People's Food Sovereignty Now! Civil Society Forum 2009
Building Food Sovereignty depends on democratization of decision-making processes The Forum opened yesterday with a presentation by Oliver de Schutter, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Olivier was optimistic in his presentation about the new architecture for global governance of food security, which makes the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) its central figure. The reform of the CFS will help to overcome the previous lack of coordination between different actors, which left control of decisions in the hands of State Governments alone, through the one country-one vote mechanisms of the UN FAO. The new FSC should define clear guidelines in which – and this is the great novelty – civil society, the private sector, and other international institutions can participate. Olivier warned the civil society forum of the need for constant vigilance, to ensure the implementation of the approved political guidelines. The Rapporteur stressed that the management of financial funds will mostly fall to the World Bank, which demonstrates a complete lack of connection between those who set out the guidelines and those who will be empowered to put them into practice. It is precisely the World Bank that, through pushing neoliberal policies, has generated so much world poverty, particularly in the rural sector. The completed Press Release is attached in English Spanish and French. For any further information. Emanuela Russo 3490068499
