UN Agencies ask WTO to Protect Humanitarian Food Aid by UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP 10:11am 10th Dec, 2005   Geneva, 08 December 2005    The heads of three of the largest UN agencies - UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP - today called upon negotiators at the World Trade Organization to protect food aid donations through the United Nations to cope with emergencies and feed vulnerable groups.    Global food aid is already under threat and slipped dramatically last year, dropping to 7.5 million metric tons from 10.2 million metric tons in 2003.    "We strongly believe reform of international agricultural trade is vital and can help overcome poverty in the developing world. This may well include disciplines on some types of food aid. But reforms should be carefully designed to protect millions of the world"s children, refugees and malnourished people who count on donations of food aid for their survival, nutrition and health," said James Morris, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Ann Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF.    Crucial role    "We ask that WTO negotiations recognize the crucial role that United Nations food aid plays in humanitarian operations and reaching out to the poorly nourished. Undernutrition remains the greatest threat to health worldwide (WHO, 2002) and there are chronic shortfalls in food rations for refugees, especially in Africa," the three agency heads said.    Food aid donations have come under scrutiny at the Doha Round of trade negotiations. One proposal seeks to ban donations of food in kind or restrict them to major emergencies, allowing donor governments only to give cash for the purchase of food aid, even through the United Nations. But globally, more than 90 percent of deaths from hunger and malnutrition occur outside classic emergencies like Darfur or the Pakistan earthquake.    In kind    Last year, three out of four tons of food donated worldwide were purchased in donor countries and essentially made in kind: gifts of wheat, maize, rice, beans, vegetable oil and other foods specially designed to meet the nutritional needs of malnourished populations.    Based on past donor behavior, it is unlikely that equivalent levels of cash could be made available by donor governments, especially new developing country donors with limited cash resources.    "The needs of hungry people already exceed donations available," said WFP chief, James Morris. "Any decision that might reduce the food available to them through the United Nations would be very hard to understand."    Of particular concern is the fact that some 45 percent of food aid delivered in 2004 went to citizens of countries who are not even members of WTO, and therefore have no one representing them in ongoing trade negotiations.    "The needs of hungry women and children should take priority if the Doha Round is to be the pro-poor trade round we all hope for," said Guterres, Morris and Veneman. "We appeal to negotiators at the World Trade Organization to put humanitarian considerations first when they address food aid."    05 December 2005    "Food Aid cannot be the object of WTO Haggling", by Jean Ziegler.    Evelyn Ayaa is a young 22-year-old Ugandan woman. She is mother to a little two-year-old boy. Kidnapped by rebel forces when she was twelve to serve in a military training camp, she finally succeeded in escaping and lives in a shanty in Sudan with several family members. She has no land. At the end of every month, she goes to get food rations distributed by the UN. If that assistance were to stop, she does not know what she would do, or who would look after her child.    She is far from suspecting that thousands of miles from there, in Geneva, in a world unknown to her, it could be decided that the few pounds of wheat, beans, and oil she receives every month could be subject to the laws of international trade. Such a decision would deprive her of the food ration that allows her to survive. She would be condemned to a virtually inevitable death. Evelyn Ayaa is far from suspecting that her life has become the object of negotiations between the planet"s rich countries.    Food aid is, in fact, one of the subjects being discussed within the framework of the World Trade Organization"s Doha round of negotiations, which are supposed to conclude in Hong Kong this December. The World Trade Organization (WTO) wants food aid, especially that distributed by the United Nations, to be subject to certain rules in order to avoid any distortion of commercial markets. As a remedy, it is proposed that countries in-kind contributions be prohibited and that only money gifts be accepted. If such a measure were to be adopted, the lives of 25,000 people a day would be threatened.    Last year, in fact, almost three quarters of global food aid came in the form of countries in-kind donations. If these in-kind donations were to be forbidden, it is possible that as many as three quarters of the people who survive thanks to food aid would be wittingly condemned to starve to death. It is unrealistic to hope to replace in-kind donations with equivalent monetary contributions. Contributing countries resources are limited.    Is it acceptable that commercial interests in the richest countries should come first, ahead of women"s and children"s right to live? Yet the international community adheres to the UN"s principles. The right to eat until one is no longer hungry is a fundamental human right. Just recently, member countries reaffirmed their will to cut hunger in the world by half from now to 2015. In spite of these promises, the related financial commitments are inadequate, and the tendency is for a growing number of people to be hungry in a world that is ever richer.    Worse, now being considered is the withdrawal of a part of this aid, and that at a moment when, far from laying down our weapons, we should be redoubling our efforts to fight hunger. The number of hungry people continues to grow, but food aid does not stop diminishing. Last year, food aid came to 7.5 million tons, a 50% decrease from 1999. At the same time, 852 million people are hungry today, versus 790 million ten years ago.    It would be even more shocking to prohibit countries that want to contribute to the fight against hunger from donating. In this regard, a growing proportion of food aid is now coming from developing countries which cannot allow themselves to contribute financially, but make in-kind donations. For example, India gave several tons of biscuits this year that fed Afghan children. Malawi, Vietnam, Thailand, Kenya, South Africa, and Algeria are among these new contributors. This tendency must be encouraged, not hobbled.    The truth is that we need all the aid available to keep one child from dying of hunger every five minutes - as is the case right now.    To add to the unacceptable, these trade rules are being formulated in a forum where the countries concerned are not represented and where the voice of the weakest is not heard.    The UN has always recognized each and every country"s right to speak. Now, the planet"s poorest countries, often aid beneficiaries, are not WTO members. That, for example, is the case for Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and the Republic of Congo. Last year, 45% of food aid was distributed in countries not members of the WTO. While the fundamental right of millions of people to food is already flouted, their right to speak is also denied.    Evelyn Ayaa has no influence on global markets. She has nothing to sell and can"t buy anything. Yet her very life depends on the rules decided within the WTO.    Food aid cannot be the object of commercial discussions. It must be withdrawn from the negotiating table. The lives of millions of people depend upon it.    (Jean Ziegler is the UN"s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food of the UN Commission on Human Rights. Published by Le Devoir - France).
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