Presentación realizada en el "Diálogo regional en hambre, inseguridad alimentaria y malnutrición en el Caribe: Desafíos en derecho a la alimentación y gobernanza", evento que se llevó a cabo en Antigua y Barbuda el 1 y 2 de agosto de 2013.

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Latin Americaandthe Caribbean
Regional Dialogue is the key to Political Commitment and Governance in the
fight against hunger in the Caribbean
Opening remarks
Guadalupe Valdez, National CongresswomanDR
Regional Coordinator PFH LA and C
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On behalf of the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in
my own name, I would like to thank the government of Antigua, the United Nations
Organization for Food and Agriculture, and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), for the
organization of this Regional Dialogue for the Eradication of Hunger in the Caribbean:
Challenges to Food Law and Governance.
This is an opportunity which they have providedfor us to discuss and share experiences on an
issue that we consider essential for the development of our people: the fight against hunger.
The PFH LA and C, which I am honored to coordinate at this time, today brings together
parliamentarians from 15 countries of the Region, 13 in the Southern Cone and Central America,
while from the Caribbean only Haiti and Dominican Republic are present…but it is not possible
to fight hunger if we don’t do it together, if we do not converse amongst ourselves,in the
Caribbean, from a Caribbean perspective.

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It is fundamental to think about the place of the Caribbean within this process: How can
westrengthen the Caribbean region? How should we address these issues in our agendas? What
are the challenges faced by the Caribbean? What are the opportunities? But also: What are the
barriers that we have to overcome?
That is the task that lies ahead. In the Caribbean, we have thought a lot about these issues, and
we have developed them. Changes have been made, but we still have conditions of inequality
and poverty which require new thinking, to produce changes in legal frameworks and public
policies that improve people’s quality of life.
We parliamentarians cannot exercise our legislative function, knowing that in the world 840
million people go hungry, and in our region there are still 48 million undernourished. For each of
us here, engaged by this issue, it is a challenge that we take on as one of our priorities in the
development strategies of our countries. That means that we must build legal frameworks for
food security and nutrition, with a rights focus, and which above all ensure the right to food,
allow public policies to be established andthat these be set within state policies. It is within this
framework that we also want to place the fight against hunger.
Respecting the diversity among us and among all those who for some reason have responsibility
in decision making regarding legal frameworks, public policy, or resource allocation, it is
essential at this time in the worlds history thatall legal frameworks, public policy, and
cooperation shouldbe directed at restoring the dignity of human beings, the dignity of children
and adolescents, youth, women, the elderly, the disabled. That's what brings us together… and
challenges us… to say, that it is imperative to reduce the high levels of inequality, inequity and
discrimination in order to eradicate hunger and ensure that the children and young people of our
islands are fed with the necessary quality and nutrients to enable them to develop and become
citizens who contribute to the development of their peoples.
We must make this reflection in the light of the situation of the world today: a time of major
changes. Just take a look at what is happening in Egypt, in Syria, but also in countries of Latin
America and the current situation faced by European countries. What happens in these countries
affects all countries of the world. We must think from our own contexts but must also be
conscious of the interconnection with the rest of the world’s countries.

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This requires the strong commitment and political will of all stakeholders and sectors, so that our
countries can move forward in their legal frameworks to ensure food and nutrition security,
recognize the right to food and help each nation to develop appropriate institutions to eradicate
hunger.
We must recognize that ending hunger requires a noble and clear political commitment that must
be accompanied by an ethic where the common good is paramount.
We cannot only look towards each of our own countries; we must look towards integration
efforts in the Caribbean.
This is where sharing experiences, our experiences, of day to day working and our challenges
and processes, gains strength as part of our political and ethical commitment to achieve the
eradication of hunger in the Caribbean, and sharing it here with you, Ministers, Parliamentarians
and Civil Society in the Caribbean is strategically important for us. We legislators are in the
territories, in the territories of our peoples, but from here we join together in a common cause so
that all together, from ourparticular places and contexts, we contribute with our actions, with our
political and ethical commitment to eradicate world hunger.
This will be a working sessionin which we will all learn, share our experiences, our challenges.
Hopefully by the end we can be clear about what we want to continue doing in the Caribbean to
fight hunger and how and from where we can do this. This construction mustbe made bythe
Caribbean people.
The PFH LA and C is ready and willing to provide support as necessary, we are here to serve
you.
It is not just a dream that no one goes hungry, it can becomea reality and it is in our hands. That
is the commitment we want to invite you to make together.
The fight against hunger is an ethical commitment and is not negotiable!
Antigua and Barbuda,
1st
August, 2013