Rapporteur pushes for civil society’s stronger voice in UN food summit 

'It must empower people to participate'

"If the summit wants to be inclusive, it must empower people to participate, it must empower the CSM. It can't just offer a seat at the table," said Fakhri in a recent video, referring to the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSM).

The CSM, an autonomous part of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), facilitates civil society participation and articulation into the policy processes of the CFS, the intergovernmental body that serves as a forum in the UN system for review and follow-up of policies concerning world food security.

The CSM is part of the CFS Bureau and Advisory Group represented by the following organizations: Confederación de Organizaciones de Productores Familiares del Mercosur; International Women’s Alliance; World Forum of Fish Workers and Fish Harvesters; Arab Network for Food Sovereignty; Reseau des Organisations Paysannes et de Producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest; Plateforme Regionale des Organisations Paysannes d’Afrique Centrale; National Farmers Union Canada; La Via Campesina; Coordinadora Latinomericana de Organizaciones Campesinas; and the International Indian Treaty Council.

Fakhri, who is both part of the advisory group of the CFS and the integration team of the UNFSS, threw his support behind the CSM after the latter told CFS Chairperson Thanawat Tiensin in a Feb. 9, 2021 letter about its reluctance to get involved in the summit, saying it "cannot jump onto a train that is heading in the wrong direction."

The wrong direction that the CSM was referring to was the UN leadership' s decision to include representatives of global and transnational capital and the agribusiness sector in organizing the UNFSS, particularly Agnes Kalibata and the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Kalibata, who was appointed as special envoy to UN Secretary-General António Guterres for the UNFSS, is president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, which, according to civil society groups, “is an alliance that promotes the interests of agribusiness.“

Meanwhile, WEF, an international nongovernment organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is funded by 1,000 multinational and transnational companies and business industry leaders.

UN rapporteur: 'Some mistakes made' in organizing summit

The UN special rapporteur said the UNFSS was "from the beginning…mired in controversy" and he thought that "some mistakes were made" in relation to at least three summit issues.

"First, it took about a year and a lot of advocacy to get the CFS onto the summit advisory group." And as a result, the UNFSS "had to build its own infrastructure instead of building on the CFS's good work," according to Fakhri.

"From the beginning, the whole summit should have been anchored on the CFS," he said.  

Second, the UN rapporteur said it likewise "took about a year and a lot of advocacy to get human rights onto the summit's agenda."

"This was because the main players at first came from the business sector and organizations that served the business sector."

Third, "agroecology is not effectively anywhere on the summit's agenda nor is indigenous and traditional knowledge."

"Instead, the dominant approach is what could be called sustainable intensive agriculture or new green revolution. This is an approach that is grounded in high input, capital-intensive techniques, new technologies developed in order to control or boost nature," added Fakhri.

CSM: Summit must 'shift away from corporate capture'

In their February 9 letter, the CSM told CFS Chairperson Tiensin that their involvement in the UNFSS, which will be held either in September or October this year, depended on "whether the leading decision-making bodies of the summit are willing to seriously address our deep concerns."

Among these are the summit's need to "shift away from corporate capture" and "re-ground… in individual and collective human rights and the experiences and knowledge of the people and indigenous peoples most affected" by hunger and malnutrition.

"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 CSM said the UN chief should also "establish robust safeguards against conflict of interest in all bodies and processes" of the summit "to ensure the centrality of public interests over private ones."

Moreover, the CSM said the fundamental premise of the summit should be that of (1) fostering a holistic and systemic approach that recognizes the multidimensional nature of food (social, economic, ecological, cultural and political); (2) asserting food sovereignty (the right of peoples, nations and states to define their own food systems); and (3) reclaiming 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 center," the CSM said.

"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", it added.