YouSaid · the spoken record

Morris

lines on the record: 163
first: 2002-12-03
most recent: 2005-06-30
sittings or episodes: 5
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“More than half a million people died in those six countries last year as a result of HIV/AIDS; 30 million people are infected in Africa, up 3.5 per cent from last year; and 34 per cent of the adult population in Zimbabwe is affected by HIV/AIDS, with comparable numbers elsewhere in that part of the world. We have been focusing on the importance of agricultural investment both in a micro sense and in a macro sense, and on the importance of broadening the donor base. Everyone in the world has the primary responsibility to look after his or her own, but we all have some responsibility for those elsewhere who are worse off than we are. We are working very hard at growing our donor base.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“Half the families are headed by someone older than 65, and it is not uncommon to see a family of five children headed by a little girl 14 years of age who is the same size as my 7-year-old granddaughter. The world's responsibility for these children is enormous in terms of their education, their food and their health. That has also had the most devastating impact on the human resource structure of Governments and institutions. I mentioned the loss of teachers and the depletion and loss of human resources. We are at a point where we are talking about replenishing systems. Essentially, the medical personnel in Southern Africa - the doctors, nurses and pharmacists - are gone. The talent that will be necessary to address these issues is enormous. So we must focus on children and on human resource talent. The HIV/AIDS issue is enormous.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“Mr. Morris: In response to the question from the representative of the United States - and I thank the United States; it should be said that in 2001 the United States provided more than 60 per cent of the humanitarian assistance for the World Food Programme - the most recent message that we have been trying to convey as it relates to Southern Africa - and, by the way, I agree completely with the representative of Germany's comment about leadership and governance; they are pivotal and basic to everything - we are overwhelmed with the issue of children. There are 11 million AIDS orphans in sub- Saharan Africa. Zimbabwe has 780,000 orphans; Malawi and Zambia have somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000 orphans.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“If we are thoughtful and resourceful about this and cover a wide range of territory, we will have the opportunity to change the world by feeding school children. I want to underline the critical importance of peacekeeping and diplomacy. War and conflict, in Africa as elsewhere, quickly lead to hunger. People who are hungry and without food have risky behaviours and tend to be more aggressive. War and conflict cut productivity, increase HIV/AIDS, increase populations of refugees and internally displaced persons and dramatically affect children. War changes the focus of the way countries do their business. There is no doubt that in much of Africa hunger and poverty are fuelling conflict and robbing Africans of the bright future they deserve. Their suffering cannot be any less to us than the suffering we see elsewhere in the world today.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“We fed 16 million children last year; we need to feed 100 million worldwide and we need to feed another 50 million in Africa. This will be the single best investment, with great leverage, that we can make worldwide in beginning to turn the future of Africa around. I am more grateful than I could ever express to the many countries that have helped us. Last week I had the most remarkable phone call from Canada. Canada committed $75 million over the next three years to feed school children. I just had a terrific Visit in Switzerland, and Switzerland committed to feed an additional 10,000 school children. We are working hard to engage the private sector with our work. A magnificent Dutch company - TPG - with 150,000 employees committed each one of its employees to feed a school child.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“If we take the Millennium Development Goal of cutting hunger and poverty in half by 2015 seriously - there are 800 million hungry people in the world, nearly 40 per cent of them children; half of the children do not go to school, and most of those are girls - the single most important investment we can make is in educating children. Educated children become better citizens, better teachers, better parents and better farmers. Whatever one chooses to do with one's life, a person's education directly affects the quality of life and the quality of the community. We know how to feed a child in school for about $35 per year. For less than $1 per year, we can have extraordinary health interventions led by the World Health Organization (WHO) that reduce worms and all sorts of other serious health issues.