VZCZCXYZ0007
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #7698 3172319
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 132314Z NOV 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 117698 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNGA PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: INSTRUCTIONS: JOIN CONSENSUS WITH AN EOP ON UNGA 
3C RESOLUTION "RIGHT TO FOOD" 
 
REF: MUSSER-SAMMIS/PHIPPS EMAIL 11/12/09 00:36 
 
¶1. Department authorizes USDEL to join consensus on the 
resolution entitled "Right to Food" and deliver the EoP in 
paragraph 2.  In the event that Cuba successfully amends OP12 
of the REF text from the floor to read as follows: 
 
Urges States that have not yet done so to become consider 
becoming parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity 
and to consider becoming States Parties to the International 
Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as 
a matter of priority. 
 
Department requests USDEL to omit the following sentence from 
the EoP: 
 
Consistent with the non-binding and recommendatory nature of 
General Assembly resolutions, we interpret this resolution's 
call on states to become parties to international agreements, 
in this case the Convention on Biological Diversity, as a 
recommendation to consider doing so. 
 
Department requests any additional changes to the REF text be 
immediately notified to Department, which will provide 
further instructions as needed. 
 
¶2. The United States is pleased to be able to join consensus 
on this resolution on the right to food. 
 
Combating global hunger and promoting food security is a key 
foreign policy objective of President Obama and his 
Administration.  At this year's "G8 Plus" Summit in L'Aquila, 
Italy, the United States, along with more than 25 countries 
and organizations, agreed on principles for a comprehensive 
and coordinated approach to support country-led food security 
strategies, and collectively pledged $20 billion over the 
next three years to that effort.  On September 26, Secretary 
of State Clinton and United Nations Secretary-General Ban 
Ki-moon co-hosted an event entitled "Partnering for Food 
Security", attended by more than 130 countries, to build 
further support for these principles in-country, on the 
ground.  The United States, along with others, has also 
pledged its commitment to the Millennium Development Goal of 
reducing by half the proportion of people who suffer from 
hunger and who live in extreme poverty by 2015. 
 
The United States is not a party to the International 
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and by 
joining consensus on this resolution does not recognize any 
change in the current state of conventional or customary 
international law regarding rights related to food.  It is 
our objective to achieve a world where everyone has adequate 
access to food, but we do not treat the right to food as a 
formal enforceable obligation. 
 
We interpret this resolution's references to the right to 
food, with respect to States Parties to the aforementioned 
Covenant, in light of its Article 2(1), in which they 
undertake to take steps "with a view to achieving 
progressively the full realization" of economic, social and 
cultural rights.  We interpret this resolution's references 
to member States' obligations regarding the right to food as 
applicable to the extent they have assumed such obligations. 
And while the United States has for the last decade been the 
world's largest food aid donor, we do not concur with any 
reading of this resolution that would suggest that states 
have particular extraterritorial obligations arising from a 
right to food.  We interpret this resolution's reaffirmation 
of previous documents as applicable to the extent countries 
affirmed those documents in the first place.  Consistent with 
the nonbinding and recommendatory nature of General Assembly 
resolutions, we interpret this resolution's call on states to 
become parties to international agreements, in this case the 
Convention on Biological Diversity, as a recommendation to 
consider doing so.  While we join this resolution's noting 
with appreciation and welcoming, respectively, work of the 
Special Rapporteur and the Committee on Economic, Social and 
Cultural Rights, we note significant disagreements with 
portions of their recommendatory documents, including the 
Special Rapporteur's October 2009 report and the Committee's 
General Comment No. 12. 
 
The United States is committed to international trade 
liberalization and to achieving an ambitious and balanced 
conclusion to the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha Round 
negotiations.  By joining consensus on this resolution, we 
support the new market opening that can be achieved through 
international trade agreements, including the Doha Round, 
which in turn can generate the economic growth necessary to 
spur development.  At the same time, we wish to clarify that 
this resolution will in no way undermine or modify the 
commitments of the United States or any other government to 
existing trade agreements or the mandates of on-going trade 
negotiations. 
 
Similarly, the United States wishes to reiterate its view 
that the implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade Related 
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) supports 
comprehensive approaches to food security by establishing the 
necessary incentives for research and development of new 
plant varieties and investment in biotechnology innovations 
that can address the challenges faced by farmers and 
agricultural systems.  By joining consensus on this 
resolution, we support countries' continued implementation of 
the TRIPS Agreement, which provides for patent and plant 
variety protection systems that generate many benefits for 
researchers, producers, consumers, and society, in the drive 
to promote global food security. 
 
In this regard, we observe that the Special Rapporteur's 
report could have been significantly strengthened by 
presenting a balanced view of the benefits of adequate and 
effective intellectual property rights and plant variety 
protection for promoting important research and investment, 
addressing the needs of farmers, and ensuring food security. 
 
I thank you Mr. President. 
CLINTON