Geneva Institute for Human Rights

Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, called on the G20 to use its upcoming summit to craft a food security action plan that addresses the impact of biofuels and speculation on human rights in a statement released October 31.

“Each one of the nearly one billion hungry persons is denied basic human rights,” said De Schutter, who has worked on the issue since 2008. Agreeing on a food plan without addressing those issues, he added, "would be like running a bath without putting in the plug. All of the good ideas simply drain away.”

G20 leaders are set to meet on November 3 and 4 this week at the closing summit of the French G20 presidency in Cannes. G20 agriculture ministers agreed on a food 'action plan' in June, but De Schutter dismissed it as took weak to be effective. He called for an end to public biofuel mandates and fiscal subsidies, better financial regulation of food commodity markets, and a stronger stance on food reserves.

For more information on food security and human rights, please see:

(*) "Price Volatility in Food and Agricultural Markets: Policy Responses," Policy Report, submitted to the French Presidency of the G20 on 2 June 2011, prepared collaboratively by FAO, IFAD, IMF, OECD, UNCTAD, WFP, the World Bank, the WTO, IFPRI and the UN High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis. http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/est/Volatil...

“Food crises: five priorities for the G20”, Op-ed by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, 16 June 2011. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Food/2011.06... or
http://www.srfood.org/index.php/en/component/conte...