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SG/SM/6749

IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN IN ACHIEVING FOOD SECURITY STRESSED IN SECRETARY-GENERAL'S WORLD FOOD DAY MESSAGE

14 October 1998


Press Release
SG/SM/6749
OBV/62


IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN IN ACHIEVING FOOD SECURITY STRESSED IN SECRETARY-GENERAL'S WORLD FOOD DAY MESSAGE

19981014 Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's message on World Food Day, observed 16 October:

Every year, World Food Day reminds us of a tragic reality -- that the war against hunger is still being fought. In this fiftieth anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the right to food for all, the most fundamental of human rights, still eludes millions of people. More than 800 million people suffer from chronic hunger or malnutrition, 200 million of them children.

The short- and long-term effects of hunger are well known. The capacity for growth and daily activity is stunted. Hungry people cannot fulfil their human potential as individuals, nor as a society. And yet, the world has enough food and the technological capacity to nourish everyone. What is needed now is the collective political will.

A first step is to recognize fully the critical contribution that women make to food security at domestic and national levels and to work to remove the obstacles they face in carrying out their role.

In the face of poverty, natural disasters and war, it is the resilience and ingenuity of women that enables families and communities to survive. It is hard to do justice to the daily struggle of rural women and the multitude of obstacles and discriminatory practices they face in accomplishing their daily workload. What is even harder to convey are the opportunities lost for growth and development for many women, their families, and society. Agricultural development policies still do not reflect the needs of women adequately. Even when they do so on paper, they are often not translated into practice.

That is why this year's World Food Day is dedicated to "the women who feed the world". It provides us all with an excellent opportunity to pay tribute to the multiple roles and responsibilities women have in agriculture and in the entire food chain.

- 2 - Press Release SG/SM/6749 OBV/62 14 October 1998

Today, I call on all development partners, governmental and non-governmental, to recognize fully the crucial contribution that women make and can make to agricultural production and food security and to adopt innovative approaches to development and agricultural development that take that contribution fully into account.

Let World Food Day 1998 serve as a milestone on the long and arduous road to achieving food security for everyone and in recognizing the indispensable role of women in achieving this objective. Let us rededicate ourselves to the goal of "food for all".

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For information media. Not an official record.