Pope tells FAO to use love and solidarity against war and climate change that cause migration
During his visit to the UN agency, Francis spoke about how food security can affect human mobility. To overcome conflicts good will, dialogue, and disarmament are needed. "There is a re-emergence of the nonchalance towards the delicate balances of ecosystems, the presumption of being able to manipulate and control the planet’s limited resources, and greed for profit,” he said. “’I am hungry, I am a stranger, I am naked, sick, confined in a refugee camp’. It is a request for justice, not a plea or an emergency call.”
Rome (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis on Monday spoke at the headquarters of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome, where he marked World Food Day, which this year is dedicated to Change the future of migration. Invest in Food Security and rural development.
In his address, the pontiff asked whether it is “too much to think of introducing into the language of international cooperation the category of love, understood as gratuitousness, parity in negotiation, solidarity, the culture of giving, fraternity, mercy” as a way to counter war and climate change, the two main causes of hunger and thus of migration.
The Holy Father, who was welcomed by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, brought as a gift a sculpture (pictured) depicting Aylan, the small Syrian boy who drowned off a beach in Bodrum (Turkey) in October 2015.
In the Plenary Room, Francis delivered his speech centred on the question of how food security can affect human mobility. “The current situation demands greater responsibility on all levels, not only to guarantee the necessary production or equitable distribution of the fruits of the earth – this duty is taken for granted – but above all to guarantee the right of all human beings to be nourished according to their own needs, also participating in decisions that effect them and in the realisation of their own aspirations, without having to part from their loved ones.
“Faced with an aim of such significance, the credibility of the entire international system is at stake. We know that cooperation is increasingly conditioned by partial commitments, which still now limit aid in emergencies. Even death by hunger or the abandonment of one’s own land is daily news, which risks being met with indifference. It is therefore urgent to find new paths, to transform the possibilities available to us into a guarantee that permits each person to look to the future with well-founded trust and not only with desire.”
The path to ensure that people who lack the essentials are not forced to emigrate highlights two obstacles, Francis noted, as indicated by studies carried out by the United Nations and other international bodies. They are: conflicts and climate change.
“Good will and dialogue are needed to curb conflicts, and it is necessary to make a firm commitment to gradual and systematic disarmament, as provided for by the United Nations Charter, and to remedy the scourge of arms trafficking. Of what value is it to denounce the fact that millions of people are victims of hunger and malnutrition as a result of conflicts, if we do not work effectively for peace and disarmament?
Some are moving away from the Paris agreement
“As for climate change, we see the consequences every day. Thanks to scientific knowledge, we know how the problems are to be faced; and the international community has drawn up the necessary legal instruments, such as the Paris Agreement, from which however some are withdrawing. There is a re-emergence of the nonchalance towards the delicate balances of ecosystems, the presumption of being able to manipulate and control the planet’s limited resources, and greed for profit. It is therefore necessary to make an effort for a concrete and active consensus if we wish to avoid more tragic effects, which will continue to impact upon the poorest and most helpless. We are called to propose a change in lifestyles, in the use of resources, in production criteria, including consumption that, with regard to food, involves growing losses and waste. We cannot resign ourselves to saying ‘someone else will take care of it’.
“I think,” said the pope, “that these are the preconditions for any serious discussion of food security linked to the phenomenon of migration. Certainly, wars and climate change cause hunger, so let us therefore avoid presenting it as if it were an incurable disease. The recent estimates provided by your experts foresee an increase in global production of cereals to levels that enable greater consistency to be given to global reserves. This gives hope, and demonstrates that if we work paying attention to needs and countering speculation, results will not be lacking. Indeed, food resources are not infrequently left at the mercy of speculation, which measures them solely with regard to the economic prosperity of the big producers or in relation to the potential for consumption and not the real needs of the people. This leads to conflicts and waste, and increases the numbers of the poorest on earth who seek a future outside their countries of origin.
“In view of all this, we can and must change direction (cf. Encyclical Laudato si’, 53; 61; 163; 202). Faced with the increased demand for food it is indispensable that the fruits of the land be available to all. For some it would be enough to reduce the number of mouths to feed and in this way solve the problem; but it is a false solution if we think of the levels of food waste and models of consumption that squander many resources. Reducing is easy; sharing instead demands conversion, and this is imperative.
“Therefore, I pose – and I pose to you – this question: is it too much to think of introducing into the language of international cooperation the category of love, understood as gratuitousness, parity in negotiation, solidarity, the culture of giving, fraternity, mercy? In effect, these words express the practical content of the term “humanitarian”, widely used at international level. To love one’s brothers and to do so first, without waiting for it to be reciprocated; this is a Gospel principal that is found in many cultures and religions, and becomes the principle of humanity in the language of international relations. It is to be hoped that diplomacy and multilateral Institutions nurture and organise this capacity to love, so that it may become the primary way to guarantee not only food security, but human security in a global sense. We cannot work only if others do so, nor can we limit ourselves to having pity, because pity stops at emergency aid, whereas love inspires justice and is essential for realising a just social order among diverse realities that wish to run the risk of the mutual encounter.”
May walls not stop people ready to do anything because of hunger
“The efforts of diplomacy have shown us, also in recent events, that it is possible to stop the recourse to the use of weapons of mass destruction. We are all aware of the capacity of destruction of these instruments. But are we equally aware of the effects of poverty and exclusion? How can we stop people willing to risk everything, entire generations that may disappear because they lack their daily bread, or are victims of violence or climate changes? They head where they see a light or perceive the hope of life. They cannot be stopped by physical, economic, legislative or ideological barriers: only a consistent application of the principle of humanity can do so. On the other hand, we see that public development aid is reduced and the activity of the multilateral institutions is limited, while bilateral agreements are used which subordinate cooperation to the fulfilment of particular agendas and alliances or, simply, to a momentary tranquillity. On the contrary, the management of human mobility requires coordinated and systematic intergovernmental action in accordance with existing international norms, and permeated with love and intelligence. Its objective is a meeting of peoples that enriches all and generates union and dialogue, not exclusion or vulnerability.”
In this respect, Francis said he hoped that the Global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, currently before the United Nations, will take into account that “A vulnerable person is one who is in an inferior situation and cannot defend himself, who has no means, or rather, experiences exclusion. This is because he is compelled by violence, by natural situations or, even worse, by indifference, intolerance and even hatred.”
“Let us listen to the cry of so many of our marginalised and excluded brothers: “I am hungry, I am a stranger, I am naked, sick, confined in a refugee camp”. It is a request for justice, not a plea or an emergency call. There is a need for broad and sincere dialogue at all levels, so that the best solutions can be found and a new relationship be nurtured between the various actors on the international scene, characterised by mutual responsibility, solidarity and communion.
“The yoke of misery generated by the often tragic displacement of migrants can be eliminated through prevention in the form of development projects that create work and the capacity to respond to environmental crises. Prevention costs far less than the effects of land degradation or water pollution, scourges that plague the nerve centres of the planet, where poverty is the only law, diseases are on the increase and life expectancy is decreasing.
“The initiatives that are being implemented are many, and praiseworthy. However, they are not enough: it is urgent to continue to promote new efforts and to finance programs to combat hunger and structural poverty in a more effective and promising way. But while the aim is to promote a diversified and productive agriculture, taking into account the real demands of a country, it is not however lawful to remove arable land from the population, enabling land grabbing (acaparamiento de tierras) to continue to be profitable, sometimes with the complicity of those who should defend the interests of the people. The temptation to work to the advantage of small groups of the population, as well as to use external aid inappropriately, favouring corruption, or in an illegal way, must be removed.”
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