LONDON – Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative British MP who serves as leader of the House of Commons, has sparked outrage by criticizing a UNICEF program that will provide free meals to children in Britain for the first time in the 74-year history.
Mr Rees-Mogg on Thursday accused the United Nations children’s agency of organizing a “political stunt” and urged it to focus its efforts elsewhere after UNICEF said it would serve meals for up to 15,000 children in the country. , especially in London.
“It is a real scandal that UNICEF should play politics this way, when it is meant to take care of the people in the world’s poorest, most disadvantaged countries, where people are starving, where there is hunger and where there is wars, “he said during a parliamentary session.
Mr Rees-Mogg said UNICEF “should be ashamed of itself”.
UNICEF, which provides humanitarian and development assistance to children in 190 countries, described the coronavirus pandemic as the most urgent crisis affecting children since World War II. In the UK, he warned that in addition to the 2.4 million children who were already food bugs, the situation had worsened for many other families since March.
UNICEF said this week that it has partnered with Sustain, a British food and agriculture organization, to reach thousands of children, mostly in south London. The children will receive breakfast during the two-week Christmas break and the mid-February break, the organization said, adding that the operation will cost $ 1 million.
Zarah Sultana, a Labor MP whose question in Parliament led to Mr Rees-Mogg’s comments about UNICEF, reacted angrily to his response.
“It’s a shame for children to starve,” she said. “It’s not a shame to feed them.”
UNICEF’s director of programs and advocacy in the UK, Anna Kettley, said on Thursday that the organisation’s mission is to help the world’s poorest children. She said the UK program was a unique response to support children and vulnerable families during the pandemic.
“We believe that every child is important and deserves to survive and thrive no matter where they are born,” she said.
As Britain faces a deeper recession than any other country in Europe or North America, food insecurity has been widely publicized by 23-year-old football star Marcus Rashford, who has helped feed millions of children. from the country this year.
When the nation got into a deadlock and schools closed in the spring, Mr Rashford began a campaign to donate food to the 1.5 million children in England who qualify for free school meals. He gained support across the country, and thousands of cafes, restaurants, pubs and individuals have since donated food or money to charities.
Twice this year, first in June and again last month, Mr Rashford has also pressured Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government to extend the free school lunch program throughout the holidays, even after schools reopen. The latest package of 170 million pounds (230 million dollars) intends to offer free meals to children during the Easter, Summer and Christmas Breaks in 2021.
Most schools in the UK have breakfast clubs, some time before school, where children who have not had the chance to eat at home are offered porridge, eggs, toast and orange juice. Mr Rashford said he had received such free meals.
“I had little choice but to go to the breakfast club,” he told The New York Times in May.