1. ✴ Back to Hunger, crime against humanity

The text of the petition to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

‘‘As concerned citizens witnessing that hunger kills millions of people every year in a world of abundant food, we are shocked to see that some governments:  (i) do not take required action to ensure an inclusive development of small farmers who constitute the bulk of the hungry in the world; (ii) deny rural communities the right to food and the rights to access land, water, and forests and use freely genetic resources; and (iii) do not allocate sufficient resources to social programs that, by ensuring access by all to sufficient food, can enhance the physical and intellectual capacity of the hungry and enable them to take part, contribute to and benefit from economic development.

We therefore call on you to put government leaders in front of their responsibilities and urge the UN to recognise that failure to take appropriate action to eliminate hunger is a crime against humanity. We are shocked that today, many crimes are recognised internationally as crimes against humanity, but not doing everything possible to eliminate hunger, the greatest one of all, the one that makes most victims in the world, millions every year, is not. This must change! We urge you to take all necessary actions to have this crime recognised as a crime against humanity for which responsible persons can be put on trial in a designated international tribunal.’’