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“We were not very successful in raising the resources for non- food items. Water and sanitation, health, medicine, vaccination and educational issues are every bit as important as food, and somehow the donor community - and as head of WFP I am grateful for this - finds it easier to focus on food and more difficult to focus on other issues. Investments made in farm implements, seed and fertilizer have enormous leverage and help to put people back on their feet. I would encourage members to take a look at those kinds of issues. I mentioned the issue of non-traditional donors. Finally, let me say that the piece of our work that I consider to be maybe the most important is our work with school feeding. There are 300 million hungry children in the world.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“The Secretary-General's call for a green revolution in Africa is one of the most important statements to be made recently. Thirdly, we propose funding of a $300 million African food emergency fund that would be an immediate response account that can be used at the very outset of a food crisis. Our emergency response account now has $35 million, and our experience suggests that those dollars that are available to invest immediately when there is a crisis on the horizon are those that allow families to keep their farms together and to not sell their coping mechanisms; a little help at the beginning is worth a lot of help later on in the process. I should also say that in the crisis in Southern Africa, we were very successful in raising cash and commodities to meet the food requirements.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“Women do 80 per cent of the agricultural work in Africa. Women now are 58 per cent of those infected with HIV/AIDS in Africa. They are expected to produce the food and to serve the food. They are expected to give care to so many people who are critically ill in their homes or regions. The world needs to focus on making agricultural production easier for women in Africa. I had a good visit with the Minister of Agriculture of Malawi. He said, "Jim, the most important thing the world could do for us would be to invest about $77 million in an irrigation system that would serve Malawi countrywide." Malawi is a country with huge lakes and huge water resources, and a properly constructed irrigation system would address its agricultural issues in a very substantial way.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“We have looked for ways to twin countries that have cash with countries that have commodities, and we will see how we can make that work. The leverage is enormous. India has committed a million metric tons of wheat for Afghanistan in part for us to produce high- energy biscuits for a million school children in Afghanistan. We need help from countries that can help with the transportation of the wheat biscuits that are produced in India. We have had good support for the first time ever from the Russian Federation. We are working hard to bring new partners into our programme. Secondly, there is a need for a substantial increase in support for investment in basic agricultural infrastructure, both micro and macro, especially irrigation infrastructure, but also roads and markets. There is a need to make agricultural work easier on women.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“The specific points that we left with the group on that occasion are as follows. First, we need a far stronger donor commitment to emergency food aid based on better targeting and more sophisticated early-warning systems. The World Food Programme is funded entirely with voluntary contributions from countries. We receive no core funding from the United Nations. We are the largest humanitarian agency in the world, and our annual budget is larger than the United Nations budget for its New York City operation. We receive 90 per cent of our support from nine countries plus the European Community. There are two dozen more countries that now have the capability to help us, and there are many countries that now have agricultural surpluses that can help us by providing commodity but that do not have the cash to pay for transportation.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“There are places where we have had to cut rations in half or by 25 per cent. Major interruptions in the food pipeline are feared in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Algeria and the Sudan: the major nations in Africa that host refugees. A few weeks ago here at the United Nations, we had a very positive session with the Group of Eight, which the Secretary-General kicked off, in which we talked about what the world needs to do to get the issues in Africa on a firmer foundation. We talked about the fact that Africans themselves will ultimately have to provide the leadership. They will be responsible for their own domestic policies. Global trade issues will have to be resolved in such a way that they do not become such a huge disincentive for agricultural production and export in places in Africa.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“It is our responsibility to provide the food. Today, in Africa, we are feeding 1.8 million refugees and 5.7 million internally displaced people. It is hugely expensive. The turmoil that this can cause if it is not done properly will have enormous effects on the countries where we work. This is a particularly difficult issue in western coastal Africa. Members have all followed the issues in Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia, where there are between 4 million and 5 million refugees - people moving about. The conflict is producing enormous chaos in the region. There are things that we need to do and things that we can do. