CSM Letter to the CFS Chair on the UN Food Systems Summit

CSM Letter to the CFS Chair on Food Systems Summit

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Amb. Thanawat Tiensin

Chair, UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS)

                                                                                                                      Rome, 9 February 2021

Dear Chair,

Kind regards from the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism for relations with the CFS.

We would like to continue our dialogue with you on the Food Systems Summit. We highly appreciate that you have been truly open and interested in listening to our growing concerns regarding the Summit process since you commenced your mandate as Chair of CFS in October 2019. We also acknowledge that you conveyed our key concerns to the Special Envoy and the Food Systems Summit Secretariat, including in the context of the exchange of letters between the CFS and FSS in November 2020.

We will not repeat the concerns expressed in earlier occasions, such as through the Open Call of Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ organizations to respond to the FSS, as presented during the CFS Special event in October 2020, and the CSM Statement to the CFS Bureau and Advisory Group meeting in November 2020. These criticisms continue to be valid, particularly regarding the worries about undue corporate influence in the Summit preparation; the missing human rights grounding; the lack of emphasis on the true extent of the transformation that the corporate food systems need to undergo to re-align with the utmost imperatives of people, peoples and planet; the threat of democratic public institutions and inclusive multilateralism being undermined by multistakeholderism.

In this letter, we would like to respond to the question on the conditions under which the CSM could be involved in the Summit process. As we have said on previous occasions: the CSM cannot jump onto a train that is heading in the wrong direction. Therefore, the general conditions for our possible involvement relate to whether the leading decision-making bodies of the Summit are willing to seriously address our deep concerns through a substantial and radical re-direction of the Summit’s current course. In this respect, it is essential that critical progress takes place in the following domains:

Shifting away from corporate capture and re-grounding in individual and collective Human Rights and the experiences and knowledge of the people and Indigenous Peoples most affected:

• The UN Secretary General should finally accept the request for a meeting with social movements and Indigenous Peoples’ leaders on the matter of the FSS, as solicited with the letter signed by over 550 organizations in March 2020;
• The UN Secretary General should express his willingness to reassess and withdraw from the Strategic Partnership Agreement with the World Economic Forum and re-prioritize the voices of the most marginalized and vulnerable food producers and consumers;
• The UN Secretary General should establish robust safeguards against conflict of interest (COI) in all bodies and processes of the FSS, to ensure the centrality of public interests over private ones. This would include mandatory COI declarations from all members of these bodies (Scientific Group, Advisory Committee, Champions Group, Action Tracks) to transparently expose the full map of existing conflicts of interests and enable adequate corrective actions;
• The decision-making bodies of the FSS process, particularly the UNSG, the Advisory Committee and the FSS Special Envoy, should reaffirm that human rights should be the core foundational pillar of food systems, and therefore of the FSS, ensuring that analysis and policy recommendations of all Action Tracks be grounded in rights-based approaches and aim to promote and facilitate the full realization of all human rights.

Transformation of corporate food systems:

• The fundamental premise of the Summit should be that of fostering a holistic and systemic approach that recognises the multidimensional nature of food (social, economic, ecological, cultural and political), asserts food sovereignty (the right of Peoples, nations and states to define their own food systems) and reclaims food systems as public commons that cannot be left to market-based solutions: not only does this require full peoples’ participation and sovereignty, but it also places the wellbeing of people, peoples and the planet at the centre. This imposes the stringent regulations of the corporate food system to tackle its predatory and expansionary nature and realign it with urgent social, economic, cultural and ecological imperatives;
• To respond to this urgent need and reverse the corporate capture of food systems, an additional action track should be established, as part of the formal FSS process, to focus on the transformation of corporate food systems, and the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism should be leading its proceedings, in collaboration with relevant UN bodies and governments, including cross-cutting implications across the other Action Tracks;
• It remains understood that the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism will continue to autonomously organize its own independent process to respond beyond the formal boundaries of the FSS and will generate its own independent outcomes on strategies and pathways to transform corporate food systems.

Defending democratic public institutions and inclusive multilateralism:

• The UN Secretary General should publicly commit to ensuring that the FSS and its outcomes will strengthen human rights-based governance of food systems on all levels, which assigns clear responsibilities and obligations to states as duty bearers, the people as rights holders, including Indigenous Peoples, and a dramatically reduced role to the private and corporate sector, in accordance with its function as third party under international human rights law.
• In this context, the UN Secretary General and Member States should also underline the importance of a democratic multilateral system, including the CFS and the Rome-Based Agencies for the governance of food. The FSS must strengthen, and in no way undermine, weaken or substitute the CFS or its components, particularly the independence of the High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) and the autonomy of civil society and Indigenous Peoples’ participation in this foremost inclusive intergovernmental and international global platform for food security and nutrition.

