Lanka Business Online

Be Humane

24 October 2005 18:59 hours

The UN tells IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organisation to respect human rights, instead of only focussing on money.

Such international bodies as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) "should recognize that they have binding responsibilities towards human rights, including the right to food," said the UN Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler.

"With power must come responsibility," said the report. The reprimand comes after persistent food shortages in poorer parts of the world, mainly in Africa, despite increased global trade and riches.

"Finally, it is unacceptable that the world, which is richer than ever before, can let 5 million infant children die every year from malnutrition and related diseases and that 852 million people do not get enough to eat every day," said Ziegler.

The Right to Food report raises concerns that projects financed by international organisations like the World Bank can impact the availability of food for vulnerable populations.

These development programmes sometimes cause people to move from their land and cuts off access to traditional lands and livelihoods.

The report notes that economic models of development currently promoted and imposed by the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO, threaten the right to food of small farmers across the world.

The UN special rapporteur also recommends that food aid be left out of on going world trade talks.

Food security should not be "left up to the vagaries of the market system that cannot address hunger in times of emergency," and emergency food aid should be excluded from market principles and provided free of charge, says the report.

Meanwhile the report calls on all governments to take urgent action to halt increases in global under-nourishment and to respond rapidly to the food crises.

"While national governments have the primary obligation to ensure the right to food of their populations, they also have an obligation to seek international assistance and cooperation when they have insufficient resources, and other States have an obligation, depending on the availability of their resources, to facilitate the realization of the right to food through development cooperation and emergency aid," says Ziegler.