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and WFP have warned that the fate of more than 1.2 million refugees in Africa is uncertain due to the lack of funding for much needed food aid.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“With the new early response systems, assessment systems and surveillance systems, we are now much better prepared to respond. The issues in Angola, also in Southern Africa, are a bit different, coming out of 30 to 40 years of conflict and armed Violence. The good news is that there is peace on the ground. Food is critical to the recovery of the Angolan economy and to maintaining the peace. It was our initial intent to feed about a million people in Angola. Today, we are feeding 1.8 million people. By June, the number will be 2.2 million people. Angola is a wealthy country that needs, over time, to develop a substantial agricultural system. With respect to the issue of refugees and internally displaced people, the World Food Programme cooperates with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“In the experience, they developed a cadre of community leadership that will serve those communities superbly for a long period of time. Meanwhile, a few miles away, that kind of preparation - investments in prevention and development - was not made, and they are in a catastrophe. There are probably 10,000 communities in Ethiopia that need this kind of help. We are working in 800 right now. Food security has also deteriorated in the western Sahel - Mauritania, Cape Verde, the Gambia, Senegal and Mali - with approximately a million people at risk. We are grateful to many member countries for the investments that they have made in our early warning food response systems. We were not prepared for the problem in Ethiopia of 15 years ago.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“The situation is further complicated by the conflict, with a good many members of the military yet to be resituated to their home towns. Clearly, drought is the major culprit in the Horn of Africa. We have had good response to our needs for Ethiopia but a mediocre response to our work in Eritrea. The interesting thing about Ethiopia is that of all the countries in the world it has the highest per capita emergency support and the lowest per capita development support. I had the good fortune to be there recently, and I visited communities where a few hundred dollars' worth of food properly used in food- for-work programmes helped communities plan for their future, think about soil and soil erosion and think about the impoundment of water. They planned and prepared, and they will get through this crisis.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“When Governments take economic actions, such as banning private trade or monopolizing food imports, which undermine the food sector and exacerbate hunger, our member States expect us to speak out, and we will. With respect to the situation in Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Sudan - the Horn of Africa - the numbers of people at risk are comparable to those in Southern Africa. In Southern Africa, a little more than 15 million people are at risk, with half of them in Zimbabwe. More than 11 million people are absolutely at risk of hunger in Ethiopia, with another 3 million on the edge: 20 to 25 per cent of the population. In Eritrea, the situation is much more difficult. It is a smaller country with a smaller population, but with 2.2 of the 3.3 million people absolutely at risk.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“Food should be available to all, based on humanitarian principles, with any other consideration being absolutely inappropriate. That is the case everywhere we work. Hungry people cannot afford to be caught in political crossfire. There are those who would have us pull out in crisis situations to punish Governments and to take a stand on political or human rights issues. But WFP believes that emergency aid simply cannot be politicized, for good or for ill. When people in power, be they Government or rebels, deny food aid to certain vulnerable groups of the population, we will speak out. While we see our role as neutral and much like that of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, our member States have also asked us to be advocates for the hungry. That has put us on a tightrope and in a perpetual balancing act.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“The WFP remains especially concerned about Zimbabwe, where there have been numerous media reports that food assistance is being politicized. We are confident that this is not the case with our food. In the few instances where we have received credible reports of abuse, we suspended those operations. I have met with President Mugabe six times, and we have offered the services of the United Nations to monitor and verify the food being distributed by the Government there, but we have not yet received a positive response. Inflation, Government monopolization of the food sector and the impact of the land redistribution scheme are likely to mean that the food situation will not stabilize any time soon in Zimbabwe. Our goal is not to politicize but to depoliticize food aid in Zimbabwe.