Provision of food surpluses to food-deficient peoples through the United Nations system

XV. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE SECOND COMMITTEE
1496. Provision of food surpluses to food-deficient peoples through the United Nations system

The General Assembly, Considering that the peoples in many of the less developed countries suffer from serious shortages of food, Noting with approval that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in co-operation with the United Nations, appropriate specialized agencies, Governments of member States and non-governmental organizations, has launched a Freedom from Hunger Campaign designed as a concerted attack on the problem of providing adequate food for food-deficient peoples, Recalling General Assembly resolutions 827 (IX) of 14 December 1954 and 1025 (XI) of 20 February 1957 and Economic and Social Council resolutions 621 (XXII) of 6 August 1956 and 685 (XXVI) of 18 July 1958 concerning international co-operation in the establishment of national food reserves, Bearing in mind the existing opportunities for consultation and exchange of information provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization through its Consultative Sub-Committee on Surplus Disposal, Recognizing that the principles of surplus disposal[1] and guiding lines [2] of the Food and Agriculture Organization are a valuable instrument for guidance to Governments in transactions, programmes, policies, and consultations relating to the disposal and utilization of agricultural surpluses, Recognizing further that the ultimate solution to the problem of hunger lies in an effective acceleration of economic development allowing the under-developed countries to increase their food production and enabling them to purchase more food through normal channels of international trade, Convinced of the impelling need to solve the problem of hunger and malnutrition among many peoples and of the 'role which the United Nations system can play in actions designed to help solve this critical problem, Further convinced that assistance to food-deficient peoples will help raise productivity and thus contribute to the improvement of their standard of living,

1. Endorses the Freedom from Hunger Campaign launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and urges all States Members of the United Nations and members of the specialized agencies to support this campaign in every appropriate way;

2. Appeals to States Members of the United Nations and members of the specialized agencies to take suitable measures to relieve the suffering of food-deficient people in other nations and assist them in their economic development and in their efforts towards a better life,

3. Expresses the belief that international assistance in the establishment of national food reserves in food-deficient countries is one effective transitional means of assisting accelerated economic development in the less developed countries;

4. Invites the Food and Agriculture Organization, after consulting Governments of member States, the Secretary-General and appropriate specialized agencies, to establish without delay procedures - in particular for consultation and the dissemination of information by which, with the assistance of the United Nations system, the largest practicable quantities of surplus food may be made available on mutually agreeable terms as a transitional measure against hunger, such procedures to be compatible with desirable agricultural development as a contribution to economic development in the less developed countries and without prejudice to bilateral arrangements for this purpose and compatible with the principles of the Food and Agriculture Organization;

5. Further invites the Food and Agriculture Organization, in consultation with Governments of member States, the Secretary-General, appropriate specialized agencies and other international bodies (such as the International Wheat Council, the Wheat Utilization Committee, etc.), to undertake a study of the feasibility and acceptability of additional arrangements, including multilateral arrangements under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization, having as their objective the mobilization of available surplus foodstuffs and their distribution in areas of greatest need, particularly in the economically less developed countries;

6. Requests the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization to report on action taken to the Economic and Social Council at its thirty-second session;

7. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization and after such other consultations as he may deem necessary, to report to the Economic and Social Council at its thirty-second session on the role which the United Nations and the appropriate specialized agencies could play in order to facilitate the best possible use of food surpluses for the economic development of the less developed countries;

8. Recommends that the Secretary-General, in preparing, in consultation with the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, the provisional programme for the joint session of the Commission on International Commodity Trade and the Committee on Commodity Problems of the Food and Agriculture Organization which will examine a report on the prospects of the production of, and demand for, primary commodities, include the question of the production of, and demand for, food in relation to the problem of hunger;

9. Stresses that any action taken or contemplated under the present resolution proceed in accordance with the principles of surplus disposal and guiding lines of the Food and Agriculture Organization, and, specifically, with adequate safeguards and appropriate measures against the dumping of agricultural surpluses on the international markets and against adverse effects upon the economic and financial position of those countries which depend for their foreign exchange earnings primarily on the export of food commodities, and in the recognition that the avoidance of damage to normal trading in foodstuffs will best be assured by multilateral trading practices.

908th plenary meeting,
27 October 1960.

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[1] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Commodity Policy Studies, No. 10, Functions of a World Food Reserve - Scope and Limitations (Rome, 1956), appendix III. [2] Ibid., para. 300.