July 19, 2005 - 1:51 PM

U.N. envoy warns WTO against touching food aid

GENEVA (Reuters) - Trade negotiators must not cut food aid as part of any World Trade Organization (WTO) deal on farm reform because a child dies every five seconds of hunger or related disease, a U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.

While welcoming moves to reduce rich nation farm subsidies, which hurt poor producers by distorting markets, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Jean Ziegler said that food aid provided by international agencies must be left alone.

Some WTO members are pressing for restrictions on food aid to be included in an accord being negotiated on liberalizing farm trade, alleging some rivals, particularly the United States, use it to dump excess output.

"The humanitarian aid carried forward by U.N. agencies, and especially the WFP (the U.N. World Food Programme) and its NGO (non-governmental organizations) partners must be excluded from the WTO's discussions," the Swiss sociologist and former Socialist Party member of parliament said in a statement.

Ziegler noted that according to the U.N, there were almost 300 million children suffering from hunger around the world. "Every five seconds a child dies from hunger or hunger-related diseases," he added.

But even countries proposing reform of food aid have made it clear at the WTO negotiations that this will not affect emergency assistance.

Advocates of change want more aid to be bought in the region to encourage local farmers and not disrupt markets rather than have large amounts of grain and other commodities shipped in by major international producers.

As part of the WTO negotiations, the European Union has offered to put an end to direct export subsidies for farm goods but on condition that the United States agrees to overhaul farm aid and its system of export credits.