FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MADRID TALKS: IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION BUT LACK URGENCY AND FUNDS

Madrid, Spain 27/01/2009

As UN Secretary General, General Ban ki Moon and Spanish Premier, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, close the Madrid High Level Meeting on Food Security and Agriculture, the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) calls for a move from the right words to urgent action by making sufficient funds available immediately, particularly to local governments and local civil society. GCAP also demands that unfair trade, food dumping as well as financial speculation on food, be stopped immediately.

GCAP Poverty Hearings in Southern countries in 2007 and 2008 have shown the daily reality of unaffordable staple foods for millions of people.  The global financial crisis is directly affecting those working in informal economies.  As families starve, domestic and communal violence increases and criminal networks increase their hold on vulnerable populations.  Meanwhile, this Madrid Declaration is focused on spending another year building a Global Alliance for Agriculture and Food Security. Southern governments are diplomatically calling this progress ‘slow’ and GCAP is not convinced the best interests of food producers and poor consumers will be represented.

“There is an insufficient sense of urgency or new funds compared to the money spent on unsustainable financial systems. The right to food is the basis of all human rights so this slow route highlights the present moral crisis.  Private profits including food speculation and food dumping are still allowed. Sufficient and timely political responsibility for the welfare of people (food, water, health, education and decent work) is lacking. Not just in failed states like Zimbabwe – but in developing and developed countries alike,” said Sylvia Borren, Co-Chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) in Madrid for the meeting.

Nearly 2% of the world population, 116.9 million people, took action against poverty last October yet they still do not feel they are heard by their leaders. GCAP calls for women and farmer organisations, broader civil society and local governments to be brought into decision-making spaces now.  If they can get even a tenth of the financial system bailout funds, the child dying every five seconds (mostly girls) can be saved.

GCAP welcomes the commitment from the Spanish government to make poverty and hunger priorities of its EU Presidency in 2010 and the UN Secretary General’s promise that UN agencies will organize a coordinated response mechanism.

Available for interview: Sylvia Borren in Madrid 26th and 27th January.                             

Contact: Ciara O’Sullivan in Madrid, Cel: + 34 679594809 ciara.osullivan[at]civicus.org

Notes to editors:

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is a civil society alliance of social movements, international NGOs, trade unions, community groups, women’s organizations, faith and youth groups, local associations and campaigners working together across more than 100 national coalitions/platforms. GCAP is calling for action from the world’s leaders to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality. In particular, GCAP demands solutions that address the issues of public accountability, just governance and the fulfillment of human rights; trade justice; more and better aid; debt cancellation; and gender equality and women’s rights. For more information, visit www.whiteband.org.

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