International Food Security Treaty

"All humans should have a fundamental right to food...All beginnings are difficult, as it was with slavery, colonialism, racism, sex discrimination...If you insist forcefully and long enough, I think you will win. (The International Food Security Treaty) is a new idea whose time has come."
Dr. Robert Muller (1923-2010)
Former Chancellor, United Nations University for Peace and UN Assistant Secretary-General

"Human rights have political, civil, economic, social and cultural aspects, and all are closely intertwined. Food security is essential to the exercise of human rights, and the International Food Security Treaty points toward a world where human rights can be truly universal."
John Shattuck
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; and U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic

“Access to food is essential for everyone and should never be used as a weapon. The concept of the International Food Security Treaty and its core principles could help global leaders address access to adequate nutrition across the planet.”
Senator Jeff Merkley
United States Senate

"(The IFST) could become a major element in stimulating global action to eradicate starvation and in strengthening the international justice system."
Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate

"The costs of malnutrition are horrendous not only in terms of human health, mortality, and morbidity, but also economic failure. Benefit/cost ratios of food and nutritional interventions--reflected in such factors as increased productivity and decreases in long-term healthcare expenses and the kind of foreign aid pressures they incur--are very high, many exceeding 50/1 or even 100/1. Thus, the case for implementing the International Food Security Treaty worldwide can be made on economic grounds, let alone its humanitarian imperatives."
Richard J. Deckelbaum, MD
Robert R. Williams Professor of Nutrition
Director, Institute of Human Nutrition
Columbia University Medical Center

"Food security is a fundamental human right. The International Food Security Treaty is a critically important addition to human rights law that promises to make more explicit the obligations of nations to respect, protect, and promote the human rights of their citizens."
Robert S. Lawrence, MD, Director, Center for a Livable Future Professor Emeritus
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Founding Board Member and Past President, Physicians for Human Rights

"I am very encouraged to hear about the work you are doing for food security, and I admire your initiative and dedication. I hope your work will progress powerfully."
Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics
Adjunct Professor of Population and International Health, Harvard University

"(The IFST) makes the utmost sense...(It) must have teeth—another pious platitude in favor of eating will not accomplish the task."
Abner J. Mikva (1926-2016)
Former Chief Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit

“Doing all we can to remove the scourge of hunger from the Earth is not only consistent with the mission of the Episcopal Church and the support of the Anglican Communion for the Millennium Development Goals: it is incumbent upon us as Christians. As Jesus sought to underscore his connection to the hungry by declaring “As you've done to the least of these, you've done to me," we must not ignore a tool at hand to relieve the suffering caused by hunger. The International Food Security Treaty is such a tool, and it is essential that all of us who want to end hunger pick it up and put it to good use.”
The Very Rev. William Lupfer
Dean, Trinity Episcopal Church, Portland, Oregon, USA

"(The IFST is potentially) '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.'”
Maurice Strong,
Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Former Director of the World Economic Forum Foundation Board,
Senior Advisor to the President of the World Bank; and
Chair, International Advisory Board of CH2M Hill (engineering, construction, and security multinational)

“As an organization committed to advancing health, dignity and justice for all, Physicians for Human Rights fully supports the principles of the International Food Security Treaty. By putting the force of law behind the aim of eradicating hunger, the IFST will lend vital strength to the global effort to make a reality of the the human right of health.”
Leonard Rubenstein, Executive Director
Physicians for Human Rights

"As a member of the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, I strongly support the principle that access to food is a fundamental human right....If we wish to achieve genuine peace and security in the world we must begin with food security. The [IFSTC] is on the vanguard of the effort to end world hunger through rule of law."
Congresswoman Barbara Lee
United States House of Representatives

“A legally binding treaty, like many that have been created in matters of trade and business, is urgently needed to promote food security. We stand by the International Food Security Treaty Campaign in this noble cause.”
Sanjay K. Rai
Founding Director, Aim (India)

