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Interview with His Excellency

Ambassador

Jean Feyder

of Luxembourg

and the author of "Hunger Kills"

His Excellency is an engaging man. For many years he has been
strong advocate for the least-developed countries. One of the to
pics that is really close to his heart is the right to food. In this res
pect, he has been tireless in his efforts, and which now have resul
ted in a new book entitled "La Faim Tue" (Hunger Kills), publishe
by the prestigious Parisian publishing house L'Harmattan. We wit
also soon have the pleasure of reading it in English. Let us briefi
mention that he arrived in Geneva in 2005 after having served fo
seven years as Luxembourg's Director for Development Coopera
tion. From 2006 until 2010, he was the President of the Sub-Corn
mittee for the Least-Developed Countries at the World Trade Orga
nization (WTO), and in 2011 he was elected to the post of Presiden
of the Council of the United Nations Conference for Trade and De
velopment (UNCTAD). In June 2011, he chaired the Committee o
Social Security during the 100th Session of the International Labou
Conference. Now we leave the floor to his Excellency

Q: How did you get the idea of organize the translation into Ger- fering from hunger: the people from
writing a book on famine? man, so that it would be ready to be the rural areas, the small peasants.
presented at the Annual Book Fair in I therefore had been working on this
The book is the result of a dialogue Frankfurt in October 2010. And this issue for a number of years.
I had with a German publisher who was indeed what happened.
was interested in publishing a book In the first half of 2005, when
on the problem of world hunger. It Q: As a busy ambassador in Luxembourg assumed the Presi-
is through friends here in Geneva, in Geneva, how did you find time dency of the European Union, we
UNCTAD that the contact was esta- to write? organized a large conference on food
blished. We started to talk about the security and policy coherence. We
problem of world hunger, and I was Writing a 300 pages manuscript in invited personalities like the former
asked why there are now 1 billion such a short period was extremely French Minister Edgar Pisani or Pas-
human beings who suffer every day challenging. But I was given quite a cal Lamy, senior officials from va-
from hunger or malnutrition. I ex- unique and a very motivating oppor- rious departments -- development,
plained what I saw as the causes of tunity -- to put in writing the analy- agriculture and trade -- eminent
the problem and, finally, they told sis and insights that I had developed professors from India, France, etc.,
me that what I had said deserved to over the years. As you might be aware, including representatives of NGOs
be published. before coming to Geneva, I had ser- and peasants' associations. It was a
ved as the Director for Development very important event and a very rich
Q: How long did it take you to Co-operation in Luxembourg, a po- experience.
write this book? sition I held for seven years. During
these years, I had the opportunity to Arriving here in Geneva, the chal-
I was given a period of five months. see in which way Luxembourg, with lenge for me was to see in particular
It was late November 2009 that this an ODA level of over 1.00 % of GNP, what role international trade played
conversation took place and I was could contribute to the fight against in this question. It was interesting to
told that by 1 May 2010 it would be poverty. This is a goal that is pursued note that in the WTO's Doha Round
desirable to have the manuscript. I by all countries in the world. What negotiations agriculture was the
must say that they made an interes- was less known however, and what I "big" issue!
ting proposal offering me to write the found out was who were the vast ma-
manuscript in French. They would jority of the poorest and of those suf-

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