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“The good news is that because of the generosity of many countries and the work of the World Food Programme (WFP), our non-governmental organization partners and other important United Nations agencies, we were able to deliver more than 620,000 tons of food in the region to more than 10 million people, and serious death and starvation were avoided. The issue of genetically modified (GM) food has faded and is no longer delaying or disrupting deliveries. Five of the six countries needing aid in Southern Africa are accepting processed and milled GM. food. We simply could not have reached the level of food deliveries we have now attained without the constructive problem-solving undertaken as it relates to the GM. issue.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“How do rural children learn to farm when their parents are too sick to teach them? How do you maintain a basic educational system for children when their teachers are dying faster than new ones can be trained? In a conversation with the President of Zambia that I will never forget, he said, "Jim, the most important thing you can do for the people of Zambia is to help us train teachers. Last year we lost 2,000 teachers to death by HIV/AIDS in Zambia, and we were only able to replace half of them".”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“In Southern Africa, and to a lesser degree in the Horn of Africa, the impact of AIDS on the political and economic structure grows daily. In January, I returned to the region along with Stephen Lewis, who is the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. We were struck by the impact the disease was having on both governance and the food sector, and on how the two were intertwined. Much of Africa's political and technical talent is dying or emigrating - a huge depletion of African human resources. More than 7 million African farmers have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS. The peak impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa will not be felt until 2005-2007. How do you turn around food production in countries that no longer have a Viable agricultural extension service?”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) would tell us that chronic hunger is actually rising in the developing world outside China and the World Health Organization would tell us that hunger is still the greatest factor in poor health in the world. There is good news. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has placed the issue of African hunger at the top of his agenda. Secondly, France and the United States are working together, within the framework of the G8, to focus the world on the African food crises. President Chirac will put this issue at the top of the agenda at the G8 meeting in Evian in June and President Bush has announced the creation of a new $200 million fund to prevent famine in Africa.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“The causes of Africa's food crises remain much as I described them in December - a lethal combination of recurring droughts; difficult, failed economic policies; hostility and conflict; and the extraordinary, almost unquantifiable impact of HIV/AIDS. The World Food Programme will have a budget in Africa this year of $1.8 billion. May I tell you that this equals the entire budget of the World Food Programme worldwide in 2002. Worldwide, global food-aid commitments have dropped precipitously over the last 10 years, from 15 million metric tons in 1999 to less than 10 million last year.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“It is interesting that my assignment today is to talk about Africa, where nearly 200 million people are malnourished and 50 million are severely at risk, especially women and children. People in Iraq have had a generous Government food supply. I can tell the Council today that most people in Iraq have food in their households for the next month. It is ironic that, if people in parts of Africa had a month's worth of food in supply in their homes, they would be overwhelmed. In fact, we have a bit of a double standard in the world. How is it that we routinely accept a level of suffering and hopelessness in Africa that we would never accept in any other part of the world? My View is that we simply cannot let this stand.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“Mr. Morris: I thank you very much, Sir, for the distinct privilege, pleasure and honour of being with you today on behalf of the World Food Programme. The purpose of my Visit is to talk about Africa, probably with a focus on Southern Africa, but, like all members of the Council, the World Food Programme is very focused on issues in Iraq. We have had a presence in Iraq since 1991 and have been a major implementer of the oil for food programme since late 1995. I would be pleased to entertain members' questions or comments about the work of the World Food Programme in Iraq after I conclude my opening statement. Our work in Iraq focuses on the potential of having to feed 27 million people in that country at a cost of $1.3 billion for a period of six months.”
