III- The coordinating institution of multilateral food
aid: the World Food
Programme (WFP) 75
A- Brief history and organisation of WFP 75
B- Some WFP
Programmes................................................ 77
C- WFP
logistic............................................................... 82
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International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
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Chapter III: The impact of International Food
Aid.............................. 90
I- Positive impact of food aid 90
A- Benefits in recipient countries: saving lifes and
providing
relief 90
B- Benefits in donor countries: promoting domestic
interests........................................................................
95
II- Negative impact of food
aid................................................ 97
A- Increase of dependency food 97
B- Food aid as a foreign policy
tool.....................................101
Chapter IV: The International Humanitarian Food Aid in
Cameroon: conditionsof arrival, actors and
consequences......................................107
I- Conditions of arrival of international food aid in Cameroon
112
A- Natural disasters 112
B- Instability and forced migration in the neighboring
countries 119
II- Food aid actors in
Cameroon..............................................125
A- WFP Country
Office......................................................126
B- Management Committee of FAO/WFP
Assistance...............134
III- Consequence of food aid in Cameroon: the political
blackmail.. 131
Conclusion..................................................................................139
Bibliographic
references..................................................................
146 Index of
figures............................................................................151
Index of
tables..............................................................................
151
Annexature.................................................................................152
International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon
2014
INTRODUCTION
10
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International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014
In our era, a state cannot evolve in autarky, it is obliged,
in a way where another, to cooperate with other States. The idea of creating an
international organization to ensure international cooperation among States has
mobilized European minds for centuries. But the first attempts at international
cooperation were implemented in during the 19th century, first with
the Rhine River Commission in 1815, the Danube Commission in 1856, then
Administrative Unions such as the International Telegraph Union in 1865, the
General Union of Post in 1878.
The concept of International Cooperation has started to evolve
more positively after the First World War in 1919 with the creation of the
League of Nations (LON), thanks to the principles of the Treaty of Versailles
(France), under the initiative of the U.S. former president Wilson1.
International Cooperation takes momentum significantly especially after the
Second World War, when the United Nations (UN) were created in 1945, replacing
the LON. The history of International Cooperation seems more practical: firstly
support plans to rebuild the countries of Western Europe under the Marshall
Plan and other plans of mutual assistance of the socialist countries of Eastern
Europe in the context of the solidarity of the proletarians States; and later,
the technical assistance to independent States by the former colonial powers or
by developing new States.
International cooperation takes many forms. It can be
technical, economic, military, political, academic, humanitarian etc. In this
thesis, we are interested particularly in the humanitarian cooperation through
International Food Aid (IFA) in the context of North-South cooperation. We can
locate the beginning of the modern IFA in 1946, when the UN, just one year
after its creation, launched the first world campaign against hunger. In
Indeed, several underdeveloped countries or developing suffer permanent or
temporary food crises that lead them to initiate calls to the international
community. Food crises
1 Secretariat of the League of Nations, (1930) Ten Years of
International Cooperation, Geneva, pp. 251-252.
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can be caused by natural disasters (drought, floods,
earthquakes, etc.) or by the human being (armed conflicts, forced migration,
persecution etc.). We therefore have, in one hand, recipient countries that are
predominantly developing or poor countries of the South (Africa, Latin America
and Asia), and in the other hand, the majority of donor countries which are
developed countries of the North (Europe and North America).
Among the human rights, one of the fundamental is the right to
food. Food is very important to keep people in good health and give them
sufficient energy to work for the development of their locality or their
territory. As many countries are facing a decrease in their agricultural
production, due to human or natural causes, they are obliged to resort to food
aid in order to solve this situation which could have tragic consequences on
the population. The food aid can be provide bilaterally that is from a country
to another, or multilaterally that is throughout international organizations or
non-governmental organizations.
Through this dissertation, we would like to make the current
state of International humanitarian food aid in the North-South cooperation,
its place and its hidden intentions. The fundamental questions surrounding the
following topic are:
- What is the legal framework of the IFA in
North-South cooperation ?
- What are the different actors of the IFA and
what is the role of each of
them?
- What lies behind the IFA?
- Why and how the IFA works in Cameroon?
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International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014
For each of this question, we have elaborated a provisory answer
or hypothesis
- The IFA is based on international laws,
conventions and agreements among states and organizations.
- The humanitarian food aid actors are donor
countries which have a surplus of agricultural production; recipient countries
facing food shortages, and at the middle specialised organisations of UN and
international or national NGOs.
- Despite the fact that the first aim of food
aid is humanitarian i.e. to preserve life, many critics think that it is more
and more a political and economic arm in hand of food aid donors.
