UN rights expert pledges to amplify rural voices in upcoming UN Food Systems Summit
Rural groups and food
sovereignty advocates from around the world organized an independent digital
dialogue to engage with UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food Michael
Fakhri and his predecessor Hilal Elver on the demands and recommendations they
want to raise in the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.
The dialogue, titled “Rural Voices: Food and Rights for All,” was held Oct. 9, 2020,
and was attended by leaders of rural people’s movements from Asia, Africa,
Latin America, West Asia and North Africa, and Europe. The People’s Coalition on Food
Sovereignty (PCFS), an international movement of grassroots
groups of small food producers and food sovereignty advocates, initiated the
event to “deliver the demands and recommendations of the rural poor to address
the food crisis and human rights situation to the [summit].”
“The rise of human rights
violations and intensifying hunger amidst the spread of the [COVID-19] virus is
a more critical situation for the rural poor. The rural poor are the most
vulnerable both to the disease and the economic implications of the pandemic,
and they should be at the forefront of priorities and their human rights should
be respected and upheld,” PCFS global co-chairperson Razan Zuayter said in her
opening remarks.
She added that it is crucial to
deliver the voices of rural communities to the summit, as well as to raise
concerns on the increasing space of the corporations in shaping the future of
food and agriculture.
As such, the dialogue’s program
featured the situation and calls of rural sectors including peasants, rural
women, fisherfolks, rural youth, and indigenous peoples; the Nine Demands for
Food and Rights developed by the coalition; the issues of the rural poor in
Africa, Latin America, and Palestine; and the responses of Fakhri and Hilal to
these presentations.
Fakhri and Elver both welcomed
the demands that were put forward during the dialogue.
“I really appreciate the time
and energy and all the organization behind everyone’s testimonies today and for
sharing your stories, your perspectives, your clear demands. I will definitely
share them all with the Food Systems Summit organizers and national delegates
to make sure that your demands are heard and I will press them to respond to
your demands as well,” Fakhri said.
The UN expert highlighted the
importance of solidarity as the core of the dialogue’s discussions.
“We have heard today in a lot of
different ways how people can try to undo your solidarity and how difficult it
is to maintain that solidarity amongst all of you together, knowing that you
all have different perspectives, histories, and contexts. Solidarity takes a
lot of work. Those with more power always try to undo those bonds,” he said.
Fakhri commended the focus on
patriarchy, colonization, and imperialism in the presentations especially of
the Indigenous Peoples, youth, and on Palestine being one of the longest cases
of colonization.
“The [summit’s] organizers have
not yet framed what the problem is; they are already talking solutions, but
without explaining how they are framing the problem. I think that not only the
way PCFS is
presenting its demands, but also the way it is framing the problem is so key
and crucial,” said Fakhri.
He also mentioned agroecology
and the rising consensus around it. Fakhri plans to visit countries especially
in Africa “to gather cases and stories and examples of different ways in which
people are already practicing agroecology… and find ways to transition to
agroecology.”
Elver, on the other hand,
expressed her support to the Nine Demands, which PCFS launched in April to
campaign policy recommendations for just, equitable, and sustainable food
systems in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts to food and
agriculture.
“It is very important we should
not forget the strong self-sufficiency, not relying on food imports and giving
all kinds of incentives to local farmers and we can really produce our own
food. We will not be rich by producing our own food, but we will be feeding
ourselves and families. This is a number one rule and we really should not
forget about it,” she said.
The former UN Special Rapporteur
also emphasized how economic sanctions are “extremely problematic from the
international human rights point of view” and that sanctions should be strongly
opposed because they are causing the suffering of more than 30 countries.
At the end of the program, PCFS
global co-chairperson Sylvia Mallari thanked Fakhri and Elver for giving the
coalition “this opportunity to raise our concerns and demands for the future of
our food systems.” She said the Multistakeholder Dialogue is just one of the
“initiatives [of PCFS] to present a comprehensive overview of the changes that
need to take place in our food systems and agriculture” even beyond the context
of the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.
“The summit may be opportune to
promote our desired reforms, but we have no guarantee given the lacking
grassroots representation as well as the strong corporate influence and
neoliberal bias of the people behind it,” Mallari added.
“By this dialogue, we are affirming
that our world is one, our pain is shared, and if we as a global movement are
focused and united in action, we will be surely able to make a tangible
difference,” said Zuayter.
The coalition then invited the
dialogue’s presenters and participants to join the online protest caravan with
the theme “#Hungry4Change: A Global Day of Action for Food and Rights” on
Oct. 16, 2020, which PCFS annually commemorates as World Hunger Day. The Asian
Peasant Coalition (APC) declared the occasion to counter the Food and
Agriculture Organization’s World Food Day.
“We must work together,
strengthen our resolve, and continue our assertions in all forms and arenas
possible to uphold the right to food,” Mallari concluded. ###
Recorded livestream: https://www.facebook.com/PCFSGlobal/videos/833161247429970/
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