Welthungerhilfe warns of further cuts to humanitarian aid and development policy.
The organisation’s secretary general, Mathias Mogge, told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” that the German government’s decision to reduce budgets for development cooperation and humanitarian assistance is “more than problematic”. He argued that this austerity drive, occurring alongside rising defence spending, sharply contradicts the internationally agreed goal of ending hunger by 2030. Mogge emphasised that development cooperation and emergency aid are not peripheral items of foreign‑safety policy, but core investments in global stability and security that must be financially prioritised.
According to Welthungerhilfe, wars and conflicts are among the leading drivers of hunger worldwide. In 2024 alone, they triggered 20 nutrition crises affecting nearly 140 million people. Mogge warned that current conflicts in the Middle East and the Near East could cause those figures to multiply in the future.
SIPRI data released this week show that the volume of heavy weapons traded between states rose by 9.2 % during the 2021‑2025 five‑year period compared with 2016‑2020, reaching levels not seen since the 1980s. European states more than tripled their imports of tanks, artillery, fighter jets, rockets, and similar equipment. Germany, with a share of 5.7 %, narrowly surpassed China and became the world’s fourth‑largest arms exporter.