On eve of food security summit, Ban to fast in solidarity with world’s hungry

13 November 2009 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon intends to join a 24-hour fast over the weekend on the eve of the World Summit on Food Security in solidarity with the planet’s one billion people who do not have enough to eat, his spokesperson said today.

Mr. Ban will deliver a speech at the opening of the three-day summit in Rome on Monday in which he is expected to say that it is unacceptable that more than one billion go hungry when the world has more than enough food, Marie Okabe told a news briefing.

“He will also highlight the human cost of the recent food, energy and economic crises and say that these crises are a wake-up call for tomorrow,” she added. “In particular, he will emphasize the link between food security and climate change.”

Mr. Ban will stress that next month’s climate change meeting in Copenhagen must conclude a comprehensive agreement that will provide a firm foundation for a legally binding treaty on climate change.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Wednesday called for a day-long, global hunger strike.

“We are suggesting that everyone in the world who wants to show solidarity with the one hungry billion people on this planet go on hunger strike next Saturday or Sunday,” FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf told a press conference in Rome.

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UN agency calls for global day-long fast as symbol of war on hunger