July 20, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Thailand: Diplomacy: Hunger: AKI: Tony Hall opposes cash only donations proposal at WTO
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Thailand:
Special Report: RPCV Tony Hall:
Tony Hall: Archived Stories:
July 20, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Thailand: Diplomacy: Hunger: AKI: Tony Hall opposes cash only donations proposal at WTO
Tony Hall opposes cash only donations proposal at WTO
Hall slammed the Geneva talks saying that the WTO "should not be discussing food aid reform," arguing that the appropriate forums for such discussions are the expert UN agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the WFP. Former Congressman Tony Hall of Ohio, now ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand in the 1960's.
Tony Hall opposes cash only donations proposal at WTO
HUNGER: US OPPOSES CASH-ONLY DONATIONS PROPOSAL AT WTO
Rome, 20 July (AKI) - The United States "adamantly opposes" a European-led initiative at the World Trade Organistation (WTO) to eliminate most food aid in favour of cash donations in emergency situations, Washington's top envoy on food issues said on Wednesday, describing the proposal as a "looming tragedy."The US is adamantly opposed to any proposal that would restrict and therefore reduce the amount of donations to the world's hungry," the US ambassador to the UN agencies for food and agriculture, Tony Hall, said at a newsconference in Rome.
Hall was referring to WTO negotiations taking place in Geneva this week in which European Union nations are seeking to halt in-kind food aid. Supporters of the move say that a cash-only system of donations is the best way to ensure that local markets are not disrupted by a sudden supply of imported food aid.
"There are 850 million people who don't have enough food to eat. And yet we are reaching only 100 million of them with assistance. We need to be increasing, not reducing, our volumes of food aid worldwide," Hall said.
Hall pointed to research by the Rome-based UN World Food Programme (WFP) that he said found a clear decrease in EU food aid after the bloc moved from in-kind donations to cash aid.
Hall slammed the Geneva talks saying that the WTO "should not be discussing food aid reform," arguing that the appropriate forums for such discussions are the expert UN agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the WFP.
"They are having an academic discussions on a serious and dangerous issue," he said, adding that the US position favouring a "flexible" combination of food and cash aid, was supported by many nations including Japan, Jordan, South Korea and Kenya.
Hall noted how in emergencies provoked by armed conflict, such as in Sudan's ethnically troubled Darfur region, people living in refugee camps to flee the violence depend on food deliveries since the security situation prevents them from using cash to buy seeds and then planting and harvesting food crops.
In 2005 the US has given 1.6 billion dollars in food aid, which, according to Hall amounts to almost half the total food aid provided worldwide.
When this story was posted in July 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
| July 8, 2005: PC suspends program in Gabon Peace Corps announced the suspension of the program in Gabon citing the high cost of the program. In addition, a 2003 Inspector General report documented safety and security costs of $1 million that would be necessary to keep the program operating successfully. Background: In 1998 Peace Corps Volunteer Karen Phillips was was found murdered in the weeds about 100 yards from her home in Oyem, Gabon. Her killer has never been brought to justice. |
| Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: AKI
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Thailand; Diplomacy; Hunger
PCOL21441
20