The CSIPM took part as an observer at the FAO Conference held from 28 June to 4 July, in Rome, following an invitation by the FAO Director General.
Although the CSIPM’s main mandate is to facilitate the participation of civil society and Indigenous Peoples’ organizations at the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), attending the FAO Conference was particularly significant to continue highlighting the need for FAO’s continued and strengthened support to the CFS, as a unique intergovernmental platform with meaningful inclusive social participation in food policy making.
In the UN structure, the CFS reports back to the UN General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and to the FAO Conference. FAO holds a central role in ensuring the dissemination, use, and uptake of CFS policy outcomes. Moreover, the Conference renewed FAO’s commitment to the right to food by deciding to mainstream it throughout FAO’s work. At a time of high-risk for multilateralism, such a decision is of great importance.
The CSIPM’s first-time participation in the FAO Conference was coordinated with the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC), which is a platform of social movements and organizations working for food sovereignty. On behalf of both the CSIPM and the IPC, Paula Gioia (La Via Campesina/Germany) delivered a statement which stressed the importance of strengthening social participation in global food governance spaces, the support to the CFS and CSIPM, which are inclusive spaces for the participation of rights holders into policy making, and called on having human rights, especially the Right to Food at the center of work of FAO.
We acknowledge with great happiness the endorsement of the Council’s recommendations on mainstreaming the Right to Food and strengthening the work of the CFS and its main mandate for the realization of the Right to Food. – Paula Gioia, La Via Campesina, Germany
Thanks, Chair, for allowing us to speak.
I am Paula Gioia, a peasant farmer, a beekeeper in Germany and a member of La Via Campesina. I am here today in representation of the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty – the IPC – and the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism for relations with the CFS – CSIPM – to bring the voices of the most affected by food insecurity, while daily working to feed our communities.
First of all we also would like to congratulate the CFS chair for her great work and lead of the CFS during these 2 years of mandate.
Secondly, we would like to thank the FAO DG for inviting the IPC and the CSIPM to participate as observers for the first time at the FAO Conference.
From our civil society and Indigenous People’s perspective we would like to acknowledge with great happiness the endorsement of the Council’s recommendations on mainstreaming the Right to Food and strengthening the work of the CFS and its main mandate for the realization of the Right to Food.
We underline that the recognition of the Right to Food as a “mainstreamed principle“ will require specific work after the Conference to ensure that this mainstreaming mandate will be effectively included into FAO’s work programme for the upcoming years.
Moreover we deeply appreciate the call for FAO to strengthen the work of the CFS and we look forward to seeing the future developments on how this could be put into practice particularly in terms of the uptake of CFS policy instruments.
Finally, we would like to stress the importance of civil society and Indigenous Peoples’ participation in decision making processes for food and agriculture issues. And as highlighted by Norway, the CFS is a good and unique example of that, always prioritising the voices of those who produce the food and those who are most affected by hunger and malnutrition. It is important that FAO continues supporting that intergovernmental body and its inclusive nature, including through operational support.
We would like to close acknowledging once again the invitation for us to be present in this FAO 44th Conference and hope that social participation can also be a central principle for all the work done by FAO.