The topic of undernourishment treated globally

According to the World Food Programme, 925 million people all over the world are undernourished. This means that every seventh inhabitant of Earth does not have access to sufficient amounts of food – the largest group consisting of owners of small farms, and women and children from poor, rural regions.

"Global food economy in the context of human rights – inspiration for thought and action" was the topic of a seminar that took place on November 22nd at the Scientific and Didactic Center of the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław. A lecture was given by Dr. Ioana Cismas from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, who was invited to speak in Wrocław by Dr. Agnieszka Piasecka from the Interdepartmental Pedagogical Studies.

During the seminar, Dr. Cismas spoke about the causes of hunger and undernourishment, citing patterns of cultural and sexual discrimination, the uncompetitive nature of small food producers, and questioning, even rejecting the hypothesis of the problem of diseases caused by chronic undernourishment – in particular, a gangrenous stomatitis (NOMA), which is especially associated with high mortality among children, and which is erroneously associated with tropical countries.

”The right to food is not a subject of philanthropy. It is providing citizens with the ability to feed themselves with respect for human dignity”, said Dr. Cismas.

The topics discussed included: humanitarian aid not reaching those in need in Africa and the paradox of undernourishment among farmers of small farms that produce food. Dr. Cismas also referred to the problem of the first generation of biofuels and their influence on price increases of food.

Dr. Ioana Cismas is a researcher at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, where she undertakes academic research and provides expertise in legality and policy to various stakeholders, including the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. And from 2009 to 2012, she was a legal adviser to Jean Ziegler, a member of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council. She made substantial contributions to the Study of discrimination in context of the right to food, as well as the study on severe malnutrition and childhood diseases within children affected by, as an example, NOMA.

Dr. Cismas' lectures were held as a part of the Week of Global Education. This is part of a project run by Polish Humanitarian Action. "Knowledge Makes Change (KMC)! Strong co-operation between NGOs and academics in promoting development among politicians and public”.

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