UN rights council to hold special session on food crisis

GENEVA: The United Nations Human Rights Council will devote a special session to the world food crisis on May 23, the council announced late on Thursday.

The extraordinary, requested by 41 of the 47 council members, would look at "the negative impact on the realization of the right to food of the worsening of the world food crisis," said a Council statement.

Cuba lodged the request for the session and resolution calling on the United Nations General Assembly to consider meeting as soon as possible to discuss ways of tackling the problem.

Rising global food prices have sparked riots recently in Egypt and Haiti, protests in other countries and restrictions on food exports from Brazil, Egypt, India and Vietnam.

According to the World Bank the price of food has nearly doubled in over three years, with World Bank president Robert Zoellick saying that it "could potentially push 100 million people in low-income countries deeper into poverty".