THE SOCIAL FORUM 26 JULY 2002 OPENING STATEMENT BY MARY ROBINSON, UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

I am pleased to open the first session of the Social Forum. I welcome this initiative of the Sub-Commission to provide a new space within the United Nations system for dialogue that involves a wider range of actors than is normally represented at UN discussions.

Panelists and participants at this first session of the Social Forum represent many voices, from every region of the world, from many cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and from different professional and personal backgrounds. The Social Forum provides an opportunity for an exchange of diverse views representing a broad range of experiences and concerns. I hope it will also be a source of new ideas and proposals for action to address today’s serious human rights challenges.
As many of you know, the idea of the Social Forum was originally proposed by Sub-Commission member Jose Bengoa in his study on the relationship between the enjoyment of human rights, in particular economic, social and cultural rights, and income distribution.

Since 1997, the Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission have discussed the role of such a forum and emphasized that it should provide an opportunity for broad participation in discussions on priority social issues, among them, extreme poverty, and the impact of international trade, finance, and economic policies on vulnerable groups, especially minorities, indigenous peoples, migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons, children, older persons, people living with HIV/AIDS and people living with disabilities. The empowerment of women, and their participation in economic decision making, should be at the centre of the social forum’s discussion.

As you know, this year the Commission on Human Rights in its decision 2002/106, endorsed the Sub-Commission’s request “that the Economic and Social Council authorize the holding in Geneva of a pre-sessional forum on economic, social and cultural rights, to be known as the Social Forum, before the fifty-fourth session of the Sub-Commission, for two days, with the participation of 10 members of the Sub-Commission”. Yesterday the ECOSOC approved the establishment of the Social Forum which will take place today and on a second day to be arranged.

According to Sub-Commission resolution 2001/24, the Social Forum will address the theme of “The relationship between poverty reduction and the realization of the right to food.” as reflected on the agenda for today. This is a timely and urgent issue which requires greater reflection and strategies for action. It is worth recalling that there is nothing new about the right to food. Its origins lie in the Universal Declaration and that Declaration’s article Article 25, which proclaimed the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living.

Since the 1996 World Food Summit, our understanding of both the content of the right to food and how it can be implemented has evolved significantly through the work of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the Commission and the Special Rapporteur on the right to food. My Office has also organised expert consultations as mandated by the Commission and following the mandate I received from the World Food Summit.

Yet despite these important steps forward, there have been few improvements over the past five years in the implementation of the right to adequate food in practice. As the Secretary-General pointed out in his address to the Rome World Food Summit last month:

“There is no shortage of food on the planet. World production of grain alone is more than enough to meet the minimum nutritional needs of every child, woman and man. But while some countries produce more than they need to feed their people, others do not, and many of these cannot afford to import enough to make up the gap. Even more shamefully, the same happens within countries. There are countries which have enough food for their people and yet many of them go hungry.”

Last month, the Rome summit recognised the importance of the right to food in reducing food insecurity when it requested the establishment of an inter-governmental working group to elaborate guidelines to support states in the implementation of the right to food.

I hope today that we can explore how the Social Forum could contribute most effectively to this working group.

As we enter the new millennium, the overarching goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger is at the forefront of United Nations activities and programmes. Human rights can reinforce and complement this Millennium Development goal.

What is needed is a multi-dimensional strategy involving local, national and international actors and initiatives. Locally, any strategy must include greater agricultural productivity and support for small subsistence farmers and rural communities to increase incomes and improve the quantity and quality of locally available food. Strengthening the rights of women, who play such a critical role in agriculture in developing countries, must also be a central focus of local efforts.

Nationally, improvements in health care and education as well as public and private investment in improved irrigation systems and food safety management are needed desperately.

And at the international level, we must work together to ensure follow-up on the commitments made at last November's meeting of the World Trade Organization in Doha and make sure that the new round of trade negotiations removes the barriers to food imports from developing countries.

While trade liberalization can promote trade in agriculture and the innovation of new food technologies, current barriers to food products from the South and competition faced by local farmers from agro businesses have not produced the so-called level playing field. We need to work towards a more ethical globalization that promotes non-discrimination and protects the vulnerable, the isolated and the poor, while maximizing economic and development opportunities.

The fight against hunger also depends on the sustainable management of natural resources and the ecosystems which contribute to food production. I would suggest that part of our discussion today should also focus on how we can ensure that the upcoming Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development contributes to addressing responsibilities for food security at the international level.

This discussion is not theoretical. Les us have in mind those who desperately need direct help today. As you know, earlier this week the UN launched a consolidated appeal for US$611 million to stave off starvation some 13 million people in six countries of southern Africa: Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is necessary to focus on the longer term issues and adopt a rights based approach as indicated in the paper prepared by OHCHR on right to food and distributed at the recent Rome Summit. How can we ensure that international human rights obligations play a bigger role in influencing decisions on aid and debt forgiveness?

These are just some of the issues I hope we will be able to discuss during this first session of the Social Forum. We also hope that this meeting will suggest concrete ideas on how to improve and continue the work of the Social Forum, and to provide practical guidance on how to implement the right to food in the context of poverty reduction.

I should like now to request members of the Sub-Commission to nominate the chairperson of the Social Forum.