教宗告诫世界粮农组织代表食物和水是“所有人的权利”，无一例外
梵蒂冈城（亚洲新闻）—改变生活方式，更加简朴；同食品金融炒作作斗争；促进“农业发展的首要性”和“水的权利”。这是“落实享有必要食物是所有人基本权利这一义不容辞责任需实现的目标”。不分疆域地予以所有人这一权利，而不要坐等其他人干预。这是教宗方济各今天上午接见第三十九届联合国国际粮农组织大会全体代表时发表讲话阐述的核心内容。 指出了“有责任地采取具体措施回应饥饿问题、回应所有期待发展给予他们所需的人”的愿望。教宗讲话英文版如下：
"Faced with the poverty of so many of our brothers and sisters, I think sometimes that the topic of hunger and agricultural development has today become one of the many problems in this time of crisis. Yet everywhere we see the growing number of those who have difficulty in accessing regular and healthy meals. However, instead of acting we prefer to delegate, at all levels. And we think there will be someone else who will take care of the problem, maybe another country, or that government, that International Organization. Our tendency to 'defect' in the face of difficult issues is human. Indeed, it is an attitude that we often prefer even though we never miss a meeting, a conference, or our input in the preparation of a document. Instead, we must respond to the imperative that access to food is a right for all. And this rights does not allow exclusions".
Although, he added, we could take comfort in knowing that the number of people suffering from hunger has decreased, despite the increase in population, "the statistics on waste are worrying: a third of all food produced is wasted. It is also worrying to learn that a notable amount of agricultural products is used for other purposes, maybe good purposes, but not the immediate needs of the hungry. Let us ask ourselves, then, what we can do. Indeed, what am I doing. It is essential to reduce waste, as well as reflect on the use of agriculture for non-food products, used in large quantities to feed the animal or to produce biofuels. Of course, we must always strive to ensure a healthier environment, but can we continue to do so by excluding some people? We need to sensitize all countries on the type of nutrition adopted, and this varies depending on the latitudes. In the South the focus is placed on enough food to ensure a growing population, in the North the central point is the quality of nutrition and food. But the situation determined by the climate of insecurity, due to increased demand and price uncertainty weighs on both quality and quantity".
"This we must make a more decisive commitment to changing lifestyles, and perhaps we will need fewer resources. Sobriety is not opposed to development, indeed, it is now clear that it has become a pre-condition. For the FAO this also means continuing decentralization, to be ion the ground in the rural world and understand the needs of the people that the organization is called to serve. We must also ask ourselves: how much do market rules effect world hunger? Your studies show that since 2008 the price of food has changed its trend: it doubled, then stabilized, but always at a higher value than previous periods. Volatile prices prevent the poorest from making programs or counting on a minimum nutritional standard. And there are many causes. We are concerned by climate change, and rightly so, but we cannot forget financial speculation: for example the prices of wheat, rice, corn, soybeans which rise and fall on the stock exchange, maybe they are tied to the performance of funds and, therefore, the higher their price the more the funds earn. Even here, let us try another path, convincing ourselves that the products of the earth have a value that we can call 'sacred', because they are the result of the daily work of people, families, communities of farmers. A work that is often dominated by uncertainty, concerns about climatic conditions, anxieties about the possible destruction of the crop".
"For FAO, agricultural development covers the work of the land, fisheries, livestock, forests. This development must be at the center of economic activity, distinguishing the different needs that farmers, breeders, fishermen or those who work in the forests. The primacy of agricultural development here is the second goal. For FAO’s objectives this means supporting effective resilience, specifically strengthening the capacity of people to cope with crises - natural or man-made - paying attention to the different needs. In order to aim for a decent standard of living. "
"There are other critical points in this effort. First of all it seems difficult to accept a general resignation, disinterest or even the absence of so many, even States. Sometimes the feeling is that hunger is an unpopular topic, an unsolvable problem, that cannot find solutions within a legislative or presidential mandate and therefore does not ensure consensus. The reasons that lead to limitations being put on ideas, technology, expertise and funding lie in the unwillingness to make binding commitments, and the tendency to hide behind the issue of global economic crisis and the idea that there is hunger in all countries: 'If I have hungry people in my country, how can I think of setting aside money for international cooperation?'. But it is forgotten that if poverty is a social problem in a country that can give solutions, in other contexts it is a structural issue and there are not enough just social policies to tackle it. This attitude may change if we refocus solidarity in the heart of international relations, transporting it from dictionaries to political decisions: the politics of the other. If all Member States were to operate for the other, consents for the actions of FAO will soon follow up and they will even rediscover their original purpose, that "Fiat panis" which is included in its emblem. "
