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Action against Hunger honors J. Diouf

5 November 2010, Rome/New York - FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf has been awarded the Action against Hunger Humanitarian Award in recognition of his long-standing commitment to fighting hunger and poverty.

The annual award recognizes individuals who through their humanitarian commitment have raised public awareness to overcome emergencies.

Past recipients include Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, CNN journalist Anderson Cooper, actress Susan Sarandon and author Frank McCourt, among others.

Action against Hunger is a global non-governmental organization committed to ending world hunger.

"FAO alongside others, such as Action Against Hunger, have demonstrated through work in often insecure and challenging environments that lives can be saved while at the same time providing communities with sustainable solutions to hunger," Diouf said after receiving the award in New York.

The award went not only to FAO's chief executive but also to agency's 1billionhungry project "for engaging millions of people worldwide in combating global hunger."

Launched in May 2010, this innovative campaign rapidly gathered momentum through live events on all continents and circulation via email, Facebook and other social media platforms. Its goal is to alert the general public to the vast scale of world hunger, to create popular demand to eradicate it, and ultimately to put pressure on national governments to assume their responsibilities. 

The petition is available at www.fao.org and at www.1billionhungry.org.

More than two million people worldwide have already signed the petition and the figure is growing.

Recognized as a leader in the fight against malnutrition, Action against Hunger works to save the lives of malnourished children while providing communities with sustainable access to safe water and long-term solutions to hunger.