Press cuttings

Olivier De Schutter : « Notre modèle agricole mondial est à bout de souffle »

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Une crise des prix alimentaires, les débats sur les agrocarburants ou sur les « accaparements de terres », un duel à fleurets mouchetés avec Pascal Lamy, directeur général de l'Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) jusqu'en 2013 : les six années qu'a passées le juriste belge Olivier De Schutter au poste de rapporteur spécial des Nations unies pour le droit à l'alimentation ont été bien remplies.

Alors que son mandat arrive à échéance mercredi 30 avril et que la Turque Hilal Elver devrait lui succéder d'ici quelques semaines, il affirme que le modèle agro-industriel est dépassé et que la solution aux défis alimentaires actuels ne viendra pas des Etats mais des citoyens.

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UN: 40% of global assets belong to 1% of population

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MANILA, Philippines - About 40 percent of global assets belong to the richest one percent of the world’s population, with the bottom half clinging to just one percent, according to a study commissioned by the United Nations.

The study conducted by a group of independent human rights experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council showed that inequality has increased in most countries and in almost every region for the past decade.

“We live in a very unequal world,” the experts said in the report....

 

UN: 40% of global assets belong to 1% of population

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Lamy urges EU to forge closer trade ties with Africa

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A week after pressing Europe to boost its trade ties with Africa in Brussels, the World Trade Organisation’s chief said in Nairobi that leading European economies should look at developing and low income countries as the new globe’s economic growth engine, at a time of decreasing development aid.

Background

The EU is Africa’s biggest trading partner, accounting for about 35% of imports and exports, with China and the United States competing for second. The EU absorbs about 40% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural exports, compared to 25% traded between African states...

 

Lamy urges EU to forge closer trade ties with Africa

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India's food law can inspire many countries: UN official

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NEW DELHI: India's food security law has global significance and it can inspire many countries to come up with similar legislation, a UN official said today.

The Union Cabinet yesterday approved implementation of the food security law through an ordinance to give 67 per cent of the population the right to highly subsidised foodgrains. India is home to 25 per cent of the world's hungry
poor...

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