Event information

14 October 2020, 17:00-19:00

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Rights not Charity! True and False Solutions to Hunger and Malnutrition in the U.S.

Event

New York National Guard Soldiers from the 101st Signal Battalion hand groceries to members of the community at a food distribution point at Hope Community Services in New Rochelle on March 18, 2020. New York National Guard Soldiers from the 101st Signal Battalion hand groceries to members of the community at a food distribution point at Hope Community Services in New Rochelle on March 18, 2020.
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There have been five million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States (U.S.), and around 160,000 deaths due to the virus. More than 50 million Americans have filed for unemployment since the start of the pandemic. And with frequent images in the media of long lines of people and cars waiting to receive free food – some for the first time in their lives – the number of food-insecure people in the U.S. is expected to climb from 37 million to more than 54 million.

In addition, the disproportionate spread of COVID-19 in communities of colour and the death of Black men and women at the hands of police have drawn into sharp focus the systemic racism present in the U.S. food system. COVID-19 has exacerbated the inequities in the U.S. food system that communities of colour have faced for many years.

This online event – co-organized with FIAN International, WhyHunger, and the Human Rights Clinic at the Miami University School of Law – will engage in a reflection about the false and true solutions to ending hunger at its root causes in the U.S. The discussion will also provide member states and civil society organizations with important analysis relevant for the upcoming Universal Periodic Review of the U.S.

Moderator

  • Christophe Golay, Senior Research Fellow and Strategic Adviser on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Geneva Academy

Panelists

  • Alison Cohen, Senior Director of Programmes, WhyHunger
  • Denisse Córdova Montes, Acting Associate Director, Human Rights Clinic, University of Miami School of Law 
  • Robert Ojeda, Chief Programme Officer, Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona
  • Robert Robinson, Human Rights Enforcer and Staff Volunteer, Partners for Dignity & Rights (formerly NESRI)
  • Karen Washington, Farmer/Activist, Co-Owner, Rise & Root Farm

Comments

  • Ana María Suarez Franco, Permanent Representative in Geneva, FIAN International

Registration

To join the discussion, you need to register here. The webinar can host 100 persons and places will be allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis. 

Video

Rights not Charity! True and False Solutions to Hunger and Malnutrition in the U.S.

In this online event, panelists reflected on the false and true solutions to ending hunger at its root causes in the U.S.

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