The International Conference “The Right to Food and the Costs of Hunger” Rome, June 20 – 21, 2003

Statement by State Secretary Leif Helge Kongshaug
Royal Ministry of Agriculture, Norway

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends and colleagues,

Mr. Chairman,

Let me first congratulate the Italian government and the International Jacques Maritain Institute for organising this successful and important conference. Previous similar seminars have often discussed the normative content of the right to food. This conference has had a different approach with its focus on the economic implications, and has most certainly brought some new aspects into the discussions connected to the right to food. As policy makers, we should have these aspects in mind when we develop our policies.

Poverty and food insecurity are among the greatest challenges of our time. Hunger and malnutrition are closely linked to poverty. The world has committed itself to fight poverty and to reduce the number of people suffering from hunger by half by the year 2015. To achieve this, it is necessary to take a broad approach to food security. One approach to achieving the goals that the international community has set, will be to build further on and promote the implementation of the right to food. A rights-based approach to food security spells out the obligations of the state and the legal rights of the individuals. Such an approach gives an extra value to the political commitment of ensuring food security for all.

How then, can implementation of the right to food contribute to the reduction of hunger and poverty in the world? Every state has a responsibility to do everything possible to ensure that its citizens have physical and economic access to enough safe and nutritious food. With a rights-based approach, the responsibility of the state is primarily to respect the right of each citizen to fulfil his or her rights. Most individuals are able to obtain their own food. The right to food is first and foremost a question about giving all individuals the freedom to provide food for themselves and their dependants. It is the responsibility of the State to respect this right, or to protect the right if it is threatened. Only in the last resort will the state have an obligation, alone or in cooperation with the international community, to provide food for those who are not able to provide for themselves.

The right to food basically means that people are given the possibility to help themselves. An important condition to fulfil the right to food, is that the citizen is put in the centre of attention of the policy making. This is what a rights-based approach is all about.

In the spring of 2002, the German and Norwegian governments each hosted a seminar on the national implementation of the right to food. Deliberations at these seminars, as well as deliberations in other contexts, have shown that the food security situation around the world differs greatly. For some countries, fulfilling the right to food will mainly be about ensuring minimum nutritional value for every person. In other parts of the world, issues related to consumer choices are the issues of greatest concern. With a rights-based approach, the underlying issue will still be similar in all parts of the world, as the goal in the end is the respect for, protection of, and in the last resort the fulfilment of the right to adequate food which is acceptable to the consumers.

In Norway, policies for food and agriculture are based on a broad platform. The United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is considered an important underlying document in this context. The Covenant was made part of Norwegian law through the Human Rights Act of 1999. In accordance with the Covenant, the government is responsible for providing all citizens access to sufficient and safe food, which will meet both their dietary needs and preferences.

The production of safe food of high quality is a main goal of the food production policy. On the other hand, a consumer-oriented policy implies that the consumers’ concerns about food must be in focus in the policy-making. In the food safety policies it is a goal to respect the right to adequate food by also taking into account the preferences of the consumers, in addition to recognising the importance of health concerns.

The governments of developing countries may see a dilemma between on the one hand the obligation of freeing their inhabitants from hunger and on the other hand respecting and protecting the right of the inhabitants to safe, culturally acceptable and sustainably produced food. This dilemma can be highlighted with the discussion of the use of genetically modified food in food aid. In the case of a food crisis, recipients of food aid will be left with no choice but to consume what is available. Even though there is no evidence so far that GM-food poses any risks, there is not any evidence that it is safe. The Norwegian attitude has been that it should be up to each recipient country to decide whether or not it wishes to receive emergency aid in the form of GM-food. The consumers in need of food aid should have the same right to information and choice as the consumers in any other country. The right to choose is part of the right to food, and it is the individual who is in the centre of the decision-making process. In order for the choice to be a real and not illusive, other options than GM-food must be made available from the international community in these situations.

Agriculture has as special role to play in our efforts to fight poverty and hunger. Rural development is important on the way to achieving food security and realising the right to food. Despite the fact that there is a fast process of urbanisation in developing countries, a majority of the poor people of the world still live in rural areas. The rural poor are in large extent dependent upon a farm economy for their livelihoods.

Our government is presently elaborating a platform for the Norwegian support to promoting rural development and agriculture in developing countries. The fight against poverty depends upon efforts to promote primary sector development through state-to-state collaboration. The utilization of the resources available must be socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, in order to ensure that the progress we make today will not be undermined in a long-term perspective. In our bilateral engagement, Norway will collaborate with governments that emphasise rural development in their national development plans, and base our support on their expressed needs, priorities and plans.

The development of agriculture, forestry, husbandry, and fisheries translates however to a large extent into private sector development. Therefore, joint efforts through collaboration with private enterprises and civil society become especially efficient when it comes to rural development and agriculture.

Our government sees the importance of ensuring better market access for agricultural products from developing countries. Both international framework conditions and national policies are important in this connection. Our government wishes in particular to assist the least developed countries in obtaining a share in the growing world trade. Norway is therefore providing duty and quota free market access for all products from the least developed countries. This is part of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) that Norway has established on autonomous basis for developing countries. In addition, Norway also has duty free market access for a number of tropical products.

Developing countries meet different barriers to the markets of the industrialised countries. The least developed countries in particular, often lack knowledge about requirements in industrialised countries, especially as regards food production or food imports. These countries may also lack the necessary competence and infrastructure to be able to meet these requirements. In this regard, we see a great need for technical assistance, in order to enable developing countries to make the most of their export potential. This is especially applicable as regards sanitary and phytosanitary requirements, for instance requirements related to hygiene control and infrastructure. The industrialised countries must take a greater responsibility in providing technical assistance, so that the developing countries will be able to fulfil the requirements of the industrialised countries, and thus able to take advantage of the possibilities in the international market. Our government sees it as important to be of assistance in this regard.

Our government believes that further work by the international community will be a right step on the way to deal with food insecurity questions. FAO plays a central role in this regard. FAO has vast competence in promoting agricultural development, a long experience in establishing international norms in its area of competence and in building capacity. This year at the Committee of Food Security, the FAO introduced a food chain approach to food safety and quality, and presented the relatively new concept of biosecurity. Further development of approaches and concepts of this kind will create a common basis for all FAO countries. This common basis will potentially be of great value for countries that do not have the capacity or resources to develop similar concepts on their own, and may guide these countries in their process of achieving food security.

Although the international community as a whole has a responsibility of improving the food security situation in the world, the responsibility of implementing human rights lies with the individual state. The voluntary guidelines that will be elaborated over the next two years will be instrumental in promoting such implementation. At the first meeting of the intergovernmental working group mandated to elaborating these guidelines, it was a common understanding that the guidelines must be created to be a practical and effective tool for states in the implementation of the right to food and the struggle to fight poverty and hunger. Norway has stated that we must take a broad approach in the guidelines. All aspects of the food system should be covered, including production, processing, distribution, trade and consumption of safe food. Norway will continue to take an active part in the development of the guidelines. The seminar we all have attended now will most certainly bring new ideas and inputs to the process.

Thank you!