We respectfully request that you share this letter with the UN Secretary General, the Principals of FAO, IFAD and WFP, the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, the Special Envoy and Secretariat of the Food Systems Summit, and the members of the CFS Bureau and Advisory Group. We would also request you to make this letter available on the CFS Website, in the context of the Exchange of Letters between the CFS and the FSS, for public information.

With our highest appreciation,

The Coordination Committee of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism for relations with the CFS

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List of 204 Signatures 

First Signatories CSM Coordination Committee:

1. International Federation of Rural Adults Catholic Movements| FIMARC
2. Confederación de Organizaciones de Productores Familiares del Mercosur| COPROFAM
3. La Via Campesina | LVC
4. World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples| WAMIP
5. International Indian Treaty Council| IITC
6. World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers| WFF
7. World Forum of Fisher Peoples| WFFP
8. The Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee| IPACC
9. URGENCI International Network
10. Consumers International
11. International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Association| IUF
12. Habitat International Coalition| HIC
13. Asian Rural Women Coalition| ARWC
14. World March of Women | WMW
15. International Women’s Alliance | IWA
16. REDSAN – CPLP | Actuar
17. Friends of the Earth International | FoEi
18. Movimiento Agroecológico de America Latina y el Caribe| MAELA
19. Ukranian Rural Development Network | URDN
20. Plateforme Regionale des Organisations Paysannes d’Afrique Centrale| PROPAC
21. Kenya Small Scale Farmers Forum| KESSFF
22. Eastern and Souther African Pastoralists Network| ESAPN
23. Reseau des Organisations Paysanne et de Producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest| ROPPA
24. Vikalpani National Women’s Federation in Sri Lanka
25. People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty| PCFS
26. Agency of Development Initiatives
27. Gaza Urban Agriculture Platform GUPAP  and ANFS
28. Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance| AFSA
29. Pacific Island Association of NGOs | PIANGO

Endorsed by the following International Organizations:

1. International Movement of Catholic Agricultural and Rural Youth | MIJARC
2. Housing and Land Rights Network
3. Greenpeace International
4. Society for International Development | SID
5. Slow Food
6. FIAN International
7. Focus on the Global South
8. Global Forest Coalition
9. Broederlijk Delen
10. Rotary International
11. Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment
12. Indigenous Peoples Global Forum for Sustainable Development | IPGFforSD
13. Transnational Institute
14. International Centre for Environmental Education and Community Development |ICENECDEV
15. CIDSE
16. ActionAid International
17. SeedChange
18. The Oakland Institute
19. VIVAT International
20. Action Against Hunger International
21. Brot für die Welt / Bread for the World
22. Community Agroecology Network
23. Tripla Difesa Onlus
24. Solidagro
25. Soroptimist International
26. CCFD-Terre Solidaire
27. Front Line Defenders
28. International Council of Women | ICW-CIF
29. International Alliance of Women | IAW
30. Trócaire
31. New Owerri Youth Organization
32. Hawai’i Institute for Human Rights
33. People’s Health Movement | PHM 
34. World Public Health Nutrition Association | WPHNA
35. Brazilian Research Network on Food and Nutrition Sovereignty and Security
36. Caribbean Agroecology Institute
37. Community Alliance for Global Justice
38. Sanctuary of Hope Charity Foundation
39. Ugonma Foundation
40. Centre d’Actions et de Réalisations Internationales | CARI
41. Plantemos Nativo ONG
42. Corporate Accountability
43. Iles de Paix
44. China Biodiversity Conservation
45. Green Development Foundation
46. Third World Network
47. Swissaid
48. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom | WILPF
49. WhyHunger

Endorsed by the following Regional Organizations: 

1. Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa | AFSA
2. Eastern and Southern African Pastoral Network | ESAPN
3. UNH Sustainability Institute
4. West Asia Pastoralist Network
5. INCUPO | Instituto de Cultura Popular
6. Rede Jirau de Agroecologia
7. Agroecology Research-Action Collective

Endorsed by  the following National Organizations:

