INSTRUCTIONS: JOIN CONSENSUS WITH AN EOP ON UNGA

UNCLAS STATE 117698

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: UNGA PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: INSTRUCTIONS: JOIN CONSENSUS WITH AN EOP ON UNGA
3C RESOLUTION "RIGHT TO FOOD"

REF: MUSSER-SAMMIS/PHIPPS EMAIL 11/12/09 00:36


1. Department authorizes USDEL to join consensus on the
resolution entitled "Right to Food" and deliver the EoP in
paragraph 2. In the event that Cuba successfully amends OP12
of the REF text from the floor to read as follows:

Urges States that have not yet done so to become consider
becoming parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity
and to consider becoming States Parties to the International
Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as
a matter of priority.

Department requests USDEL to omit the following sentence from
the EoP:

Consistent with the non-binding and recommendatory nature of
General Assembly resolutions, we interpret this resolution's
call on states to become parties to international agreements,
in this case the Convention on Biological Diversity, as a
recommendation to consider doing so.

Department requests any additional changes to the REF text be
immediately notified to Department, which will provide
further instructions as needed.


2. The United States is pleased to be able to join consensus
on this resolution on the right to food.

Combating global hunger and promoting food security is a key
foreign policy objective of President Obama and his
Administration. At this year's "G8 Plus" Summit in L'Aquila,
Italy, the United States, along with more than 25 countries
and organizations, agreed on principles for a comprehensive
and coordinated approach to support country-led food security
strategies, and collectively pledged $20 billion over the
next three years to that effort. On September 26, Secretary
of State Clinton and United Nations Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon co-hosted an event entitled "Partnering for Food
Security", attended by more than 130 countries, to build
further support for these principles in-country, on the
ground. The United States, along with others, has also
pledged its commitment to the Millennium Development Goal of
reducing by half the proportion of people who suffer from
hunger and who live in extreme poverty by 2015.

The United States is not a party to the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and by
joining consensus on this resolution does not recognize any
change in the current state of conventional or customary
international law regarding rights related to food. It is
our objective to achieve a world where everyone has adequate
access to food, but we do not treat the right to food as a
formal enforceable obligation.

We interpret this resolution's references to the right to
food, with respect to States Parties to the aforementioned
Covenant, in light of its Article 2(1),in which they
undertake to take steps "with a view to achieving
progressively the full realization" of economic, social and
cultural rights. We interpret this resolution's references
to member States' obligations regarding the right to food as
applicable to the extent they have assumed such obligations.
And while the United States has for the last decade been the
world's largest food aid donor, we do not concur with any
reading of this resolution that would suggest that states
have particular extraterritorial obligations arising from a
right to food. We interpret this resolution's reaffirmation
of previous documents as applicable to the extent countries
affirmed those documents in the first place. Consistent with
the nonbinding and recommendatory nature of General Assembly
resolutions, we interpret this resolution's call on states to
become parties to international agreements, in this case the
Convention on Biological Diversity, as a recommendation to
consider doing so. While we join this resolution's noting
with appreciation and welcoming, respectively, work of the
Special Rapporteur and the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, we note significant disagreements with
portions of their recommendatory documents, including the
Special Rapporteur's OCTOBER 2009 report and the Committee's
General Comment No. 12.

The United States is committed to international trade
liberalization and to achieving an ambitious and balanced
conclusion to the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha Round
negotiations. By joining consensus on this resolution, we
support the new market opening that can be achieved through
international trade agreements, including the Doha Round,
which in turn can generate the economic growth necessary to
spur development. At the same time, we wish to clarify that
this resolution will in no way undermine or modify the
commitments of the United States or any other government to
existing trade agreements or the mandates of on-going trade
negotiations.

Similarly, the United States wishes to reiterate its view
that the implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) supports
comprehensive approaches to food security by establishing the
necessary incentives for research and development of new
plant varieties and investment in biotechnology innovations
that can address the challenges faced by farmers and
agricultural systems. By joining consensus on this
resolution, we support countries' continued implementation of
the TRIPS Agreement, which provides for patent and plant
variety protection systems that generate many benefits for
researchers, producers, consumers, and society, in the drive
to promote global food security.

In this regard, we observe that the Special Rapporteur's
report could have been significantly strengthened by
presenting a balanced view of the benefits of adequate and
effective intellectual property rights and plant variety
protection for promoting important research and investment,
addressing the needs of farmers, and ensuring food security.

I thank you Mr. President.
CLINTON