2003-04-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4736 (2003) · source
“The Millennium Development Goals of halving hunger and poverty, reducing infant mortality, eradicating HIV/AIDS, enrolling children in school and improving maternal health are powerful things and areas in which the world ought to make substantial progress with the wealth we have today. I am grateful for this opportunity. I could go around the table and thank each country for what it has done for us. Norway did the most brilliant thing this year. The Norwegian Red Cross gave us 250 trucks in southern Africa -four-wheel-drive, 30-ton trucks that can go through the mud. It was the most brilliant gift we have received all year. Many of those here have done comparable things for us, and we are incredibly grateful.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“I think that the United Nations operating agencies do a pretty good job with the resources we have to work with in tackling these very difficult issues. In closing, let me say that we will respond to the Council in some greater detail and share with it our information. I would ask members of the Council to please support us financially and to make the case to their Governments as to the importance of what we do in terms of the peace and security agenda. I would ask them also to take the longer view about investment in development and to think about school feeding in that context.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“I believe that the best way to attack the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty and hunger is to feed the 300 million children who are hungry, half of whom do not go to school. For 19 cents a day, we can feed a schoolchild. The leverage on that investment - economically, socially, politically or from a humanitarian point of View - is enormous. I appreciated the question posed by the Russian Federation about resolving key problems in Africa for the long term. Working with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), WHO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and FAQ, we are able to focus on long-term health issues. UNICEF does a superb job focusing on water, sanitation and nutrition issues. The issues of education also are paramount.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“More people doing humanitarian work for the United Nations have lost their lives than have people doing peacekeeping work. We have lost two people in the last two months. We have a wonderful memorial in our building honouring those who have lost their lives in the service of the World Food Programme. The representative of Guinea also spoke of the role of women. Indeed, the role of women is extremely important in feeding people, and that is why we are heavily focused on the role of women in Afghanistan. Even when the Taliban was in charge, we operated 206 bakeries, which were essentially all operated by women, and half of them were owned by women. They have made all the difference in the world. Syria asked a question related to school feeding and other awareness programmes that can be pursued through school once the children are there.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“We are working very hard to make the case for substantial support from countries such as China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile - countries that have the wherewithal to help us. My own goal is for every one of the 191 Members of the United Nations to make a voluntary contribution to the World Food Programme - even if symbolic - every year, because we all have responsibility for those beyond our borders, even if we have the most difficult circumstances imaginable. I am working nearly full-time raising money. I do not mind that; I like that. But we need people to help us. The magnitude of the task is enormous. I appreciated the question from the representative of Guinea about the Millennium Development Goals and the safety of our workers.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“We work closely with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and with Stephen Lewis, the Secretary-General's Special Representative. Once we realized the impact of AIDS, we changed the nature of our food basket. A person who has AIDS needs 500 extra calories a day, and a person who is vulnerable also needs extra calories every day. People in that same category need much more protein. We have changed our food basket to respond to that. I appreciated the question from the representative of Cameroon - a country that has provided extraordinary leadership for the World Food Programme. He asked what can be done to reduce dependency on a few donors. We have 15 or 16 significant donors. There are 20 more countries that can help us in a substantial way, and many of them are represented around this table.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“We provide what we call a vulnerability assessment map of every country in the world, which we make available to everyone at no cost. It uses the best information technology in the world and enables us to target our work in just the way that it ought to be done. The world needs to focus on early-warning systems and assessment mechanisms. Beyond agriculture, the six countries of southern Africa desperately need assessment mechanisms for health issues. The infrastructure for health is even weaker than the infrastructure for agriculture. So many health professionals have lost their lives to AIDS, and so many doctors, nurses and pharmacists have left the region to go to work in South Africa or the United Kingdom, that the professional community is largely depleted.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“We missed a huge opportunity because either we did not have seeds and fertilizer and implements, or, where the seeds were available, people did not have the cash to buy them. And I am terribly worried that we missed a planning opportunity to begin to get the process back on its feet. The amount of money that the FAO was seeking for agricultural inputs was very modest compared with the food, but the donors did not focus on it. So I would beg you, as you look at these sorts of issues, to consider helping to provide resources for seeds and fertilizer so that you can begin the planning process. Bulgaria made a point about early-warning systems and information technology. We make huge investments in information technology.