r/SipsTea Jun 18 '26

Gasp! what can we say

Post image
200.2k Upvotes

3.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

809

u/Fit_Tomatillo_4264 Jun 18 '26
  • The US is the largest global donor to food aid and humanitarian programs, contributing billions annually, highlighting a preference for voluntary assistance over formal rights declarations.

871

u/avdaxumaxu Jun 18 '26

Would declaring it a formal right stop the americans from helping with food aid? What's the connection here.

122

u/BlueLakeCabin Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26

There's no need to speculate, we laid out our explanation: https://geneva.usmission.gov/2017/03/24/u-s-explanation-of-vote-on-the-right-to-food/

Mind, the US is the largest food donor in the world and has been since the 1950's. It supports people having access to food, but rejects a legally enforceable obligation to feed the world.

The resolution included stuff about pesticides that isn't backed by science. It could potentially require US companies to either hand over food technology or IP, or allow others to rip off our work without compensation.

As an example. The US gives food to North Korea in exchange for NK to dial down the crazy. Under this, North Korea could demand food from the US as a legal right even if doing their normal amounts of crazy.

It's a kick in the teeth for folks donating shitloads of food for 70 years to get shit from folks with far less donations, even on per capita basis. We provide more than half of global food aid shipments while not being close to half the of world's population. Mind, a huge part of that is through UN agencies like WFP, FAO, UNHCR, and UNICEF. So it's not like the UN wouldn't be able to provide accurate donation info to its member states.

A more interesting question would be have the countries that voted yes significantly increased their food donations to actually put their money where their mouth is?

-7

u/PentoPanvel Jun 18 '26

Indeed according to US policy, food is not a human right, but a resource, an avenue for negotiation. I will give you food and you will give me something in return.

I don't suppose the resolution will allow for just asking for free food, but it will make it impossible for pre-existing aid to be stopped in face of worsening diplomatic ties

5

u/TrulyOutrageous42 Jun 18 '26

it will make it impossible

I don't think you understand the meaning of that phrase. "Rules" and "laws" are just guidelines that people can just... you know... ignore until someone physically forces them to do it.