Congressional Briefing

On Friday, May 10, the Congressional Hunger Center (CHC) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) will host a briefing in Washington for interested members of Congress and their staff by John Teton, Director of the International Food Security Treaty Campaign. Based on existing international covenants, the International Food Security Treaty (IFST) aims to establish enforceable international law guaranteeing the human right of freedom from hunger. Mr. Teton will discuss the evolution of the IFST, current support for the IFST in Congress and elsewhere, and necessary next steps to adopt and implement the treaty.

The briefing continues a series of presentations on the IFST which began at the Harvard, UCLA and UC Berkeley law schools, the Center for International Relations at the University of Southern California, and the Global Studies division at UC Santa Barbara.

Developed by the Santa Barbara-based International Food Security Treaty Campaign in consultation with food security advocates around the world, the IFST is designed as a legally-binding international agreement, spelling out the responsibilities of nations to prevent starvation and malnutrition, with enforcement provisions to insure they are carried out. An example of legally prohibited activity would be the deliberate use of starvation as a weapon, a tactic which led to the simultaneous famines in Bosnia and Somalia in 1992.

The human right to adequate food and freedom from hunger was granted recognition in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a 1948 proclamation of the United Nations, later reinforced by the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. IFST advocates maintain that too little has happened to produce any real protection for that right.

The IFST Campaign has crystallized a growing nucleus of support among leading figures in government and religious and non-governmental organizations. United Nations Under-Secretary General Maurice Strong, a renown expert in global commerce as well as a veteran in the field of international law, has stated “I’m very sympathetic to (the IFST)…as the centerpiece of a whole system by which the capacity of the earth to feed its people is translated into a real commitment to do something, because there’s no fundamental need for hunger now, and certainly none for starvation.” Statements from members of Congress and the Senate and other prominent backers of the IFST, along with information about the treaty itself can be found on the Campaign's web site at www.treaty.org.

The Congressional Hunger Center is a private, bi-partisan organization devoted to developing leaders with a commitment to a nation and a world free from hunger.
The mission of the International Food Policy Research Institute is to identify and analyze policies for sustainably meeting the food needs of the developing world. Both organizations are based in Washington, DC.

The International Food Security Treaty program will be held in the Longworth House Office Building, Room 1539, from 8:45 to 10:00 a.m., Friday, May 10 (1 block from the Capitol South Metro stop, Orange and Blue Lines). Members of Congress and their staff, committee staff, and interested organizations and individuals are welcome to attend, and should RSVP to Margaret Zeigler at the number below.

For more information contact: