A/HRC/RES/16/27
Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least Developed and Net Food-importing
Countries, adopted on 15 April 1994,
Reaffirming the concrete recommendations contained in the Voluntary Guidelines to
support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national
food security, adopted by the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations in November 2004,
Recalling the Five Rome Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security contained
in the Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security, adopted on 16 November 2009;
Bearing in mind paragraph 6 of General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March
2006,
Reaffirming that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and
interrelated, and that they must be treated globally, in a fair and equal manner, on the same
footing and with the same emphasis,
Reaffirming also that a peaceful, stable and enabling political, social and economic
environment, at both the national and the international levels, is the essential foundation
that will enable States to give adequate priority to food security and poverty eradication,
Reiterating, as in the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the Declaration
of the World Food Summit: five years later, that food should not be used as an instrument
of political or economic pressure, and reaffirming in this regard the importance of
international cooperation and solidarity, as well as the necessity of refraining from
unilateral measures that are not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the
United Nations and that endanger food security,
Convinced that each State should adopt a strategy consistent with its resources and
capacities to achieve its individual goals in implementing the recommendations contained
in the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the World Food Summit Plan of
Action and, at the same time, cooperate regionally and internationally in order to organize
collective solutions to global issues of food security in a world of increasingly interlinked
institutions, societies and economies, where coordinated efforts and shared responsibilities
are essential,
Recognizing that, despite the efforts made, the problems of hunger and food
insecurity have a global dimension and that there has been insufficient progress made in
reducing hunger, and that they could increase dramatically in some regions unless urgent,
determined and concerted action is taken,
Recognizing also the complex character of the global food crisis as a combination of
several major factors, including speculation on food commodities and macroeconomic
factors, also affected negatively by environmental degradation, desertification and global
climate change, natural disasters and the lack of development and transfer of relevant
technology to address this issue, particularly in developing countries and least developed
countries,
Concerned by the fact that the effects of the world food crisis continue to have
serious consequences on the most vulnerable people, particularly in developing countries,
which have been further aggravated by the world economic and financial crisis, and
alarmed at the particular effects of this crisis on many net food-importing countries,
especially on least developed countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean,
Convinced that the elimination of the current distortions in the agricultural trading
system will allow local producers and poor farmers to compete and sell their products,
thereby facilitating the realization of the right to adequate food,
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