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.<\/p>\n
The dialogue, titled \u201cRural Voices: Food and Rights for All,\u201d was held Oct. 9, 2020, and was attended by leaders of rural people\u2019s movements from Asia, Africa, Latin America, West Asia and North Africa, and Europe. The People\u2019s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), an international movement of grassroots groups of small food producers and food sovereignty advocates, initiated the event to \u201cdeliver the demands and recommendations of the rural poor to address the food crisis and human rights situation to the [summit].\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d PCFS global co-chairperson Razan Zuayter said in her opening remarks.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
As such, the dialogue\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Fakhri and Elver both welcomed the demands that were put forward during the dialogue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really appreciate the time and energy and all the organization behind everyone\u2019s 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,\u201d Fakhri said.<\/p>\n
The UN expert highlighted the importance of solidarity as the core of the dialogue\u2019s discussions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe [summit\u2019s] 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<\/p>\n
presenting its demands, but also the way it is framing the problem is so key and crucial,\u201d said Fakhri.<\/p>\n
He also mentioned agroecology and the rising consensus around it. Fakhri plans to visit countries especially in Africa \u201cto gather cases and stories and examples of different ways in which people are already practicing agroecology\u2026 and find ways to transition to agroecology.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s impacts to food and agriculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The former UN Special Rapporteur also emphasized how economic sanctions are \u201cextremely problematic from the international human rights point of view\u201d and that sanctions should be strongly opposed because they are causing the suffering of more than 30 countries.<\/p>\n
At the end of the program, PCFS global co-chairperson Sylvia Mallari thanked Fakhri and Elver for giving the coalition \u201cthis opportunity to raise our concerns and demands for the future of our food systems.\u201d She said the Multistakeholder Dialogue is just one of the \u201cinitiatives [of PCFS] to present a comprehensive overview of the changes that need to take place in our food systems and agriculture\u201d even beyond the context of the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d Mallari added.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy 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,\u201d said Zuayter.<\/p>\n
The coalition then invited the dialogue\u2019s presenters and participants to join the online protest caravan with the theme \u201c#Hungry4Change: A Global Day of Action for Food and Rights\u201d 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\u2019s World Food Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must work together, strengthen our resolve, and continue our assertions in all forms and arenas possible to uphold the right to food,\u201d Mallari concluded.<\/p>\n