“Access to food is a
universally recognized human right. Protecting that right must be accorded
a higher priority than the pursuit of commercial advantage and free
trade.” (The 1996 Balay Declaration)
On the occasion of the
International World Food Day Celebration,we, citizens of the Philippine
Republic, declare our unity in asserting our right to food.
We trace the crisis of food
insecurity of majority of our people to two major trends and government
policy directions:
1. The adherence of the Philippine
government to an economic framework where the country becomes
subservient to international trade regimes in the name of a “free” or
liberalized market. And where the state gives up its responsibility to
respect, protect and fulfill the people’s right to adequate food.
Ten years after the Philippines signed
the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade and joined the World Trade
Organization, the people experienced deeper deprivation and crisis of
food production and access to the basic right to food.
2. Government’s incoherent
agriculture and fisheries policy manifested in its lack political will
in implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and
providing support to small farmers, sustainable agriculture and
sustainable use of land and coastal resources.
We therefore call on all our
policy makers to take heed of our call to fight against hunger and work
for food sovereignty:
1. Assert our right as a nation to protect our
production and resource base: our agriculture and fisheries, our
forests and mineral resources. GET AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES OUT OF
WTO!
Agriculture and Fisheries trade agreements must be
based on the right and obligation to produce basic food for its own
population and ensure food sovereignty.
Restore import protection through
quantitative import restrictions or tariffs. This will be an effective
measure for each country to secure strategic products and will serve as
a special safeguard mechanism to protect rural livelihoods.
State trade negotiators must always
look after the national and people’s interest in every trade negotiation
and not the interest of any dominating state.
2. The state should protect farmers’ and fisherfolks’ income by
supporting them in the production for domestic consumption and food
security and ensuring a positive environment for building the local
economy.
3. Pressure advanced countries to eliminate export subsidies ,
export credits and credit insurance. There is a need for an effective
system or market regulation and supply management that stops dumping.
Stop smuggling of food commodities from other countries.
