PHA-Exch> PRESS RELEASE: Accountability as important as feeding the hungry,

[Claudio Schuftan]

For full text, please see:
  - OHCHR website: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/food/index.htm
 - FAO website:
http://www.fao.org/foodclimate/conference/statements/day3-am/en/


6 June 2008

*
Accountability as important as feeding the hungry, *
*says UN right to food expert on follow-up to Summit on World Food Security
*


*Geneva*:- -"The right to food is not only about feeding the hungry in times
of emergency. It is about improving accountability. It requires that we
focus on the most vulnerable segments of the population. It brings into the
debate requirements of accountability and participation which, regrettably,
are absent from the current responses of the international community" stated
the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, today
in Geneva.

In his presentation of the results of the Rome High-Level Conference, the
Special Rapporteur commented on the Final Declaration adopted at the
Conference and the Draft Comprehensive Framework for Action which is to
guide the efforts of UN agencies in tackling the global food crisis. "An
approach centered on the right to adequate food could contribute to these
initiatives and oblige us to address the questions of power and
accountability which distinguish the global food crisis from a natural
disaster."

"Hunger is man-made. What misguided policies have caused, better focused
policies can undo," noted Mr. De Schutter.

"While there is general agreement about the need to massively reinvest in
agriculture in developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, a
number of questions remain open after the Rome High-Level Conference on
World Food Security convened by the FAO", said the Special Rapporteur.
"Those questions include how to promote agriculture so as to increase global
food production and ensure that supply matches growing demand; how to
reconcile food security with the energy needs of the planet; how to combat
the speculation on futures markets which increase costs for food-importing
countries; how to address the role of the private sector and its human
rights responsibilities; and how to ensure appropriate attention to the
social and environmental impact of the initiatives which are being
launched."

Mr. De Schutter was reporting back from the High-Level Conference on World
Food Security that took place this week in Rome to the 8th session of the
Human Rights Council. The Council had asked him at its Special Session on 22
May to ensure that the right to food was addressed in the answers given to
the global food crisis at the Rome meeting.

ENDS
*
Statements of the Special Rapporteur on the world food crisis and additional
information on the mandate can be found at **
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/food/index.htm*<http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/food/index.htm>
* . He can be reached at **srfood at ohchr.org**
*


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