He said "all people have a right to healthy food, produced in a sustainable manner appropriate to their culture. Democratic participation by the people is the best guarantee that governments will genuinely understand people's basic needs and will take these into account." He noted that people should have an adequate supply of food from their own fields and the surrounding region, which requires a type of agriculture based on "ownership" in developing countries and on functioning local structures and know-how.
Tanzania's President, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, stated that "40 000 children die every day throughout the world due to malnutrition and related diseases. These are the people who are being denied the right to food. These are the people who are the subject of this year's World Food Day." He also said that the ultimate solution lies in improving agriculture, especially in Africa.
In a message read during the ceremony, Pope Benedict XVI said that food is a universal right for humankind, without distinction or discrimination. He urged all members of society to ensure the right to food, the non-fulfillment of which is a violation of human dignity.
Despite the fact that the right to food was included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948, commitment to enforce the right has been only very gradual. However, Diouf said that while "national commitments to implement the right to food would have been unthinkable only ten years ago, such commitments are already bearing fruit. In Brazil, for example, the right is now firmly entrenched and hunger is in retreat."
FAO has been working with both governments and non-governmental organizations to promote a set of guidelines and a framework aimed at helping policymakers and others realize the right to food.
Italy's Minister for agricultural, food and forestry policies, Paolo de Castro, underlined the importance of the right to food guidelines as the most effective means of moving governments as well as civil society towards achieving global food security.
"Demographics, climate change and commodity prices appear to be working against us right now, threatening to swirl up into a perfect storm of overwhelming need. But there is hope to end hunger, and science and education are on our side," stated Josette Sheeran, WFP Executive Director, who also attended the WFD ceremony.
In a message from IFAD President Lennart Bage it was noted that "three quarters of the world's one billion extremely poor people live in rural areas, many already suffer from hunger and malnutrition, but new and growing challenges such as climate change are making them all the more vulnerable. This is why now, more than ever, the world has a pressing moral obligation to invest in agricultural development to combat hunger and restore dignity to the poor."
Source: FAO
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