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Ziegler's hard hitting successor at the UN

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06.05.08 | 08:11

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Magda Fahsi/Human Rights Tribune, Brussels- “I am asking for a special session of the Human Rights Council on the right to food”. The new special rapporteur has started his mandate with a bang. This means that the Council doesn’t just look at the economic and social right to food, but also on how the issue affects all countries. It is double whammy that he believes is justified given the seriousness of the situation. His aim is to ensure that the Human Rights Council sends a message to the international community that it does not just talk about famine or poverty, but to the right to food. It is a message that has not got through during this crisis. States have to recognise that they have responsibilities to ensure this right.

Olivier De Schuttler has immediately set himself up as a human rights lawyer. According to him the current food crisis is above all a massive violation of the right to food. A professor at the University of Leuven in Belgium, well known in his subject area, the new expert has over the past few years been mostly interested in economic and social rights and their impact on free trade as well as the human rights policies of multinationals. He believes taking up the mandate on the right to food was a logical step as it “is the only area that really interests me. It is the only one that allows me to ask questions about the impact of globalisation on human rights. It is a fundamental issue that lawyers can not leave entirely to economists”.

A sensitive succession

Following in the footsteps of the colourful and controversial Jean Ziegler will not be easy. Some would like to see De Schutter continue in the same vein, others hope that he makes a clean break. Whatever he does though risks ending in disappointment. If the new expert is aware of this, he nevertheless hopes not to alienate “some more than others”. “I am here to advance the cause objectively and impartially. I don’t belong to any particular camp and it is not by taking sides that I can make any headway”.

Isn’t neutrality an illusion when all appointments to the Human Rights Council are essentially political? Olivier De Schutter believes that is not the issue. “The only real limitation is the lack of budget. The rapporteurs get a small amount of financial help from the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights but depend on the states for most of their funding. It is here that the international community has a real responsibility as it is very difficult to be absolutely independent under such conditions”.

But isn’t the role of a rapporteur to condemn and criticise? “Yes of course. But let’s not forget that the rapporteur has no decision- making powers. He has no other choice but to turn to the media and to the public to ensure that governments hear his message. Jean Ziegler was very successful in doing this and making himself heard. But the role of the rapporteur is also to make recommendations and to try to include different points of view so that enough key governments are involved in pushing forward the debate”

If like his predecessor, Olivier De Schutter intends to be focus on concrete results, he nevertheless believes that the issue is not just about those affected by food insecurity but by all those whose decisions can impact negatively on the right to food such as governments, international organisations, agro-food companies”. While Jean Ziegler had a naturally bombastic style, his young successor – 40 this year – is a disconcerting mixture of passion and poise, assurance and discretion. Before giving his opinion on sensitive issues such a GMO’s for example, he intends to consult widely. It is clear that Olivier De Schutter has decided to opt for a difficult balancing act.

Translated from French by Claire Doole

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