Thailand and India, where conversations on greater contributions are ongoing. The agency is also looking to private companies and philanthropic groups.
“But in the short term, that’s not going to tap the gaps, by any means, and we are going to have to make serious cuts,” he said.
“And it’s frustrating because the money is around, there is no doubt about that. It’s an issue of priorities. Collectively in the humanitarian community, we have asked for $29 billion this year – that’s not even one per cent of defence spending.”
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