Participants' Contributions

 

 

Couleurs Lomé

Farmers' organizations in ACP countries and the challenges of negotiations on the future of EU - ACP relations

Jean-Jacques GRODENT

February 2000

 

General presentation: Farmers' movements in ACP countries facing "Lomé V"

Following several contacts established in many countries of Africa, it had been diagnosed quickly, in the African civil societies, that there was an important lack of awareness and knowledge as to the challenges relative to the negotiations on the future of relations established between the European countries and countries of the ACP zone.

This was among others the case for farmers' organizations, who represent the interests of more than 60% of the population of the ACP countries.

The determination to broaden the discussion relative to the future of the Lomé Convention to representatives of ACP civil societies was in fact one of objectives pursued by the Commission in the management of this file.

It seemed otherwise increasingly important among others to highlight, in the eyes of the general population, the precise and concrete interrelations existing between actions of development, often completed at the local or regional plan, and a definite overall context of the international agreements.

Concretely, the initiative " Couleurs Lomé " taken by SOS Faim (SOS Hunger) Belgium and a few other organizations (Collectif Stratégie Alimentaire - Collective Food Strategy, SOS Faim Luxembourg) aimed to give the possibility to several ACP farmers' organizations to express their concerns, their questionings and possibly their demands relative to the negotiations that started some months later and to discuss these topics with the European interlocutors involved in these matters.

A dozen ACP farmers' organizations were contacted and all participated in the operation " Couleurs Lomé ".

Philosophy of " Couleurs Lomé "

1. Farmers' organizations are, at the heart of the process, the real actors of the socialization of the challenges of the Lomé Convention for the farmers' world and the main craftsmen of the defense of their interests.
2. For an optimal defense of the interests of ACP farmers, it is necessary to combine:
   • actions of information in the South and the North;
   • actions of information and awareness raising intended to the general population as well as to specific publics (European farmers' organizations, representatives and European officers, NGOs of the North, ACP political representatives,...).
   • actions of lobbying (intended to the "actors ") and of actions of awareness raising (intended to a broader public).

Activities organized in the framework of " Couleurs Lomé " were, and remain, very varied:

• With Solagral, there was the preparation of a working document on the challenges of the Lomé Convention for farmers' organizations and their members.
• Organization of a working seminar with the farmers' organizations around this document (Yaounde April 1998). This seminar resulted in a first stand of the farmers' organizations on the challenges of the Convention, called " Taking Lomé out of clandestineness."
• Communication, to the media and actors of negotiations, in Africa and in Europe, of this stand.
• Organization, in June 1998 and in Brussels, of several meetings among representatives of the farmers' organizations of the ACP countries and the European and Belgian farmers' organizations, ACP representatives, the European officers involved in negotiations, etc.
• Organization of a press conference allowing representatives of the farmers' organizations of the ACP countries to present their thinking and demands relative to the future of the Lomé Convention (22 Belgian and European media - printed press, audiovisual press - reported on the positions of the farmers' organizations).
• Organization of a closing symposium at which participated, besides representatives of the farmers' organizations of the ACP countries, representatives of the European Commission, representatives of the European NGOs, European farmers' organization representatives, etc.
• Participation at an important cultural event allowing representatives of the farmers' organizations of the ACP countries to meet the Belgian public
• Publication of a special number of the magazine Sud Défis on points of view defended by the farmers' organizations of the ACP countries.
• Participation in the development of a television report on the challenges of the Convention for the Cameroonian farmers.
• Creation of a special category in the Internet site of SOS Faim making available to everyone the main working documents as well as the stands of the farmers' organizations (www.sosfaim.be).
• Creation of a Cell " Couleurs Lomé " in Yaounde, for follow-up and support of the initiatives in the South.
• ...

What first assessment of these actions do we draw?

In the South

• Concrete awareness raising of the farmers' organizations to the international challenges that involve them;
• better information on the aspects of the Lomé Convention that involve them;
• identification, for these farmers' organizations, of the national actors which they can address to defend their priorities and their interests;
• constitution of transnational networks of defense of interests of ACP farmers;
• ...

In the North

• awareness raising of the general population to the challenges, for ACP farmers, of conventions and international treaties;
• better knowledge of EU-ACP relations;
• confirmation of the importance of agricultural activities in the ACP countries;
• affirmation of the farmers' organization role in the ACP countries;
• contribution to the constitution of objectives common to the European farmers and the ACP countries;
• recognition of the role of farmers' organizations in the civil societies of countries of the South and pointedly of the ACP countries;
• ...

The role of farmers' organizations in the national and international negotiations that involve them is not, far from it, acquired.

Their position in what it is suited to call the " forum of the civil society ", is not completely recognized.

However, advances have been made in this direction whether in the ACP countries or in international organization bodies.

The road will be long before the interests of populations of the South are taken really in account in negotiations that concern their future, but " Couleurs Lomé " contributes (the process is not closed) probably to giving concrete expression to some advances in this direction.

Questions?

How can the actors of the South be integrated better in this type of action? How can they be given the means to be consulted better on these topics (the imperialism of everyday life is all the more important that the means of survival are wanting)?

How can there be a better information in the North and the South on the actions taken in the South and the North respectively (the imperialism " the weight of words and the shock of photos" is increasingly suffocating)?

How can a "tighter" follow-up be ensured of negotiations such as those that took place in the framework of the "Lomé Convention"?

How can we ensure a " post-negotiation "follow-up in order to confirm the advances recorded or even to take them further?

.... More questions than answers...

Jean-Jacques GRODENT
Responsible for SOS Faim information
SOS Faim
e-mail : jjGrodent@sosfaim.be
Web site: http://www.sosfaim.be

contact : publication@ue-acp.org