Rome, 19 February 2011 – UN Messenger of Peace HRH Princess Haya Al Hussein today called for an urgent and effective global response to catastrophic food shortages and world hunger.

In a keynote address to the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) Governing Council, Princess Haya challenged governments and other donors to fulfill their commitments to food programs.

“Somehow, in a world exploding with prosperity and possibility we have forfeited our moral authority. We are morally bankrupt,” she said. “We have lost the sense of compassion and community that makes life worthwhile. We can spend over a trillion dollars for armaments as we fight over scraps of land, ideology and religion and, yet, we let 300 million children starve...

Many of our politicians remain out of touch, uncomprehending of life for those who live at the brink of starvation. They do not deliver funds on the scale we need for real progress. Even worse, they fail to honor the pledges they make.”

IFAD’s governing body, consisting of representatives from all 165 member states, held its annual meeting amid growing concerns about food shortages. As a UN Messenger of Peace with responsibility for issues related to hunger and extreme poverty, Princess Haya frequently visits food programs around the world. She previously served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the World Food Program and founded Tkiyet Um Ali, the first non-governmental food aid program in the Arab world, in her native Jordan.

Princess Haya said recent events in the Middle East have highlighted the impact of food-related issues. “The price of food has been one of the driving forces as Arab youth have taken to the streets to demand change from the Mahgreb to the Arabian Gulf. You can argue about how much of the turmoil was about economics or politics, but food is the most basic human need. When it is not met, people take action,” she said. “The events in the Middle East have been described as an alarm or a wake up call for the region, but they should be an alarm for the entire world.”

Princess Haya, who recently visited IFAD and World Food Program projects in Cambodia, praised IFAD for “recognizing the true profile of hunger and targeting youth and women.” She noted that more than 80 percent of IFAD's micro-finance portfolio is loaned to women.

She illustrated her point on the need for urgency by recalling her encounter with a malnourished infant girl in a Malawi hospital during her first field visit for the UN. Minutes after Princess Haya held her hand, the infant died and was carried away in a plastic bag.
 
“It was as if she had never existed. I learned something on that first field visit: When you starve to death, you are so thin, you are not even significant enough in this world to leave an impression on the sheets,” Princess Haya told the IFAD Governing Council. “That infant girl in Malawi might be with us today if we had done more than issue declarations and communiqués. We’re too late for her, but it is not too late to save millions of children just like her.”

Princess Haya’s humanitarian work reflects her family legacy as the daughter of HM Late King Hussein Bin Talal of Jordan and HM Late Queen Alia Al Hussein. She is the wife of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai. The UAE is one of the few countries that has met UN targets for development aid.

• For more information on IFAD’s annual meeting and a detailed programme, please visit the website.
• For images of IFAD’s work please visit the IFAD image bank.
• The IFAD social reporting team will report live from the Governing Council. Follow them on Twitter (#gc2011) and Facebook.

---

Press release No.: IFAD/08/2011

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$12.5 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 370 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 165 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).