Address at the Opening
Ceremony of the 10th International Meeting "Religions and
Peace"
Rome, Italy, 7 October 1996
Your Excellency Mr President,
(Your Holiness Pope John Paul II),
Respected Religious Leaders,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As we gather here today to chart out a
common agenda for peace and solidarity, I feel both
honoured and humbled: honoured to address a gathering of
most eminent personalities whose spiritual guidance and
moral teachings are essential in our times; and I feel
humbled because I remember the poignant words of His
Holiness Pope John Paul II when he recalled (and I quote)
"the cries of anguish of millions of people before the
shameful scandal of the "paradox of abundance". On the
one hand &endash; he said &endash; we have the upsetting
pictures and images of a part of humanity condemned to
die from hunger.... On the other hand, we are witness to
the denials of solidarity: the destruction of entire
harvests, the selfish demands inherent in the economic
models of today ...... and the conditions imposed on
food-aid even in cases that are really emergencies.
I wonder how can there be peace where
justice is flouted, where the natural environment is
destroyed, and where large segments of population are
debased and defeated by hunger?
- Give us this day our daily bread -,
says the Christian prayer, a plea echoing down the ages
in humanity's discourse with the Creator. And Al Quran
reveals: - Then let man look at his food and how We
provide it: for that We pour forth water in abundance,
and We split the earth in fragments and produce therein
grain and grapes and nutritious plants, and olives and
dates and enclosed gardens dense with lofty trees....-
But in spite of the God-given
bounties, 800 million people today are afflicted by what
the Dhammapada rightly calls - the greatest disease -
hunger, and 200 million children are undernourished and
without hope for their lives.
The sheer number of men, women and
children deprived of their inalienable right to life and
dignity is unacceptably high.
The cries of the hungry are matched by
the silent anguish ofdegraded soil, denuded forest stands
and increasingly depleted fishing grounds. The diversity
of plant and animal life on the land and in the waters
are recklessly decimated rather than prudently harnessed
and conserved. Al Quran sternly warns that the earth full
of splendour could be turned to stubbles - as though it
had not flourished only the day before.-
Human deprivation and ecological
penury are inextricably bound together. As oft stated,
the earth has enough to satisfy everyone's need, but too
little to satisfy everyone's greed. His Holiness the Pope
made it clear when he recalled that - simplicity,
moderation and discipline as well as a spirit of
sacrifice must become part of everyday life lest all
suffer the consequences of the careless habits of few.-
As the - ecological boat people - are
drifting in ever greater numbers intomarginal areas or
over-crowded urban slums, human cruelty, civil wars and
the collapse of economic and political systems have
conspired to drive millions of uprooted people to exodus.
"The conscience of humanity &endash; the Pope says
&endash; demands compulsory humanitarian intervention
when the survival of entire ethnic groups and populations
is seriously compromised: this is a duty for nations and
for the international community.
Human solidarity is reflected in the
obligatory principle of beneficence in all the faiths. Al
Quran enjoins: "So give what is due to the kindred, the
needy and the wayfarer. That is best for those who seek
the countenance of God, and it is they who will prosper.
And the Old Testament states: - When you gather the
harvest of your land, you are not to harvest to the very
end of the field...... You are neither to strip your vine
bare nor to collect the fruit that has fallen into your
vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and stranger
-.
Notwithstanding the teachings of the
holy texts, compassion-fatigue combined with price
increases has sliced food-aid to a half in three short
years, from 15.2 million tons in 1993 to 7.6 million tons
in 1996. Global cereal harvests have been fairly stagnant
during the first half of the nineties reflecting mainly
the steep fall in the Commonwealth of Independent States
while elsewhere production has increased slowly. Although
an increase is expected for 1996, global stocks in the
granaries are still only about 15% of the trend-use, much
below the 17 to 18 percent food security bench-mark. The
sluggish cereals production was matched by slippages in
fisheries.
The year 1995 saw the steepest rise in
the price of rice, wheat and maize since the food crisis
in the early seventies. Low-income food-deficit countries
have been dunned with exceptionally high import bills.
We should not forget either that the
world population of 5.8 billion today will grow to 8.3
billion by the year 2025, and the bulk of that growth
will be in the developing countries. An FAO study,
Agriculture Towards 2010, projects that improvements in
food supply will require a significant growth of imports.
Net cereal imports of food-deficit developing countries
may have to grow from the current 100 million tons to 162
million tons by the year 2010 or even more to ensure food
for all.
Given the scenario that I have just
sketched, should we despair? The answer is an emphatic -
NO -. The road is hard and narrow, but it does exist; and
the multitudes of hungry people cry out to us for
courageous action. All of us must consider it our duty
&endash; as His Holiness the Pope has said &endash; to
show firm and increasingly active solidarity, the only
way for us all to share equally the fruits of creation.-
It is essential that the people
bearing the brunt of malnutrition have access to
available resources, including know-how and information,
to produce or procure a healthy andadequate diet.
In the medieval Jewish tradition,
Maimonides presents - the ladder of Tzedakah -. Its
primary level is charity or beneficence for the survival
of the needy, but the highest level is to entitle them
with the skills to feed themselves. It is in this context
that FAO works. And it is in this context that we have
initiated a Special Programme for Food Security in
Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries. This programme
emphasises the technological empowerment of farmers and
an adequate flow of investment for research, development
and extension of production technologies within a
conducive policy-environment of credit, pricing and
exchange.
Such efforts at community and national
levels must be supported at the global level with an
international solidarity founded on more equitable
sharing of resources and market opportunities. Solidarity
&endash; says the encyclical Sollicitudo Reis Socialis
&endash; is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow
distress at the misfortunes of so many, but a firm and
persevering determination to commit oneself to the common
good.
That is why we have invited the Heads
of State and Government of the world to meet at FAO
Headquarters in Rome, in November this year, at the World
Food Summit. It isthe first time in history that a
meeting of Heads of State and Government on this crucial
matter is being convened. World leaders are convinced
that hunger is unacceptable in a world that has both the
knowledge and resources to end this daily catastrophe.
They recognise that food security for all and peace are
essential preconditions of each other; and that economic
and social development policies must encourage broad and
equitable distribution of resources and entitlements.
Hence, their commitment to build a world without hungry
people and thirsty land. And their resolve - will gain
credibility more immediately from the witness of actions
-. The Summit is therefore expected to adopt a pragmatic
Plan of Action to ensure that everyone everywhere has
enough to eat. The task is daunting and all segments of
civil society must be involved.
What is required in the final analysis
is the transformation of hearts, minds, and wills - a
moral commitment to solidarity and equity at all levels,
from households and communities to nation-states and the
world. There can be no more sacred duty for a man or
woman than to feed the household and the needy. There can
be no more sacred duty for community leaders and national
governments than to ensure that every member of a society
has access to an adequate and healthy diet. There can be
no more sacred duty for the international community than
that of solidarity with justice so that hunger amidst
affluence becomes a nightmare of the past.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Humankind's quest for food and
yearning for salvation are intertwined, as the root deep
in the earth and flowers high in the sky grow together
before the face of the sun. The prayer therefore says, -
And forgive us our trespasses -.
Let us then recall the face of the
poorest and the weakest person that we have seen and ask
ourselves if the steps we contemplate are going to be of
any use to him. Will it lead to self-reliance for the
hungry and spiritually starving millions? These are the
questions which sage-statesman Mahatma Gandhi asked
himself. And those are precisely the questions we must
all ask ourselves. - Let us not forget that at the end of
the day, we shall be called before the Lord to account
for our action on behalf of our brothers and sisters.
