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UN RESOLUTION ON RIGHT TO FOOD PASSES WITH ONE NATION OPPOSED; GUESS WHO?

UNITED NATIONS: In a resolution (E/CN.4/2004/L.24) on the right to food, adopted as orally amended and by a roll-call vote of 51 in favour and one opposed, with one abstention, the Commission considered it intolerable that there were around 840 million undernourished people in the world and that every seven seconds a child under the age of 10 died, directly or indirectly, of hunger somewhere in the world when, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the world produced more than enough food to feed its entire population.

UN RESOLUTION ON RIGHT TO FOOD PASSES WITH ONE NATION OPPOSED; GUESS WHO?

UNITED NATIONS: In a resolution (E/CN.4/2004/L.24) on the right to food, adopted as orally amended and by a roll-call vote of 51 in favour and one opposed, with one abstention, the Commission considered it intolerable that there were around 840 million undernourished people in the world and that every seven seconds a child under the age of 10 died, directly or indirectly, of hunger somewhere in the world when, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the world produced more than enough food to feed its entire population.

[The resolution] stressed the need to make efforts to mobilize and optimize the allocation and utilization of technical and financial resources from all sources, including external debt relief for developing countries, to reinforce national actions to implement sustainable food security policies; recognized that the promises made at the World Food Summit in 1996 to halve the number of malnourished persons were not being fulfilled; encouraged all States to take steps with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the right to food; and encouraged the Special Rapporteur on the right to food to continue mainstreaming a gender perspective in the fulfilment of his mandate.

The result of the vote was as follows:
In favour (51): Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Bahrain, Bhutan, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mauritania, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Togo, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe.

Against (1): United States.

Abstentions (1): Australia.

Richard S. Williamson (United States), in an explanation of the vote before the vote, said that his delegation could not support draft resolution L. 24.

The United States was the largest donor of food aid in the world. His Government's commitment to provide food and end hunger was unquestionable. The United States supported the progressive realization of the right to adequate food as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living.

The attainment of that right was a goal to be realized progressively --- it did not give rise to international obligations or domestic legal entitlements. His Government could not in any way recognize, support or commend the work of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food. His delegation requested a recorded vote and would vote against the text.

Link: UN.org Press Release. Scroll down to highlighted title.