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“If you are feeding people who are in a crisis in such a way that children can go to school, or if you are feeding people in such a way that their health or nutrition is dramatically improved, these become very important long-term development goals - they are the basis of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. With regard to the question about agricultural inputs, I am afraid we may be a couple of weeks late. The FAO did a very good job in Zambia in helping that country to gather agricultural inputs. But the fact of the matter is that in the six countries that I have been most focused on, donor support for agricultural inputs, health, water, sanitation and education has been less than 25 per cent. The support for food is now close to 80 per cent.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“The FAO and the WFP have experimented in Malawi with conservation technology - a new way of farming in which a very modest $100,000 investment seeds produced $7 million worth of product, with new technology. Clearly, the issue of long-term programmes is one of the key things that we need to keep our eye on. Soil degradation is an important issue. Our work in reforestation and our food-for-work programmes that rebuild the soil are important. But this is an issue of technology, talent and the sharing of research around the world - and that is clearly available. On the issue of the level of support and long-term development, the trend has been against long-term development and in favour of short-term emergency investments. My own view is that an investment in short-term emergency work can become a very powerful long-term investment.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“Clearly, issues of tariffs, the use of surpluses and trade need to be developed in such a way that developing countries are encouraged to produce and export. The United States asked questions relating to food import policies, Government distribution policies and theft and corruption policies. Clearly, all of these affect the agricultural viability and food security of a country. All that is pretty easy to understand. Ireland asked about investment in agricultural systems. I should tell you about Malawi, which has thought through an agricultural strategy according to which a $77 million investment in irrigation technology in that country would make it self-sufficient with water forever.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“As the Council knows, the FAO, the WHO and the WFP have issued statements - as has the Secretary-General - affirming their confidence in GM. food. On the issue of sustainability, clearly there is a paradox, given the surpluses that exist around the world and the number of people who are starving. There are a lot of issues here. The good new is that many countries that were recipient countries of ours at one time are now donor countries, because they have agricultural surpluses. China is a perfect example. China is becoming a very good donor. The success of China's agricultural economy is extraordinary. The same can be said now of India and the Russian Federation. At the end of the day, however, African countries need the ability to produce and export their own food.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“There are other issues that people are concerned about, such as the pollination issue. I have to remind folks that, first and foremost, a huge number of people are at risk of starvation. In the beginning, 75 per cent of the food we had to work with had a biotech component, whether we bought it in Argentina, the United States, Canada or parts of Africa, including South Africa. I think the issue of human safety is resolved. We are in the business of providing food for people to eat. We are not in the business of providing animal food and we are not in the business of providing food via seeds to be planted. Our focus is on keeping people alive, alleviating their suffering and ultimately offering them some hope.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“Our policy is to ask a Government that gives us food or sells us food to certify that it meets the health and safety standards for consumption by its own citizens. Once we have that certification, we go to the FAO and the WHO and test it against something called the Codex Alimentarius, which talks about food safety standards from their perspectives. Once we are certain that those standards have been met, we make representations to that effect to recipient countries. Each country is sovereign and is entitled to make a decision in the context of its own situation. Until the current situation, virtually no one ever rejected GM. food. I think the world is absolutely certain that there are no health and safety issues associated with human consumption of GM. food.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“On the question about Government policies as they relate to incentives, to open markets, to support for communal and commercial agriculture, to distribution systems and to markets: the world knows what the ingredients of a successful economy are. Clearly, investment in infrastructure, in sophisticated agricultural technology and in research is important. The issue of genetically modified (GM) foods, raised by Mauritius, is very important. It will also be a very important issue for the United Nations going forward, because the amount of food produced via genetically modified technology, or biotechnology, will grow exponentially in the coming years. There will be more GM. food in the future, and it will be available around the world.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“That is more difficult in some places than in others, but it is a top priority and the key to our having the trust of our donors, and I can assure the Council that it happens. We work well with the other United Nations agencies. I pay tribute to the United Nations Children's Fund, to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and to the World Health Organization (WHO). We work together all the time. Our people in the field work superbly together, and that is really where harmony is most important - on the ground. We work well together in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, even though we have a huge operation there and the other operations are small.