By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

NEW DELHI, India– In a development charity’s report released to coincide with UN World Food Day; countries such as India and China have been praised for their efforts to tackle hunger.  However the ActionAid International’s “anti-hunger scorecard”, which ranks government efforts to combat hunger, critiques India, amongst other countries for their inaction in attempting to alleviate the problem of providing the “Right to Adequate Food” to their people.  This report ranks 51 countries where ActionAid has a presence or has data reliable enough to make comparisons.

The ‘Right to Adequate Food’ comes from the UN’s International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  The right to adequate food is a human right for all, to have regular and permanent access, either directly or by financial means to adequate and sufficient food.  

The study estimates that globally one billion people are malnourished, which roughly represents one in seven of the world’s population.  The report criticizes the economically liberal India.  It states the ranks of the hungry have swelled by 30 million people since the mid-1990s, with nearly half of children in the country being under weight, placing it at number 22 after countries such as Ethiopia and Lesotho.  The study also reveals a contrast in the country where although India was ranked in the top three developing countries on the social protection indicator, many have gone hungry as a result of “poor implementation.”  India ranks sixth in developing nations in legal framework for addressing hunger and food rights, but the poor implementation of these laws and schemes has made it futile and difficult for the common man to have a right to adequate food.  Babu Matthew, director of ActionAid India said “The dark side of India’s economic growth has been that the excluded groups have been further marginalized, compounding their hunger, malnutrition and even leading to starvation deaths.”

The report notes the reason hunger in India exists is not because there is not enough food, but the population does not have access to it, and the exploitation of natural resources has led to “horrific displacement” of people, making many in the country poverty stricken.  Anne Jellema, the international policy director for ActionAid stated “It is the role of the state and not the level wealth, that determines progress on hunger.”  

Jellema also implored that “Massive and urgent support to poor farmers, and social welfare programmes for vulnerable groups, are needed to reverse growing global hunger. At the World Food Summit next month, donor countries need to announce an additional 23 billion dollars to support these measures.”

For information, please see:

BBC News-Mixed Messages in Hunger Report– 16 October 2009

Kaiser Family Foundation- World Food Day Marked, ActionAid International Releases Hunger Report– 16 October 2009

Hindustan Times- Half of India’s Children Malnourished, say NGO Report-17 October 2009

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations- Right to Food

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Within the past week, Chinese intellectuals and a government news agency posted two similar media declarations on the Internet.  Both declarations stated the need for more open media, acceptance of new media technologies, and interaction between journalists and audiences.

However, the “Internet Human Rights Declaration” drafted by 15 Chinese intellectuals stipulating ten specific items, including freedom of speech online, disappeared from online viewing soon after its first appearance.

Within two days, the Declaration had been blocked from viewing, and searches of the document on the web, including on China’s biggest search engine called Baidu.com, ended in failure.  This is contrary to President Hu Jintao’s promise at the World Media Summit for more media freedom and protection.

Bei Feng, journalist and one of the drafters of the Declaration, said Chinese government’s increasing severity with Internet censorship is what prompted the drafting of the Declaration. 

Ling Cangzhou, another journalist and drafter of the document said the Declaration’s purpose is to “bring the Chinese people’s attention to the current state of the internet and to stimulate thought on free speech and free media.”  Ling added that the Declaration was drafted within the scope of China’s constitution. 

Contrarily, others feel that China has made progress in protecting free speech online.  For example, criticism of the government can now be found on the web as 300 million Internet users of China have newly but firmly established a culture of “Internet activism” where grievances towards the government are expressed online.  Nevertheless, Chinese officials do maintain a tight control over the Internet, and they do block or filter certain sensitive keywords.

Although China has an iron grip over its web users, online freedom of speech is being encouraged by the authorities because it helps the officials gain a first-hand understanding of the current public sentiment. 

Ironically, there has also been a new movement where Chinese bloggers, despite worries that this could give the authorities the leverage for stricter Internet censorship, are asking for greater government intervention online against those who spread false information online to protect individual’s rights.
For more information, please see:

Asia Times – China torn over Internet freedoms – 8 October 2009

Global Voices Advocacy – China’s Internet: Two Media Declarations – 15 October 2009

Guardian – So, Comrade, tell me: why did you censor my website? – 6 October 2009