- The IFA in Cameroon is coordinated by the
WFP Country Office, in collaboration with the Cameroonian Government through
the Management Committee of the FAO/WFP Assistance.
Food aid can be described as the transfer of commodities or
payments close in nature, to developing countries as a form of development
assistance for the provision of food. So, the humanitarian food aid is
considered as a gift given by developed countries of the North to the needy
countries of the South. This is precisely why in this dissertation; we are
using the «Theory of the Gift», developed by the French
sociologist Marcel Mauss, and which can be summarized as «the
obligation to give and the obligation to receive». In his famous book
The gift: the form and reason for the exchange in the archaic
societies2, he states that giving is one of the most familiar
operation that does not seem appealing sociological definition states: a good
changes contractor by the decision of its owner which manifests to a third a
benevolent provision because it requires
2 Mauss Marcel, (1990) The gift: the form and reason for the
exchange in Archaic societies, Routledge, London.
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International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014
nothing in return. For Maurice Godelier, "the top is to
give as much as possible without asking in return."3
However, this liberal and "free" institution that is the gift
is, regularly followed by the "counter-gift" perceived by agents or actors as
legitimate, in response to the initial benefit, the original gift. Indeed,
regarding the donation, "we must return, and return well, according to a
precisely established code: neither too much nor too little, not too fast or
too late.» The gift is indisputably a primer of a reciprocal
relationship, a deferred exchange. The action of giving (a relationship that
seems to materialize sympathy) is actually an aggressive dimension. For the
gift creates a debt. By obliging his partner, the donor acquires on him the
ascending, otherwise power. He forces him to the obligation, possibly
expensive, to return and to be taken, perhaps in spite of himself, in an
embarrassing climb, in a risky game which are part name, reputation, ranking,
function or simply fortune.
In traditional societies, the gift is not always free and
disinterested: it is often part of social constraints. The gift undertakes
brand alliance, form a network of mutual ties. So, for Mauss, the gift is a
total prestation, imbued with spiritual mechanism engaging the
honor of both giver and receiver. E...] The act of giving creates a gift-debt
that has to be repaid. Gift exchange therefore leads to a mutual
interdependence between giver and receiver. The obligation attached to a gift
is not inert. Even when abandoned by the giver, it still forms a part of him.
Through it, he has a hold over the recipient, just as he had, while its owner,
a hold over anyone who stole it E...] It pursues not only the first recipient
of it or the second or the third, but every individual to whom it is
transmitted.4
3 Godelier Maurice, (1996) L'énigme du don,
Fayard, Paris.
4 Mauss Marcel, ibid, p. 31.
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Revisiting The gift, Gregoire Mallard reveals that in
fact, the system of gifts allowed «a family, tribe and people to leave
the narrow circle of its boundaries, of its rights in order to interact with
other nations, which form part of a larger human community.» But, the
most important to remember is that «by rituals of gift-giving, by
giving, leaders sought to establish the honor of their nations, and even the
superiority of their nations over the gift-receiver.»5
This theory of the gift would help us to understand what lies
behind the international humanitarian food aid; what are the intentions of food
aid donor countries and even for the recipient countries.
The literature on food is very important and
multidisciplinary. But for this specific topic on Humanitarian Food Aid and
International Cooperation, we have focused on WFP and FAO reports and
publications because they are the specialized UN agencies on Food Aid, more
particularly the WFP. Outside of these reports, and numerous articles and
communications released on specialized Reviews, we have consulted some
books.
The first one is Food Aid or Food Sovereignty? Ending
World Hunger in our time, of Frederic Mousseau. He tries to understand
what causes hunger. For him certainly it is not scarcity because agriculture
produces 17 per cent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago,
despite a 70 per cent population increase. According to the FAO, this is enough
to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per
person per day. Secondly, we cannot blame nature. Food is always available for
those who can afford it, even in times of natural disasters such as droughts
and floods. Starvation during hard times hits only the poorest. Natural
disasters are simply the final push over the edge. So if it is not nature or
scarcity, the cause of hunger for Mousseau is the scarcity of democracy and the
denial of human rights. Hunger
5 Mallard Grégoire, (2010) «The Gift Revisited:
Marcel Mauss on war, Debt and the Politics of Nations», in Buffet
Center for International and Comparative Studies, working paper N°
10-004.
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International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014
is linked to the denial of a living wage to the working poor
and land to the landless, for example. While, right now, the resources exist to
end hunger worldwide, those resources continue to be exploited by few. The
solution is to implement politics of courage, by converting profits for few
into peoples' welfare, by demanding that governments and international
institutions serve human interest instead of corporate portfolios, so that our
fellow human beings do not starve in the midst of plenty.
