7th special session of the HRC
Statement by Ambassador Shinichi KITAJIMA

Geneva, 22 May 2008
Permanent Mission of Japan in Geneva

Thank you Mr. President,

 

1. We welcome the detailed presentations made by High Commissioner, Mme. Louise Arbour, Special Rapporteur, Mr. Olivier De Schtter and Member of the CESCR, Mr. Eibe Riedel.

 

2. Japan has been supporting the resolutions titled “the right to food” adopted every year at the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. We believe that all people have the fundamental human rights to have adequate food and to be free from hunger, and that these resolutions contribute to the protection of the fundamental human rights to be enjoyed by all the people.

 

3.Soaring food prices are posing imminent and serious global challenges. The threat of hunger and malnutrition is increasing, and high prices have also brought about social unrest and a negative impact upon human rights. This issue is a pressing one that needs to be addressed by the international community urgently. Soaring global food prices are causing the rise of domestic food prices and a partial food shortage in our country, too, whose rate of self-sufficiency is only 40 percent.    

 

4.On April 18, Prime Minister of Japan sent letters to the Secretary General of the United Nations and the President of the World Bank. In those letters, he confirmed his belief, as Chair of the G8, that this issue of rising food prices must be a subject of discussions at the G8 Summit to be held in Toyako, Hokkaido, and encouraged the United Nations and the World Bank to give additional input in the run-up to the G8 Summit.

 

5.Given the pressing nature of this issue, Japan also intends to make use of other international fora such as the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) scheduled to take place next week in Yokohama Japan.

 

6.As part of international cooperation to respond to the worsening of rising food prices, the Government of Japan has already announced a plan to implement emergency food assistance in the amount of 100 million US dollars by July this year. Regarding this emergency assistance, Japan has already disbursed 50 million US dollars to the World Food Programme. In addition to that, we intend to implement food assistance of 50 million US dollars to help impoverished farmers with increasing food production.  

 

7.We believe that deliberation on prescriptions for longer term agenda should also be accelerated, such as an increased food production and improving food productivity, taking into account the need for adaptation to climate change. Studies on the promotion of bio-fuels should also be conducted bearing in mind the compatibility between the development of measures against global warming and the realization of right to food. 

 

8. Japan wishes very much to join the consensus as regards the resolution.

 

I thank you, Mr. President.