«In a world overflowing with riches, it is a outrageous scandal that more than 826  million people suffer hunger and malnutrition and that every year over 36 million die of starvation and related causes . We must take urgent action now.»

 

Informations en francais

SEE THE PUBLICATIONS PAGE FOR ALL REPORTS OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR

What is the Right to Food?

The right to food means that Governments must not take actions that result in increasing levels of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.  It also means that Governments must protect people from the actions of others that might violate the right to food.  Governments must also, to the maximum of available resources, invest in eradicating hunger.  The right to food is not about charity, but about ensuring that all people have the capacity to feed themselves in dignity. 

The right to food is a human right and is a binding obligation well-established under international law, recognised in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as a plethora of other instruments.  The right to food has also been recognised in numerous national constitutions.  The right to food has been well defined in the General Comment No. 12 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  This defines the right to food as :

“the right of every man, woman and child alone and in community with others to have physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement in ways consistent with human dignity.”

According to the General Comment, the right to food also implies three types of obligations - the obligations to respect, protect and to fulfil.  The obligations to respect existing access to adequate food requires States parties not to take any measure that result in preventing such access. The obligation to protect requires measures by the State to ensure that enterprises or individuals do not deprive individuals of their access to adequate food. The obligation to fulfil (facilitate) means that States must pro-actively engage in activities intended to strengthen people´s  access to and utilization of resources and means to ensure their livelihood, including food security. Finally, whenever an individual or group is unable to enjoy the right to adequate food by the means at their disposal, States have the obligation to fulfil (provide) that right directly.”

Under article 2(1) of the International Covenant on ESCR States agreed to take steps to the maximum of their available resources to achieve progressively the full realization of the right to adequate food. Under article 2(2) of the Covenant States agreed to guarantee that the right to food will be exercised without discrimination. Finally, under article 3 of the Covenant States agreed to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of the right to food.

The new Voluntary Guidelines on the right to food set out some practical steps on how Governments can implement the right to food.

The excellent FAO timeline of important international events gives an outline of key international developments related to  the right to food.  

Recently, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has elaborated a new General Comment No 15 on the Right to Water.  This is also extremely relevant to the definition of the right to food.

Who is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food?

Jean Ziegler is the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.  He was appointed by the UN Commission on Human Rights in September 2000.  As Special Rapporteur, his job is to ensure that governments are meeting their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food of all people.   In their Resolution 2000/10, the Commission outlined the mandate of the Special Rapporteur.  His role is to:

·    Receive information and highlight violations of the right to food

·    Cooperate with UN agencies, international organisations and NGOs

      to put the right to food into practice around the world.

·    Identify emerging issues related to the right to food.

In their Resolution 2001/25, the Commission asked him also to:

·    Look at the question of drinking water and its relation to the right to food.

·    Contribute to the review of the implementation of the World Food Summit 

      1996 Declaration and Plan of Action.

·    Adopt a gender perspective in his work.

The Special Rapporteur makes an annual report on his work to the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in April and, at the request of the Commission, he also makes an annual report to the UN General Assembly in November each year.  He also makes country missions to look at the situations of the right to food in different countries in the different regions of the world.  However, the Special Rapporteur can only carry out missions to countries where the Government has officially accepted his visit.  See Publications for a full list of his reports.  

In country missions, the focus of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food is to examine the progress in realising the right to food over time, monitor the situation of vulnerable groups especially those that suffer from discrimination, as well as to monitor compliance with the obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food. 

For his general conceptual reports, the Special Rapporteur focuses on strengthening the conceptualisation of the right to food, through examining emerging and urgent issues, such as those posed by gender discrimination, trade liberalisation, genetically modified food, food sovereignty, armed conflict, nutrition, and justiciability etc. etc.

What is the Research Unit on the Right to Food?

The Research Unit on the Right to Foodis based in Geneva, Switzerland and was created in 2001.  It provides research support to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, in collaboration with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.  The Research Unit helps to prepare the Special Rapporteur's reports to the UN Commission on Human Rights and to the UN General Assembly and assists in country missions to examine the right to food around the world.  The Research Unit also works to disseminate information about the right to food and to develop networks of organisations working on the right to food and reporting violations of the right to food.

What is the State of Hunger in the World Today?

The shocking news is that global hunger increased yet again this year. The FAO's latest report, The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2004, reports that hunger has increased to 852 million gravely undernourished children, women and men, compared to 842 million last year, despite already warning in 2003 of a "setback in the war against hunger". Important recent progress in reducing hunger has been made, but the overall trend is now one of regression, rather than the progressive realization of the right to food. In fact, it appears that hunger has increased every year since the 1996 World Food Summit.

Many of the women, men and children suffering from chronic undernourishment suffer from what the FAO calls ‘extreme hunger’.  This means that their daily ration of calories is well below the minimum necessary for survival.  Many people die on a daily basis from starvation. Malnourishment also heightens vulnerability to other illnesses and almost always has serious physical and mental effects – the lack of brain cell development, inadequate growth.  Serious malnutrition can also be hereditary, as many malnourished mothers gives birth to malnourished and seriously affected babies.  Read the Special Rapporteur’s reports and read the annual report of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation).

In 1996, at the World Food Summit in Rome, governments reaffirmed the right to food and committed to cut by half the number of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition by 2015.  You can see the text of the 1996 Rome Declaration here.  In 2002, a new meeting was held to measure progress since the World Food Summit - the World Food Summit: Five Years Later.  But is has become clear that little action has been taken with respect to the 1996 commitments.  However, there is also a glimmer of hope.  Governments promised to draw up voluntary guidelines for the implementation of the right to food.  See further details here in the speech of the Special Rapporteur at the WFS:FYL.  The Special Rapporteur continues to be engaged in the work of the Intergovernmental Working Group - see his submissions on the guidelines which are being drawn up by Governments.  See also the FAO documents on the right to food and the voluntary guidelines.

The Special Rapporteur is encouraged to report that in November 2004, the "Voluntary Guidelines" were adopted by the FAO Council and approved by all Governments. This is an important step, because in adopting the Voluntary Guidelines, Governments have reaffirmed a solid commitment to the right to adequate food and have agreed on an internationally accepted understanding of the right to food. This marks important progress. Indeed, FAO has hailed this effort as a "landmark commitment to human rights" as this signifies universal acceptance of what the right to food means and provides a practical tool that will "empower the poor and hungry to claim their rights".

* See the international "Voluntary Guidelines" on the right to food here

* See the 2002 Declaration on World Food Security

* See the 1996 Rome Declaration on World Food Security

* Donate free food here on the Hunger Site