Barret Christopher and Maxwell Daniel's book entitled Food
aid after fifty years: recasting its role, released in 2005 is a
tremendous contribution to the understanding of contemporary food aid.
Jean Ziegler also appears as one of the greatest contributors
on the understanding of hunger in the world. From 2000 to 2008, he has been the
ever first UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, and from 2008 to 2012 he
was member of the Advisory Committee on the UN Human Rights Council. The recent
book he released in 2011 (reviewed in July 2012) is Destuction Massive.
Géopolitique de la faim6. He analyses the progression of
malnutrition and hunger in the world by emphasizing the effects they induce in
those who suffer. He is especially outrageous that the planet, which experts
agree it is now able to feed 12 billion people, accommodates this situation. He
then presents the situation of the two specialized UN agencies i.e. the FAO and
the WFP. For him, WFP only respond to emergencies and lacks sufficient
resources, while FAO has turned into bureaucracy that would be lost on the way.
The two barriers that currently stand in the way of the «Right to
Food» are the increased production of biofuels competing agricultural
land, and land speculation. Millions of hectares of agricultural land are now
purchased by Hedge Funds and depriving farmers of their livelihood.
The solution is to redirect and consider that food should be seen as a public
good and protected from predatory finance.
6 Until now, there is no English translation of the book. So we
could translate the title saying «Mass destruction. Geopolitics of
hunger.»
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International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014
This work is divided into four chapters. In the first part, we
talk about the legal basis of International Food Aid before the presentation of
the different types of IFA. The second chapter is dedicated to the actors of
the IFA which are the donor countries, the recipient countries and the UN
agency which coordinate the multilateral IFA: the World Food Program (WFP). In
the third chapter, we try to identify the effects or impacts of IFA both in
donor and recipient countries. The fourth and last chapter of this thesis is a
practical example of the IFA in a country precisely Cameroon. So, we focus in
the conditions of the IFA in Cameroon, i.e. the natural disasters faced by this
country (the most recent are the floods in the North Region in September 2012);
and the forced migration in the neighbouring countries (especially armed
conflicts in the Central African Republic and the Chad). Then we introduce the
main actors of IFA in Cameroon, namely the WFP Country Office and the
Management Committee of FAO/WFP Assistance. And finally, we analyse the
specific consequences of IFA in this country.
The concept and context of International Food Aid
CHAPTER 1
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International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
cooperation: the case of Cameroon 2014
The right to food has been recognized as a fundamental human
right since the inception of the international human rights regime7. This right
is protecting the right for people to feed themselves in dignity, implying that
sufficient food is available, that people have the means to access it, and that
it adequately meets the individual's dietary needs. The right to food protects
the right of all human beings to be free from hunger, food insecurity and
malnutrition.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948 in
its Article 25 recognizes the right to food as part of the right to an adequate
standard of living:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for
the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food,
clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right
to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old
age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Then, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights adopted in 1966 recognized «the fundamental right of
everyone to be free from hunger». It states in his Article 11.2 that:
The States Parties to the present Covenant... shall take,
individually and through international co-operation, the measures, including
specific programmes, which are needed: (a) To improve methods of production,
conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and
scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition
and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the
most efficient development and utilization of natural resources; (b) Taking
into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries,
to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to
need.
7 Golay Christophe and Melik Özden (2006) The Right
to Food: A fundamental human right affirmed by the United Nations and
recognized in regional treaties and numerous national constitutions, CETIM
Human Rights Programme Brochure.
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At the 1996 World Food Summit held in Rome, governments
reaffirmed the right to food and committed themselves to half the number of
hungry and malnourished from 840 to 420 million by 2015. However, the number
has increased over the past years, reaching an infamous record in 2009 of more
than 1 billion undernourished people worldwide.
In 1999, the right to food was interpreted by the Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in the General Comment 12
establishing that: «The right to adequate food is realized when every
man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has the physical and
economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its
procurement».
In addition, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the
Right to Food also defined the right to food as:
The right to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access,
either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and
qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural
traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensure a
physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life
free of fear.
In a world prone to natural and human disasters food aid can
be lifesaving. However food aid has been challenged as not always being the
most appropriate response to food insecurity, whether chronic or emergency. One
life affecting consideration is that of timeliness, ensuring the quickest
response to emergencies. The efficiency of food aid delivery has also been
questioned whereas shipment from donor countries is extremely costly, and the
people that are the most food insecure are effectively not reached. Africa has
one third of its population suffering from chronic hunger, the highest ratio
worldwide. Currently 300 million Africans live on less than USD 1 per day. In
Southern Africa 40% of the region's population is said to be suffering from
chronic food
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International humanitarian food aid in the North-South
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insecurity8. As a result, food aid has started flowing into
countries hit by food shortages in the region, and hence started interacting
with local food production and trading systems.
