A/HRC/34/48
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
24 January 2017
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Thirty-fourth session
27 February-24 March 2017
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food
Note by the Secretariat
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of
the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, pursuant to Council resolutions 6/2, 31/10 and
32/8. The report was written in collaboration with the Special Rapporteur on the
implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of
hazardous substances and wastes. In the report, a clearer account is provided of global
pesticide use in agriculture and its impact on human rights; the negative consequences that
pesticide practices have had on human health, the environment and society, which are
underreported and monitored in the shadow of a prevailing and narrow focus on “food
security”, are described; and the environmental and human rights regimes are examined to
determine whether the constituent rules are sufficient to protect farm workers, consumers
and vulnerable groups, as well as the natural resources that are necessary to support
sustainable food systems.
GE.17-01059(E)