Statement delivered by Samuel Ikua, CSIPM Coordination Committee member from Kenya, Habitat International Coalition, and Co-Coordinator of the Urban and Peri-urban Food Systems Working Group.
My name is Samuel Ikua, from Habitat International Coalition, facilitating the urban food insecure constituency from Nairobi, Kenya. Madam Chair, we wish to extend our deepest gratitude for your work, your patience, and your unwavering presence throughout this process. Your support to the CFS, with all its mechanisms, has been a testament to your dedication. Your courage shines visibly, and we thank you.
To the tireless Secretariat, who are always working behind the scenes to ensure the success of this Plenary, we offer our heartfelt thanks. Adriana, Chiara, Giorgia, Emilio, Lorenz, Raquel, Carolin, Tatiana, Eleonora, Marina, Fatiha—you have supported the workstreams, the side events, and the logistics through countless hours these past months. We hope you all find a well-deserved rest after this.
To those who worked behind the scenes—the messengers, those who fed us, the security staff, the cleaners, the technicians, and the interpreters—your quiet, steadfast support has allowed these discussions to happen. Without you, our dialogue would not be possible. Thank you.
These are hard times—times marked by violence, fear, tirany and uncertainty. The Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM) is a platform through which the hardships of our communities are brought to these rooms. This is a daunting task. We come here as Indigenous Peoples, producers, fishers, pastoralists, and displaced persons from war-torn areas. We come here to demand you to take action, we come here leaving our farms, our jobs, we come here not as paid workers, but we come here because what is at stake, are our lives, lands, seeds, our livelihoods, our incomes, our hope, our future and our rights.
And yet, amid the dark times, there is a troubling silence that surrounds the destruction unfolding around us. We find ourselves screaming, “Are we the only ones who see what is happening to our world?” Why do Indigenous Peoples have rights, yet see them disregarded? Why are clear rulings and laws from UN bodies currently being ignored, while people are burnt alive in hospitals and schools??Why are the rules, and the laws invoked to keep us silent, the same rules and laws that are disregarded when it comes to starving people and bombing them.
Our hearts ache for the lands flooded and the people displaced, for our comrades facing starvation and who are freezing in conflict zones. It is painful to hear, here, so many pledges to fight hunger, yet witness a gap between words spoken in this room and actions taken beyond it.
Yet, in the face of darkness, we, the CSIPM, people coming from different constituencies, territories, and realities find reasons to celebrate. We celebrate the wisdom and resilience of our communities and movements. We honour the strength and dignity of all producers, all those who, despite every hardship, continue to celebrate life.
Thank you, Madam Chair, for concluding this Plenary smoothly. It leaves us hopeful, with a sense that this careful dialogue will indeed set the CFS on a strong, unified path. A path that should continue to strengthen the practice to prioritize the voices of those most affected by hunger and malnutrition. A practice that has marked the CFS since its reform. As CSIPM we reminded CFS and its Member States that a fundamental principle of the Right to Adequate Food and Nutrition, is the right to meaningfully participate in decision-making processes.
Even if such dialogue is complex, demands and requires patience, the CFS recognizes that social participation does add value and brings legitimacy to these policy instruments.
Let us ensure these discussions are the seeds for a more equal and just transformation. We thank all who are committed to the Right to Food, to the CFS, and to collaboration among UN agencies, particularly the Rome Based Agencies. Thank you, everyone, for your commitment.