This chapter provides a brief overview of the concept of Food
Aid. Food Aid is a multifaceted instrument the diversity of which merits an
introduction to the relevant issues and terminology. The concept of Food Aid
was created with an almost selfish motive by Americans. The Food Aid was
started in the 1950s, primarily as a way to dispose of a surplus production of
crops in the US, and this method has since evolved conceptually, politically
and institutionally. US farmers suddenly found themselves with a surplus of
cotton, wheat, beef, dairy and tobacco, and many of these products could not be
absorbed locally. As a solution to the problem, politically conscious farmers'
organisations engaged the government to protect their interest: Legislation in
the form of public law was passed, creating a food aid facility outside the US.
The main focus was to ensure that markets for the surpluses were established
outside the US. Food aid made it possible to dispose of surplus stock and
create a mechanism of exchange between consumers and disposers of surpluses.
After this brief historical presentation, we will be
presenting the definition of food aid, its composition and the different
categories. Food Aid is a generic term which encompasses a range of instruments
and interventions. The common perception is that Food Aid is the hand-out of
food in a situation of food shortage, usually in Asia or Africa. However, as
noted by Barrett and Maxwell, «by this standard, Americans would be
among the world's most numerous food aid recipients because of the extent of
the United States' school feeding, temporary assistance to needy families, food
stamps, and other food assistance programs.»9
8 NEPAD Secretariat, (2009) Comprehensive African
Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP): Framework for African Food
Security Pillar III. Midrand, South Africa at page 9.
9 Barret Christopher, Maxwell Daniel, (2005) Food aid
after fifty years: recasting its role, Routledge, London, p.8.
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Though there would be a certain interest for study and
comparison, we do not look at food aid interventions in northern countries,
such as US domestic food programs, and focuses on International Food Aid, i.e.
flows of food (or cash to purchase food) from rich countries to poorer ones,
generally developing countries.
I- The concept of Food Aid
A- Definition of Food Aid
Aid can be defined as money, food or anything sent to another
country to help it. It is basically the help, support or assistance given to an
individual, family, community or nation in need.
In discussing Food Aid, policy experts use a large body of
specialized terminology. Unfortunately, in many instances, terms are loosely
defined or not defined at all and confusion results. We therefore introduce
this discussion of food aid by establishing a common vocabulary to be used
throughout. Let us start with a definition of food aid; at first glance this
seems an easy task, but as recently as 2003 at a meeting in Berlin even food
aid experts struggled to agree on a definition for Food Aid. The definition
that resulted from the meeting (but was by no means the result of a consensus)
was the following:
The definition of Food Aid should not just be focused on its
source of funding, or by specific transactions, such as `items donated from
external donors to recipient', but should include consideration of a) all
related international and domestic actions and programs, and b) the role of
non-food resources brought to bear jointly with food to address key elements of
hunger problems. As such, food aid can be understood as all food supported
interventions aimed at improving the food security of poor people in the short
and long term, whether funded via international, national public and private
resources.10
10 Von Braun J., (2003) «Berlin statement prepared as
policies against hunger II: defining the role of food aid» 2-4 September,
2003.
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This definition is more expansive than definitions of food aid
that are generally used or implied by the literature. The Berlin definition
includes all domestic actions and domestically funded distribution of food as
well as nonfood resources used in combination with food for food security
purposes. As such, the Berlin definition of food aid is more similar to what is
regarded as the generally recognized definition of Food Based Interventions
(FBIs). FBIs are food distribution, market intervention, or financial transfers
which are funded nationally or internationally and which improve food security.
We use the definition of food aid provided by Barrett and Maxwell which is more
restrictive and in keeping with that used in the academic literature to date;
it is also consistent with the FAO register of the 22 transactions that are
considered food aid, 16 of which are subject to CSSD regulation and 6 of which
are exempt from the UMR. Barrett and Maxwell define food aid as, «the
international sourcing of concessional resources in the form of, or for the
provision of food.»
This definition limits food aid to international assistance in
the form of food or that results in the procurement of food, but does not
qualify food aid as assistance that affects food security. In this sense food
aid is distinguishable from food based interventions in that food aid does not
necessarily improve the food security of beneficiaries, and it is not
nationally funded.
In the broader context food aid is related to the wider
concept of «food security». Food security was defined by the
1996 World Food Summit of the FAO, which couched the term as follows in the
World Food Summit Plan of Action, at paragraph 1: «Food security
exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to
sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food
preferences for an active and healthy life».
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