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“Mr. Morris: I thank Council members for their comments, their questions and their guidance. I shall try to comment briefly on the issues that have been raised. We will also answer thoroughly, in writing, each of the questions that have been raised, and we will share a complete response to each question with each member in the next three or four weeks. Each question deserves a voluminous answer, and I am sure that that is not what members want at this late hour. With regard to the United Kingdom's question as to whether those who need food really receive it: yes, I believe so. We place a heavy premium on accountability, and we have elaborate, sophisticated systems to monitor, measure and evaluate our work.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“But I would be happy to hear the Council's questions or to have a discussion. Michael Usnick is the representative of the World Food Programme here in New York. He is available to members of the Council at all times. Many of you are our very good friends. I see my friend from Ireland. Ireland has been one of our best supporters and has increased their support by 23 per cent a year. We also have great friends in Cameroon and China. So, I feel like I am among friends and am grateful for this opportunity.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“I have given the Council the text of my statement and tried to review with you my principal concerns. The issues in Africa are huge. There are 40 to 50 million children of school age in Africa that are not in school and who need to participate in a school feeding programme to get them to come to school. The school experience is fundamental to getting at the HIV/AIDS issue. Education is the only opportunity that they will have to think about alternative lifestyles. The loss of mom and dad on the farm changes the family structure and changes the output of the farm. It is more dramatic than I think I could ever describe. That is why the school experience is so incredibly important. In Zambia, half the children of school age have dropped out of school; in Zimbabwe, 25 per cent. Those are devastating numbers.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“We are working very hard to address these demands. We focus on the most vulnerable people in a society. We target our work towards women and children. We start with very young children, and we work up to approximately the age of 12. Then we work with the elderly. We do a lot of work in paediatric hospitals and orphanages. We do a lot of supplemental and therapeutic feeding that makes all the difference in the quality of life of a very young child. A child that is born to a healthy mother and has good nutrition in his or her first two years has a very good chance to have the brain and body develop. A child that is born to a poorly nourished mother or does not have adequate nutrition during his or her first two years will have irreparable damage done to the brain and the body. That is why our focus on children is so incredibly important.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“Our senior staff do the humanitarian and the residential coordinating work. We are the only international presence that has offices outside the capital. We have five regional offices around the country of North Korea, as well as one in Pyongyang. I am concerned that it is conceivable that by 1 April, we will not have resources to do our work and that there will not be a World Food Programme and, ultimately, a United Nations presence in that country. For a variety of reasons, I think that is not a good thing for the world. It is clearly not a good thing for the United Nations. And it is certainly not a good thing for the people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. But I could not come and visit with you and not tell you this story. We have more demands than we have ever had in our history.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“In North Korea, we are permitted to work in 163 of the 206 counties. We do not have the ability to do a random access check to verify our monitoring, although we do 440 monitoring visits per month. We do not receive a list of the institutional recipients from the Government of North Korea. Therefore, the accountability issue is put into play once again. I only bring this to your attention because the World Food Programme has 110 employees in North Korea. Sixty of them are North Korean employees and 50 are international employees. We are essentially the presence of the United Nations in North Korea. We work closely with UNICEF, the World Health Organization and other agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme, but they have a very small presence. We have a huge presence. We are the lead agency.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“I anticipate cutting that number in half again in January. We will need 550,000 metric tonnes of food in North Korea next year. At this stage, we have commitments for 33,000 metric tonnes, 23,000 from the European Community and 10,000 from Italy. Our major supporters have not made commitments for our work in North Korea. This is for a variety of reasons, as the Council knows better than I. The key issue that I am focused on - and the World Food Programme tries to stay focused on - is its agenda of feeding hungry poor people and leaving all the other political issues for others to debate. But we have a general set of principles by which we govern our operation. They speak to accessibility, accountability, transparency and a zero-tolerance policy for foolishness or the inability to work throughout a country.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source
“From a perspective of peace and security, there is no substitute for offering hope and opportunity to young people so that they, too, can have positive dreams for their lives and stay away from mischief. I want to take one or two minutes to tell the Council about my recent trip to North Korea. I think that it is an issue that should be of great concern to the Council. I was there for five days last week. The World Food Programme has been feeding 6.4 million people a year in North Korea, including 4 million children, 400,000 women who are either pregnant or nursing, 400,000 elderly and more than one million people in our food-for-work programme. The budget has been in the neighbourhood of $240 million a year. This month and last month, we have cut our work in half in North Korea, we have gone from 6.4 million people to 3.4 million people.”
2002-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4652 (2002) · source