"Establishing the right to food is no different from acknowledging the right of all people to live. It is as essential to civilization and peace as is the right to be free from physical attack. I applaud all efforts to achieve The International Food Security Treaty as an historic milestone toward realizing our true humanity.”
Frances Moore Lappé
Co-Founder, Small Planet Institute and Food First
Author, Diet for a Small Planet (1971), Democracy's Edge (2006), and Getting a Grip (2007)
Winner, 1987 Right Livelihood Award

"I am glad to support (the IFST) which could help...in the common aim of putting an end to all of the social problems that are threatening the security of the people in our present world."
Juan Somavia
Ambassador from Chile to the UN and Coordinator of the 1995 UN World Summit on Social Development

“The ongoing prevalence of hunger and famine is a blight on our moral conscience. We have the ability to end global hunger - but must summon the will to do it. The International Food Security Treaty (IFST) lays out a framework for doing so through global commitments and accountability. All revolutionary human achievements began as a shared ideal and the IFST is no different. We have believed in ending world hunger for decades - the IFST allows us to do it.”
Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici
United States House of Representatives

"In the absence of food, other political and economic rights and freedoms are meaningless...(The IFST) is a necessary tool in eradicating the ongoing problem of world hunger...the legal realization of the will to address these needs."
Congresswoman Lois Capps
United States House of Representatives, 1998 to 2017
(See Rep. Capps’s 2015 video statement to the United Nations Committee on World Food Security here.)

"I appreciate your excellent presentation of the urgent importance of the International Food Security Treaty...I wish you and your colleagues every possible success."
Father Robert F. Drinan, S.J. (1920-2007)
Former Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Former Member, U.S. House of Representatives

"Each of these (IFST) goals is worthy of serious consideration and you may trust that I will work for them in the U.S. Senate."
Senator Barbara Boxer
United States Senate, 1993 to 2017

"Serving on the House of Representatives International Relations Committee has reinforced my long-held belief that addressing the global problems of hunger and poverty is critical to building a more prosperous and secure future for us all...I support creative projects like the International Food Security Treaty to face these challenges head-on."
Congressman Earl Blumenauer
United States House of Representatives
(See Rep. Blumenauer’s 2015 video statement to the United Nations Committee on World Food Security here.)

"The International Food Security Treaty affirms what I have always believed - access to food is a fundamental human right. I applaud the commendable work being done to help eradicate the root causes of hunger and believe the IFST could serve a valuable role by solidifying such efforts into law. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to ensure universal access to food because no one should be hungry."
Congresswoman Darlene Hooley
United States House of Representatives, 1997-2009

"We are pleased to support your initiative to secure the International Food Security Treaty Principles... We hope that you will be supported by official delegations to the World Food Summit."
Hon. David MacDonald
Former Canadian Secretary of State and Emergency Coordinator for the African Famine

"Zero Population Growth regards access to adequate nutrition as an essential component of rational population stabilization policy, and supports the principles of (the IFST)."
Peter Kostmayer
Former President, Population Connection (Zero Population Growth)

"An international guarantee of the right to food is long overdue...I support your campaign and would be glad to help in any way I can."
Jerry Michaud
President, End Hunger Network

“There are over 800 million people in the world who cannot guarantee themselves or their children a next meal. I am in full support of the International Food Security Treaty because the ability to survive shouldn’t be a privilege afforded to some, but a right for all.”
Congressman Salud Carbajal
United States House of Representatives

Click here to see a letter signed by some of the American organizations devoted to eliminating hunger who have teamed up to express their support for the International Food Security Treaty in a joint statement.

Supporters of the International Food Security Treaty Principles also include:

George McGovern (1922-2012), Former Ambassador on Hunger, United Nations World Food Programme
Former Member, United States Senate and Director, U.S. Food for Peace Program
Democratic Party Presidential Nominee, 1972

The Most Reverend Thomas J. Curry
(Episcopal Vicar, Santa Barbara Pastoral Region, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, 1994-2013)

The Department for Social Justice of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

International Food Security Treaty

ENDORSEMENTS of the International Food Security Treaty

Prevent the Most Cruel Crime: Arrest Hunger