1. National Family Farm Coalition
2. National Farmers Union of Canada
3. The US Food Sovereignty Alliance
4. Netzwerk Solidarische Landwirtschaft | Solawi
5. Eastern and Southern Africa Small-Scale Farmers’ Forum | ESAFF Uganda
6. Alnawatif Cooperative | Jordan
7. Family Farm Defenders
8. Movimiento Agroecológico de America Latina y el Caribe| MAELA Colombia
9. African Centre for Biodiversity | ACB
10. South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union| SACCAWUa
11. AfrosReD
12. Terra Nuova
13. Fédération Nationale des Organisations Paysannes (FENOP)
14. Gaza Urban & Peri-urban Agriculture Platform (GUPAP)
15. Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment | SWAGEN
16. Spire
17. Movimiento Agroecológico de America Latina y el Caribe| MAELA Mexico
18. Brazilian Alliance for Healthy and Adequate Food
19. Inter-institutional Network for Food, Agriculture and Sustainability | INFAS
20. Slow Food Brazil
21. Feedback
22. Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft | Germany
23. Pesticide Action Network | North America
24. Enda Pronat
25. Agroecology X
26. Movimiento Agroecológico Boliviano
27. Confédération Paysanne
28. Biowatch South Africa
29. Agroecology-in-Action Belgium
30. FIAN Sweden
31. Mazingira Institute
32. Bread for all
33. Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee
34. Amigos de la Tierra España
35. Inkota
36. Observatorio Universitario de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional del Estado de Guanajuato | OUSANEG
37. Le Mouvement d’Action Paysanne
38. Asociación Benéfica para el Desarrollo Humano
39. Plan Nacional de Contingencia contra la Pandemia y el Hambre | PNCPH
40. Real Food Media
41. Global Media Foundation
42. Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor
43. Asociación Civil Ernesto Shneider Troller
44. Asociación Procrece
45. Conferência Popular por Soberania e Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional
46. FIAN Indonesia
47. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom | WILPF Netherlands
48. Fórum Brasileiro de Soberania e Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional
49. FIAN Portugal
50. Plateforme Nationale Pour la Promotion de l’Agroforesterie| PNPA
51. Association des Femmes pour le Développement Durable | AFDD
52. Public Eye
53. Fédération Nationale des Agriculteurs Biologiques| FENAB
54. Fundación Guillermo Toriello
55. Sindicato de trabajadoras domesticas, similares y a cuenta propia | SITRADOMSA
56. Red Guatemalteca Mujeres Positivas en Acción
57. Red Nacional por la Defensa de la Soberanía Alimentaria |  REDSAG
58. Association pour l’Integration et le Developpement Durable au Burundi | AIDB 
59. Association For Promotion Sustainable Development
60. FIAN Belgium
61. INCUPO| Argentina
62. Movimiento Puesteros del Sur | MNCI
63. Conseil National de l’Agriculture Biologique| CNABio
64. Prescott College
65. Policy Research for Development Alternative | UBINIG
66. FIAN Germany
67. RESCSAN-STP |ADAPPA
68. Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación y Desarrollo Alternativo, U Yich Lu’um
69. Federação de Órgãos para Assistência Social e Educacional | FASE
70. Alianza Política Sector de Mujeres | APSM
71. Maison Mère
72. Claveles Rojos Mexico
73. Global Justice Now
74. Programa de Desarrollo Integral Interdisciplinario
75. Appui Solidarie pour le renforcement de l’aide au développement 
76. FIAN Colombia
77. Initiative for Agricultural and Rural Development
78. Dana and Qadisiyah Local community Cooperative | Dana Cooperative
79. Red Nacional de Promotoras y Asesoras Rurales
80. WAVE Foundation
81. War on Want
82. Agrar Koordination / Forum für Internationale Agrarpolitik 
83. Sahabat Alam Malaysia | Friends of the Earth Malaysia
84. Swissaid | Niger
85. Confederação Nacional da Agricultura | CNA
86. Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food | SiLN0RF
87. Unidad de la Fuerza Indígena y Campesina | Mexico
88. Ugonma Foundation
89. Peoples Empowerment and Development Seva Society | PEDS
90. Italian Federation Christian NGOs | FOCSIV 
91. Collectif Citoyen pour l’AgroEcologie | CCAE Burkina
92. Maleya Foundation
93. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy | IATP
94. SOS Faim | Belgium
95. Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement | Togo

Endorsed by  the following Local Organizations:

1. Haki Nawiri Africa
2. Santa Cruz Permaculture
3. JPIC KALIMANTAN
4. Associação Terra Sintrópica
5. Dayak Voices for Change Community
6. Association Dounia des protecteurs d’environment en Algérie
7. Association pour la Conservation et la Protection des Ecosystèmes des Lacs et l’Agriculture Durable
8. Vinculación y Desarrollo Agroecológico en Cafe | AC
9. Asociación Latino Americana Medicina Social
10. Daami Youth Development Organization |DYDO | Somaliland minorities
11. Mindanao peoples peace movement | MPPM
12. Four Seasons Ecological Living Association
13. African Children Empowerment | ACE
14. Territorio Campesino Agroalimentario del Macizo Norte de Nariño y Sur del Cauca | TCAM
15. Corporación Ciudad Red Gestores de Vida
16. CERFLA
17. Productores Agroecologicos de la Laguna
18. ECO from Africa
19. Investigación y Acción Biocultural, Anima Mundi | A.C.
20. RAIS-IXCAN |Quiché Guatemala
21. Just Food
22. Organización de Mujeres Tierra Viva
23. Forum for Human Rights and Development | FOHRD
24. Association des Femmes pour le Développement Durable | AFDD
25. Productores Agroecologicos de la Laguna