MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 11 , 2003

Farmer’s death in Cancun is not an isolated incident: Hundreds of farmers every year commit suicide because of poverty

CANCUN, MEXICO – Lee Kyang Hai, the President of the South Korean Federation of Farmers and Fishermen, stabbed himself yesterday during the Farmers’ March organised by the Via Campesina. He passed away at a Cancun hospital about two hours later.

This was a deliberate political statement. Mr. Lee was wearing a sign on which was written “WTO kills farmers” and other South Korean militants said that his act was meant to “demonstrate opposition to the WTO which is killing our farmers and destroying Korea’s agriculture.” However, members of his organization were unaware of Mr. Lee’s project.

Even though customary regrets were heard from Supachai Panitchpakdi, the director general of the WTO, the trade organisation’s media spinning machine was working hard to portray Mr. Lee’s suicide as an isolated incident.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “Mr. Lee’s death must not be pushed to the margins of WTO history. This death is tragic, but it is not an isolated incident. Every month, hundreds of farmers around the world are taking their own lives in desperation, as a result of the destruction of their livelihood. This should be at the heart of the discussions here in Cancun.”

According to the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, a not-for-profit organization based in India, between 500 and 700 farmers a month commit suicide in India. In all, 20,000 deaths by suicide have been accounted for in India and 20,000 more farmers have perished by starvation. South Korea also has its share of farmers taking their own lives.

They are driven to this desperate act by the rampant poverty in the rural communities of least developed and developing countries, induced by IMF policies (the infamous Structural Adjustment Programs) and WTO-induced development.

The IMF is pressuring India to increase its agricultural exports to pay down its debt. The Supreme Court's Commissioners on Food in India found that almost 70% of the food offtake by Rajasthan state government was for exports, leaving farmers with little for their subsistence.

The WTO impacts on farmers on two fronts: through the TRIPS agreement, which paved the way for multinationals such as Monsanto to patent seeds of various plant varieties, including basmati rice, as well as through food dumping and agricultural subsidies, practised by industrialized countries who hang on to this practice as a negotiating tool to obtain other concessions from poorer countries.

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