UN Anti-hunger petition has more than 250,000 signatures
(Aug.04,2010) A United Nations-drafted petition that aims to encourage governments
to make the elimination of hunger their top priority, has so far been signed by more
than 250,000 people. It is on track to achieve its goal of a million signatures by
the end of November, the UN agriculture agency said on Tuesday. The petition campaign,
the brainchild of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization -FAO, can be signed online
at the http://www.1billionhungry.org website. “The ball is now rolling and we are
on track to meet our goal of one million signatures by the end of November," said
FAO Director General Jacques Diouf. He encouraged everyone to sign the online petition
to show their solidarity with the one billion hungry.” The World Food Summit of 1996
attended by 185 countries, agreed the target of reducing the number of hungry people
by half to no more than 420 million by 2015. However, if the world continues at
the current pace of hunger reduction, that target will only be reached in 2150, with
hundreds of millions of needless deaths and incalculable suffering as a result, according
to FAO. Friend-to-friend contacts through Facebook and other social media platforms
are the key means by which news of the petition is spreading. A new Facebook application
now enables users to sign the petition and encourage friends and family to sign all
within Facebook. Banners encouraging people to sign the petition have now been translated
into 13 languages.