G7 policies far from fighting hunger and malnutrition

Despite the fact that fighting hunger has been defined as a “key objective” by the G7, resulting policies have shown to be detrimental to those most affected by hunger and malnutrition. Particularly with the “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition”, launched in 2012, G7 governments have catalyzed corporate investments in agriculture in African countries that merely serve the interests of private corporate investors. Ahead of the upcoming summit on 7-8 June, FIAN International reiterates the G7 approach ignores general human rights principles and contradicts a human rights-based framework on food and nutrition.

Currently being implemented in ten African countries, the policies and strategies promoted by the New Alliance ease the grabbing of land and other natural resources, further marginalize small-scale food producers, and undermine the human right to adequate food and nutrition, some studies show.

On a similar note, a recent publication by FIAN Germany, conducted together with other civil society organizations (CSOs), reveals that 75 percent of the global seeds are in the hands of ten companies. Entitled ‘Corporate power without borders’, the release shows that nine of these are from G7 countries, including the big multinational corporations of Monsanto, Dupont and Bayer CropScience. The first two, the publication remarks, are besides major players in the G7 New Alliance.

FIAN considers that the New Alliance is based on a simplistic economic model whereby corporate investment in agriculture increases productivity and that this will automatically translate into food and nutrition security. This narrow understanding disregards that food and nutrition security is about consistent access to a diverse and nutritious diet, and not just more food.

Instead of allowing and promoting corporate capture of public policy spaces and natural resources, as well as presenting the corporate sector as a solution-provider to hunger and malnutrition, the G7 countries must comply with their obligations under international human rights law, especially with regards to the human right to adequate food. On this note, the G7 should immediately stop the implementation of cooperation frameworks within the New Alliance, as well as the negotiation of new frameworks that may undermine sustainable small-scale food production and local food systems.

FIAN International stresses that the G7 has no democratic legitimacy in any decision-making on food security and nutrition, and calls on states to abide by their human rights obligations – territorial and extraterritorial – and protect public policy spaces from corporate capture. G7 governments should comply with their commitments at the UN Committee on World Food Security, inter alia by fully implementing the Guidelines on the Governance of Land, Fisheries and Forests.

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