OSCE, Alm.del - 2008-09 - Bilag 32: Report for the general committee on political affairs and security: "The OSCE: Adressing New Security Challenges"

One of the pillars of the Helsinki Final Act was and still is the notion of the“indivisibility” of security. This principle means that security is an overarching issue, andthat the security of any single State cannot be pursued to the detriment of another.Such an assumption also implies that shared values require a shared effort, a sharedcommitment to security that all OSCE countries – on equal footing – must abide by.In other words, “indivisibility” implies that we are all “producers and consumers ofsecurity” at the same time and in the same way.Over the decades, the “indivisibility” of security has shifted from applying merely toterritories or States to transversally encompassing the challenges posed indiscriminately byglobalisation to all OSCE countries.Today, the indivisibility of security means a shared stance to counter large-scaleorganised crime, terrorism, cyber attacks and the financial crisis.It is precisely the current global financial crisis, one that has also become an economicand social crisis, which helps us better understand the new indivisible security challenges andthe multipolar, inclusive approach that offers the best possible way of combating them.One new and major challenge is that of food self-sufficiency, and the related politicalissue of food security.In 2008 a number of serious incidents broke out in many countries, including inMediterranean area Egypt and Tunisia, primarily due to the marked increase in grain prices.Some Asian countries blocked rice exports. Some wealthy Nations blocked exports, and somesupermarkets even limited purchases to four units per person to avoid hoarding.Alongside the concerning question of famine is the dangerous neocolonialist logic thatsees Governments and banks buying up millions of hectares to produce food abroad, thusleading to a crisis for local producers and to a serious loss of food self-sufficiency in certaincountries.This great race to control foreign staple-food production has proven one of the latesttrends in the global economy. OSCE countries too have been targeted by such investmentsfrom Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia.On 28 April 2008, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon established a TaskForce on the food crisis, geared towards providing States with a single, united response tofood security issues.On 3-5 June 2008, the FAO organised the Conference on World Food Security in Rome,attended by 181 countries, and on 27 January last in Madrid, 126 countries united in callingfor “food security for all” in the “Madrid Declaration”.2

Our Parliaments and Governments, and indeed the OSCE itself, cannot simply sit on thesidelines passively observing this great challenge unfold.The reasons why all this is happening are simple: crops used for fuel are more lucrativethan those grown for food; there has been a marked reduction in arable land; biofuels arebecoming increasingly popular; natural disasters are taking their toll; rural populations are insharp decline; and there has been an exponential rise in demand for food from India andChina. It is necessary therefore that, while respecting fundamental economic freedoms, wediscourage huge investements that result in the expulsion of the rural population andundermine food sovereignty.The effects of these developments are equally clear: rising food prices, which affect thepoorest inhabitants of both the strongest and – more seriously – the weakest economies.According to figures from the World Bank, wheat prices went up by 120% in one year, andrice prices increased by 75% in two months. Global grain stocks are dwindling. According tothe FAO, in 2008 an extra 1035 billion dollars were spent on food imports and, mostsignificantly, low income countries increased imports by 40%.All this spells instability, damages fundamental rights, exacerbates conflicts and makesfor unacceptable inequality. The lack of food and water affects most of all the weakest part ofpoor societies, not only children but also women, who in the most difficult situations continueto deal with the burden of family care and are left alone by the heads of the family because ofwork reasons or due to wars.The UN estimates that 100 million people are at risk of dying due to rising food prices.Conflict prevention and the peaceful solution of frozen conflicts is also essential to ensurefood security.After years of decline, the number of starving people on our planet has risen to850,000,000. Moreover, the Rome Declaration of 1996 on food security, that sought to halvethe number of malnourished people by 2015, is far from achieving its goals.The issue of food security must therefore become a top priority on the OSCE’s agenda,because fundamental political and human rights are useless without a pre-emptive right tofood! Greater commitment is required from Governments, Parliaments and donors. In theMillennium Development Goals 189 countries undertook to allocate 0.7% of GDP by 2015 tofighting poverty: this target can still be reached.The last G8 set itself the task of establishing a global network of food and agricultureexperts: research centers and universities can offer a huge contribution to this activity.IFAD (the International Fund for Agricultural Development) has earmarked over 200million dollars for a project to transfer seeds to developing countries.On 10 March 2008, the FAO/EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment) Conference held in London discussed support mechanisms for the residualpotential of agricultural production in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, where 13 out of atotal 23 million hectares of previously farmed land could immediately be re-used.The main slogan for Milan’s Expo 2015 will be “Feeding the planet – Energy for life”.The first G8 Agricultural Ministers meeting took place in Italy on 18-20 April 2009, withan overall agreement on the strategies to fight famine and to support food security.3