PHA-Exch> Letter from the FIAN Secretary General to the UN re food crisis

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Flavio Valente valente at fian.org

http://www.fian.org/

************************************************************

  Heidelberg, September 24th, 2008

 Dear Mr. d'Escoto Brockmann,

 FIAN (*Food First Information & Action Network*), the international human
rights organization working for the right to food with consultative status
to the ECOSOC and members in over 50 countries, would like to share with you
its views on the *Comprehensive Framework of Action* (CFA) recently adopted
by the *High Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis* (HLTF). These views
are clarified in the position paper attached to this letter.



FIAN is deeply concerned about the process of adopting the CFA. The groups
most affected by the hunger crisis- particularly small-scale food producers
like peasants, indigenous peoples, fisher folk, and pastoralists - were not
consulted in the formulation of the CFA. Additionally, there was neither
consultation with the urban poor nor with civil society actors such as human
rights organizations. After the publication of the CFA, the HLTF started
carrying out informal meetings to discuss the CFA. However, these meetings
cannot replace a proper consultation process. Moreover, important
stakeholders such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
were not part of the process leading to the CFA. FIAN believes that the CFA
can neither be accepted nor implemented without proper consultation of the
crucial stakeholders concerned and recommends that the document be
thoroughly revised after such a consultation.



If the current CFA is used in the upcoming discussions at the country level,
this could put the most affected countries at risk of again becoming victims
of conditionalities, particularly by the Bretton Woods institutions and the
WTO - which have a prominent role in the HLTF. As opposed to the diagnosis
that the UN presented at the creation of its Task Force on the Global Food
Crisis, we recognize the present crisis as being deeply rooted in decades of
misguided international and national policies - decided and implemented
under the auspices of the Bretton Woods Institutions (IMF and World Bank,
etc.) and, more recently, the WTO. These policies have undermined the
conditions for states to respect, protect and fulfil the human right to
adequate food.



The world does not need more of the same medicine. This global food crisis
demonstrates that the all-pervasive global market will not guarantee food
security or the right to food. For years, social movements have been calling
for a food production system based on the principles of food sovereignty and
human rights, with special attention paid to the rights to adequate food and
effective participation, as well as access to productive resources, such as
land, water and seeds, among others.





H.E. Mr. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann

President of the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly







Thank you in advance for the attention that you will pay to this document.
FIAN hopes that the comments and recommendations in the document will lead
to a constructive dialogue.



Sincerely yours,



Dr. Flavio Luiz Schieck Valente

Secretary General

FIAN International
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