CU-Boulder Hosts Teleconference And Discussion On Food Rights Issues

The University of Colorado at Boulder will air the 15th annual World Food Day satellite teleconference live on Friday, Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. followed by a discussion led by CU economics Professor Charles Howe.

The teleconference and discussion will be held in room 4 of the Coors Events/Conference Center on the CU campus. The public is invited to attend the free event.

The teleconference will feature a panel discussion on the plausibility of making the right to food universal, viable and binding, and the ethical, legal and political aspects of food rights. "Food for All: Right or Goal" will be discussed by a panel of international experts. Ray Suarez of "Talk of the Nation," a daily discussion program produced by National Public Radio, will host the program. Panelists will be:

* Comfort Lamptey of Ghana, a program specialist for Africa with the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

* Anuradha Mittal of India, a developing country activist who works with FIAN, the international Food Information and Action Network.

* Arne Oshaug of the Norwegian Royal Ministry of Agriculture, a renowned advocate of a phased-in approach to achieving the right to food.

* Hugh Q. Parmer, assistant administrator for humanitarian response for the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID).

The program will open with a short videotaped message from Director-General Jacques Diouf of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).