Rising food prices are explained by speculative transactions of some market players, said UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Olivier de Schutter.
“The real reason for the rise in prices is not that there is not enough food. The real problem is the panic that grips the markets because we do not know when this conflict in Ukraine will end. And some financial players are profiting from this uncertainty by speculating on growth, mechanically provoking it,” the expert said on Friday in an interview with the Belgian francophone radio station La Premiere.
According to him, it is necessary to calm the markets. “We need more transparency about the state of stocks. The bulk of food reserves are in the hands of private operators, large grain traders who are not involved in the exchange of information that governments need to calm the nervousness of the markets,” de Schutter explained.
According to him, “five or six companies control 80% of the world’s grain transactions and own the bulk of stocks.” But they do not publish data on the state of their reserves. Opacity persists, and this gives rise to speculation, said the UN Special Rapporteur.
“Markets anticipate growth and create speculative bubbles – this is the main explanation for the rise in food prices in world markets,” said de Schutter.
He said that in a number of countries, such as Ethiopia, South Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, “the risk of starvation is increasing from hour to hour.” “Unfortunately, the international community does not have the means to respond, and there is every reason to be concerned about the two dozen countries pointed out by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN World Food Program (WFP),” he said.
De Schutter said that “no conclusions have been drawn from the crisis of 2007-2008” and today the international community is still not ready for cases when a humanitarian crisis is brewing.
“750 thousand people are in a situation of hunger, of which 400 thousand are only in the Tigray region (northern Ethiopia). In principle, it is necessary to have reserves so that the WFP can immediately come to the aid of this population. Instead, international agencies should knock on doors donors, and it takes two to three months for them to wake up and disburse the money.Then you need to determine where the food shipments can be purchased, and you still need to deliver them to the places of danger.All this takes up to six months.During this time, the population either either dying out or moving,” the UN Special Rapporteur outlined the situation.
Professor Olivier de Schutter (Belgium) was appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights by the Human Rights Council at its 43rd session in March 2020. He was Special Rapporteur on the right to food from 2008 to 2014. and member of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights from 2015 to 2020. Prior to his appointment to these positions, he served as Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).
