Children, charities, church-goers and people from around the Island were due to hand over hundreds of empty paper plates to Tynwald at 9.45am this morning (Tuesday 21st May) in a bid to get government support for the Enough Food IF campaign to end world hunger.

The plates have been decorated with messages asking for the Isle of Man to act ahead of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland in June.  Like the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005, the last time the UK chaired the G8 summit, the IF Campaign is a coalition of nearly 200 charities, most of them based in the UK. 

Messages on the plates illustrate how unfair the world food system is and call on the Manx Government to support the UK’s position at the G8 and also to increase the Island’s own commitment to international aid from 0.07% to 0.1% of Gross National Income (GNI).*See notes 

The IF campaign demonstrates that there is enough food for everyone in the world IF:

• We give Aid to stop children dying from hunger and help the poor to have enough food to live.
• We stop poor farmers being forced off their land and we grow crops to provide food not fuel.
• We top companies dodging taxes in poor countries so millions can be freed from hunger.
• Governments and companies are honest and transparent about their role in the food system.

Rosemary Clarke, director of the One World Centre, said “It’s a scandal that ?10 billion worth of food will be thrown away in the UK alone this year – three times the budget of the World Food Programme, which alleviates hunger around the whole world.  At a time when 1 in 8 people go to bed hungry, we need governments to put measures in place which tackle these issues.  It would be great if the Manx Government took the step of increasing our International Development Budget to 0.1% as a step towards the UN target of 0.7%.”

For more details on the competition contact the One World Centre on 800464 or by emailing info@owciom.org.