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A/A 2013/2014
INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN FOOD AID IN THE NORTH-SOUTH
COOPERATION: THE CASE OF CAMEROON
Facoltà di Scienze Politiche, Sociologia e
Comunicazione
Corso di laurea in Scienze dello Sviluppo e della
Cooperazione Internazionale (Finance for Development)
Candidate
Alain Christian Essimi Biloa
n° 1571640
Supervisor Co-supervisor
Massimo Caneva Raffaella Preti
International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon
2014
2
"A child who dies from hunger is a murdered child."
Jean Ziegler
International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon
2014
DEDICATION
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I dedicate this thesis to my beloved daughter
Marie
Anne Yohanna MINFOUMA ESSIMI
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International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My heartfelt thanks and appreciation go to my supervisor,
Professor Massimo Caneva, for his professional guidance and advices, as well as
the generous support, despite his multiple occupations.
I owe special thanks to my lecturers, especially Prof. Roberto
Pasca, Prof. Claudia Zaccai, and Prof. Massimo Mamberti, for their brilliant
lectures, support and orientations. I am also grateful to the Erasmus Mundus
ACP II Programme and the International Relations Office of Sapienza, especially
Ms Mattea Capelli for the opportunity and all the support provided during the
past two years.
I would warmly thank my classmates and friends Sergio Taibo,
Cynthia Sumaili, Leodmila Amone, Abel Mahama, Gérard Aba'a, Sonia Medjo
for our tremendous discussions and mutual encouragement. Special thanks to the
Diaferio family, Jean Calvin Mbilong, Sylvie Tassi, the «Servizio
Universitario Africano» for the reception and guidance in Rome.
I particularly want to acknowledge His Excellency Henri Eyebe
Ayissi, Mr and Ms Bela Mengada, and Ms Marie Bernadette Ndjana for their
important help.
Special gratitude to my family, my mother
Thérèse Biloa, my grandmother Marie Mballa, my uncle Victor
Eloundzié; and Sandrine Mballa, Martine Abena, Christelle Nga, Rodrigue
Mbolo, Claude Messi, Paul Mballa, Yolande Souga, Gabriel Bothe, Jean Nti for
all the love they give me.
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International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014
SUMMARY
Food security is one of the hobbyhorse of the international
community, that continuously mobilizes resources when there is a crisis or
natural, human or technological disaster. Providing food aid might thus
contribute to help needy communities to recover and survive. To better
understand how works the food aid on an international scale, we have decided to
focus our thesis on the "International Humanitarian Food Aid in the
North-South cooperation: the case of Cameroon."
Food aid is defined as «the international sourcing of
concessional resources in the form of, or for the provision of food».
Our research try to answer the following fundamental questions: what is
the legal structure and framework of international food aid? Who are the actors
of the IFA? What are the issues or impacts on these actors? To help us answer
these questions, we relied on the "theory of the gift" developed by
Marcel Mauss, and which can be summarized as "the obligation to give and
the obligation to receive."
Briefly, we can say that the International Food Aid (IFA) is
framed by conventions, multilateral and bilateral agreements. The actors in the
humanitarian sector share between donors and recipients countries of aid.
Agencies and organizations such as the World Food Programme (WFP) manage the
multilateral food aid. The primary purpose of this aid is in the short term, to
distribute food and thus, save lives in the event of major disasters or crises.
However and unfortunately, that food aid is sometimes used by some donor
countries as a powerful and formidable political and geo-strategic weapon to
encroach on the domestic sovereignty of recipient countries.
Cameroon is a laboratory of IFA. In fact, this country has
been and continues to be subject to the whims of nature. Volcanic eruptions,
toxic gases, floods and other drought caused Cameroon to declare a state of
emergency in some of its regions and launch calls for food donations. In
addition, it should be noted that the country is home to thousands of refugees
whose countries of origin, Central African Republic and Chad in the lead, face
permanent political and military troubles. Cameroon therefore appears
prominently in the list of IFA recipient countries.
Key words: Cameroon, International
Cooperation, (International) Food Aid, Food Aid/Assistance Convention, Donor
and Recipient Countries, Food Dependency.
International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
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AOE: Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger)
CARE Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere
CRS: Catholic Relief Services
CSSD: Consultative Subcommittee on Surplus Disposal
ECHO: European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil
Protection office
EU: European Union
Fac: Food Aid Committee
FAC: Food Aid Convention / Food Assistance Convention
FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization
FBI: Food Based Intervention
FFW: Food for Work
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
GMO: Genetically Modified Organism
IFA: International Food Aid
INTERFAIS: International Food Aid Information System
IGC: International Grains Council / International Grain
Convention
LAC: Latin America and Caribbean countries
LDC: Least Developed Country
LIFDC: Low Income, Food-Deficit Country
NFIDC: Net Food Importing Developing Country
NGO: Non-Governmental Organization
International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon
2014
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OCHA: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
ODA: Official Development Assistance
OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
P4P: Purchase for Progress
UDHR: Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UN: United Nations
UNDP: United Nations Development Programme
UNHAS: United Nations Humanitarian Air Service UNHDR: United
Nations Humanitarian Response Depots
USA: United States of America
USAID: United States Agency for International Development
WFP: World Food Programme
WTO: World Trade Organization
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International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014
CONTENTS
Dedication 3
Aknowledgment 4
Summary 5
List of abbreviations and acronyms 6
Contents 8
Introduction 10
Chapter I: The concept and context of nternational Food
Aid ......... 18
I- The concept of Food
Aid..................................................... 21
A- Definition of Food
Aid.................................................21
B- Composition of Food Aid 24
C- Categories of Food Aid 26
II- The legal basis of Food Aid 31
A- The Food Aid and Food Assistance Conventions (FAC) 31
B- The FAO Consultative Subcommittee on Surplus Disposal 38
C- The World Trade Organization (WTO) 40
Chapter II: The actors of Humanitarian Food Aid
45
I- The major donor countries 46
A- The United States of America 47
B- The European
Union....................................................57
C- The rest of donor countries 63
II- The recipient countries 64
A- The African continent 64
B- Asia 68
C- Latin America and the Caribbean Countries 69
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