H.E. Oscar
Luigi Scalfaro,
President of the Italian Republic - 13 November 1996
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Distinguished Heads of Delegation,
Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Mr. Director-General of FAO,In the name of the Italian people - and my own - I offer you all a warm welcome and our sincere thanks. The presence here of so many national leaders reflects the importance of this political assembly which is called upon to grapple with a grave human problem that bedevils the cause of justice: the fact that some people have enough to live, while others do not; that some people can - and do - squander resources, while others die of hunger and malnutrition. This huge contrast serves to remind us that the true importance of this meeting derives not so much from the realm of politics as from that of the human conscience.
The signatories of the San Francisco Charter were well aware that the text establishing the United Nations opened a new era in human history, because this was the first time that the fundamental, inviolable human rights - those rooted in the very nature of the human person - received recognition in the positive law of peoples and states, and became the indispensable and inalienable basis of relations between states.
So today, at this first Summit of Heads of State and Government on the subject of food security, we should all realize that the purpose of our reflection, and I hope our commitment, is recognition of a natural human right which it is our common duty to protect and implement, making sure that what we mouth is more than empty words.
It is unacceptable that over 800 million people are still unable to satisfy their basic food needs. It is unacceptable for Heads of State and Government who are responsible for the life of the international community, but it is even more unacceptable in terms of the moral responsibility that is incumbent on each and every one of us. The suffering - and in many cases the innocent death - of over 800 million men, women and children demands a response from us.
The desperate cry of a large portion of humanity is directed not only towards the governments, but also to the whole of civil society, starting with those who enjoy the greatest - and very often excessive - economic advantages.
We already have some reassuring indications of such solidarity. The forum of non-governmental organizations that is meeting in parallel to this Summit represents a gathering of the forces working on the ground in many parts of the world, struggling day by day to defend human dignity. Its presence so close at hand is not only symbolic, but is also a clear message to us all. And in this very authoritative assembly, I feel we should express our special gratitude to all the volunteers throughout the world who, generously, selflessly and removed from the spotlights of the media, bear precious daily testimony to human solidarity. Our gratitude goes out to these generous souls, whose voluntary and varied work often makes up for the inadequacies of state action, and in any case complements it with intelligence and sensitivity to the needs of the most destitute.
The Youth Forum - also meeting in Rome at the moment - reminds us that we not only have to respond to the present emergency, but must also fulfil our primary and sacred duties toward future generations.
Food security is a human right, but certainly not the only one. The rights that constitute the fullness of human dignity are many and all are essential: the right to political and economic freedom, the right to security of self and property, the right to family and home, the right to work, the right to an effective democratic life, and, above all, as synthesis and result of the effective recognition of these rights, the right to peace.
Peace, the supreme good for every person and all peoples, flows from respect for truth and justice. Hunger will not be conquered in isolation, nor will its defeat automatically confer human freedom and dignity.
The history of the last decades has much to tell us in this respect, but the events of recent days are enough to challenge and accuse us. Hundreds of thousands of human beings like us - women, men and elderly people worn out with suffering, and innocent children who have known nothing but the misery of war, hunger, privation and bloodshed in their short lives - are desperately fleeing for their lives in an endless human river of refugees.
And are we simply going to look on? Are we going to wait for the massacre to end before we establish peace between the untold number of dead and the few hopeless survivors? How can we claim to represent civilization and progress or to exemplify the freedom and democracy that we wish others to emulate?
Thank you, Mr Secretary-General of the United Nations, for your sensitivity, but it seems to us that the Security Council has shown a lack of compassion and justice, and a failure to fulfil a duty of civilization.
This present assembly should loudly condemn those who apply genocide as a rule of conquest and strongly urge that the resolve of an international body does not translate into futile bureaucracy.
The rejection of violence must entail strong stances and actions. It is our bounden duty to hurry to the defence of the suffering and the innocent, whatever the cost, if human dignity is to be upheld.
Are some people waiting to count the economic gains once the appalling massacre is over? Far from being rhetorical, this is a question that demands an answer - and one hopes it will be negative.
This is where the United Nations has a duty, a responsibility and a commitment to fulfil. The United Nations came into being to serve people to the full, addressing every need, every right and every legitimate expectation. For there can be no peace when injustice clamours for redress in the righteous mind; there is no peace without freedom and total respect of all rights.
Italy stands shoulder to shoulder with all countries and all people of good will, as we embark on this great undertaking.
It is no coincidence that Rome has the privilege of hosting three United Nations agencies - FAO, the World Food Programme, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development - which have been working with perseverance and wisdom for many years now, deploying human and material resources to overcome the problem of hunger in the world. The gravity of the situation before us should not mask the achievements that have been made. I would pay special tribute to FAO, which has managed to mobilize the energy and enthusiasm of many sectors of the more developed societies, especially in the scientific world, in order to bring about a sustained global revolution that will soon assure food security and a balanced diet for all.
I am not forgetting the great strides made in the field of education and technical and vocational training for women and men that had previously been left behind by modern progress, so that the human resources and intellectual capacities of the Third World can be used to maximum effect.
This Summit is a great opportunity that can on no account be let to slip. We shall certainly be able to make considerable progress in implementing primary justice towards those struggling for survival, but on two conditions:
- that we conceive this duty as an act of love expressing absolute equality among human beings; and
- that we all strive together in this affirmation of justice, embodying the brotherhood that was solemnly invoked in the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights.
I extend my best wishes for your work, with the reminder that this is an urgent and serious commitment, for which we shall all one day be held to account.
