The meaning of the right to food as a human right by Olivier De Schutter UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food 10:46am 6th Jun, 2011   The right to adequate food is recognized in specific instruments such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Art. 24(2)(c) and 27(3)), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Art. 12(2)), or the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Art. 25(f) and 28(1)).    But it is stated most explicitly, at a more general level, under Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by G.A. Res. 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948 and under Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted on 16 December 1966.    In 1996, the World Food Summit convened in Rome. It requested that the right to food be given a more concrete and operational content. A number of initiatives were taken as a result. In 1999, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the body of independent experts monitoring States’ compliance with the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted General Comment No. 12 on the right to food. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food was established by the Commission on Human Rights by resolution 2000/10 of 17 April 2000.    Following the request of the 2002 World Food Summit – five years later, an Intergovernmental Working Group was established under the auspices of the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO) in order to prepare a set of guidelines on the implementation of the right to food. This process led to the adoption on 23 November 2004, by the 187 Member States of the General Council of the FAO, of the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security.    The Guidelines are a set of recommendations States have chosen to adopt to assist in the implementation of the human right to adequate food. They offer practical guidance to States about how best to implement their obligation, under international law, to respect the right to adequate food and to ensure freedom from hunger.    The right to adequate food is realized ‘when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.    The right to adequate food shall therefore not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with a minimum package of calories, proteins and other specific nutrients. The right to adequate food will have to be realized progressively. However, States have a core obligation to take the necessary action to mitigate and alleviate hunger even in times of natural or other disasters’ (General Comment No. 12, at para. 6).    For the Special Rapporteur, the right to food is the right to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensure a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life free of fear.    In certain circumstances, States are under an obligation to provide food to those in need. But the right to food is not primarily about being fed. It is about being guaranteed the right to feed oneself, which requires not only that food is available (that the ratio of production to the population is sufficient), but also that it is accessible – i.e., that each household either has the means to produce its own food, or has sufficient purchasing power to buy the food it needs.    As recognized both under these provisions and in customary international law, the right to food imposes on all States obligations not only towards the persons living on their national territory, but also towards the populations of other States.    These two sets of obligations complement one another. The right to food can only be fully realized where both ‘national’ and ‘international’ obligations are complied with.    National efforts will often remain of limited impact in combating malnutrition and food insecurity unless the international environment, including not only development assistance and cooperation but also trade and investment regimes or efforts to address climate change at a global level, facilitates and rewards these national efforts.    Conversely, any efforts by the international community to contribute to these objectives will depend, for their effectiveness, on the establishment of institutional and legal frameworks at the national level, and on policies which are effectively geared towards the realization of the right to food in the country concerned. Visit the related web page
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