The U.S. government, in collaboration with U.S. human rights groups and other civil society organizations, should join on-going global efforts to elaborate and implement a Code of Conduct on the Right to Food. Such a Code would
apply to governments, international organizations, and businesses and would provide a set of norms against which specific policies, programs, and enterprises
could be measured. Examples of practices that
might be subject to examination by a Code are infant formula marketing
and export subsidies that bankrupt poor farmers in developing
countries. The Code should be informed by on-going international
efforts to clarify the content of the right to adequate food and
freedom from hunger.
The Administration and Congress should work
together to repeal discriminatory food stamp eligibility requirements
and to approve full funding of the Special Supplemental Nutritional
program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Congress
should require reports from the Congressional Budget Office and
the Office of Management and Budget on the additional costs to
the federal government associated with underfunding food assistance
programs. These may include, for example, ill-health, learning
disabilities, and behavioral problems.
The U.S. Government Interagency Working Group
on Food Security and the Interim Advisory Committee on Food Security
should formulate recommendations concerning assistance and
other action to protect and enhance food security of small-scale
farmers and other vulnerable groups in low-income food deficit
countries as called for by the World Trade Organization (WTO)
"Marrakesh Declaration on Least Development, Net Food-Importing
Countries."
The U.S. should also actively seek increased
food aid commitments during negotiations of the new Food Aid Convention.
The U.S. government should support the formation
of a WTO Working Group on Trade and Food Security, which would
be charged with ensuring that WTO rules and sanctions do not undermine
the implementation of the World Food Summit Declaration and Plan
of Action.
The U.S. government, working with the private
sector and civil society organizations, should strengthen existing
mechanisms and develop new tools to guard against economic vulnerability,
food shortages during emergencies, and the erosion of local and
regional food production capacity. Immediately, Congress
should reauthorize Farmer Owned Reserves and establish
a mechanism for replenishment of the U.S. Food Security Commodity
Reserve or a fund to purchase food aid for emergency use.
Government programs and private and voluntary
organizations should give priority to food security programs
and policies that recognize and empower women, particularly
in those activities critical to maintaining food security for
the family and community. The President's Interagency Council
on Women should consider establishing a task force on women
and food security.
Governments, educational institutions, civil
society organizations and the private sector should develop
and conduct a series of educational programs that will work to
enhance public awareness, skills, and involvement in efforts to
achieve food security. This should include knowledge of food
safety, healthy food choices, the human rights to food, the structure
of the global food system, and the root cause of hunger and malnutrition.
Federal, state, and local governments, civil
society organizations, and business should, on a priority basis,
allocate resources for research, education and training for ecologically
sound agriculture that preserves locally-based traditional
knowledge, engages local communities in decision-making, reduces
purchased inputs, and is socially responsible.
State and local government authorities, civil
society organizations, and businesses should establish state
and local food security councils, which could initiate local
food mapping and food security assessments, identify and strengthen
community-based food security strategies and, with support from
the federal government, strengthen local food systems.
Global food security efforts by the U.S. government,
civil society organizations and the private sector should seek
to strengthen rural/urban partnerships, both at home and
abroad. Strengthening the rural/urban links recognizes the potential
of both sectors to contribute to overall food security and could
include, for example, urban food production strategies, direct
marketing, community-supported farming, and peri-urban farming.
The government, civil society, and business
should establish Food Security Partnerships based on their
respective roles in food security efforts. The Interim Advisory
Committee on Food Security should review current regulations
concerning citizen participation as it relates to food security
and formulate recommendations for changes needed to enhance dialogue
and collaboration.
U.S. civil society organizations should participate
in the Global Forum on Sustainable Food and Nutritional Security
to strengthen collaborative work with civil society organizations
in other countries and, in particular, to support work of civil
society organizations in developing and low-income food deficit
countries. Civil society organizations also should help to
establish and participate in a Global Food Security Watch project,
which would independently monitor implementation of the World
Food Summit Plan of Action.
The Administration and Congress should increase
funding for sustainable agriculture and rural development and
programs to strengthen household food security and local food
systems, research on native and other relevant crops, and improvement
of local markets in low-income food deficit countries. This should
include bilateral and multilateral foreign assistance, food aid
through private and voluntary organizations, and export promotion
programs. The funding should be increased by 30% in FY 99 and
10% in each of the following five years.
The relevant U.S. government agencies, land
grant institutions, private and voluntary organizations, in collaboration
with relevant U.N. agencies should continue to develop universally
accepted standards and definitions to monitor food insecurity,
vulnerability, and nutritional status.