World Food Summit must deal with international causes of hunger
Heidelberg, 16.11.2009 - The human rights organization FIAN International is expecting a self-critical analysis and a change of course in global food politics from the World Summit on Food Security starting in Rome today. In 1996, governments had promised to halve hunger by 2015. "The rise to over one billion in numbers of malnourished and starving people is an unparalleled scandal of global politics," criticizes Flavio Valente, Secretary-General of FIAN International. "The community of states must unmistakably recognize their failure and clearly name the causes. The global food politics must be coordinated in a more democratic and transparent way by means of a strengthened UN and further be monitored on the basis of the human right to food," Valente states.
According to FIAN, the final declaration draft is concealing some of the central causes of hunger. “The summit declaration does not mention in any way the sellout of African and Asian countries’ agricultural lands to foreign states and companies,” comments Sofia Monsalve, agrarian policies expert at FIAN International. “Regarding speculation and agrofuels – two central causes of the price hikes – the declaration only recommends carrying out studies and entering into dialogue. At the same time, the declaration is demanding that agrarian markets further open up, but does not mention the detrimental effects of agrarian dumping policies. The combination of market opening and dumping threatens the right to food of millions of small farmers,” explains Monsalve. “The industrialized countries must finally recognize their responsibility for the realization of the right to food, if they want to regain credibility.”
As a result of the summit, FIAN is expecting convincing steps to reform and stabilize the UN within the field of world nutrition. “The UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), which underwent a reform process in October, must therefore in the future coordinate the international food system, develop a global framework strategy, and monitor national and international programs,” demands Valente. All of which should be based on the Right to Food Guidelines that were unanimously adopted by FAO member states in 2004.
FIAN advises against the current attempt of the USA and other states to marginalize the reformed Committee on World Food Security from the very beginning. Some states want to transfer the 20 billion USD that were agreed by the G8 to invest into agriculture in developing countries to a World Bank Trust. “If these financial resources are passed on to the World Bank, the UN will be left out,” warns Valente. “Neither developing country’s governments nor civil society might then participate in decisions on the assignment of the funds,” Valente adds. “Respective national governments must strive to prevent this setback and commit themselves to achieve a strong mandate of the reformed Committee on World Food Security,” concludes Monsalve.
More information:
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Failure by national governments and international institutions to ensure the right to food has led to rising numbers of malnourished and starving people, as documented in the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2009, a report launched in October by a consortium of human rights organizations, social movements and development agencies, among them Brot für die Welt, the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO) and FIAN International. http://www.fian.org/resources/documents/rtfn-watch/right-to-food-and-nutrition-watch-2009
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Information on FAO World Summit on Food Security at http://www.fao.org/wsfs/world-summit/en/
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Information on the parallel Civil Society People’s Forum in Rome at http://peoplesforum2009.foodsovereignty.org/