A/HRC/RES/19/7
rights objective, and to consider reviewing any policy or measure that could have a negative
impact on the realization of the right to food, particularly the right of everyone to be free
from hunger, before instituting such a policy or measure;
16.
Stresses that improving access to productive resources and investment in
rural development is essential for eradicating hunger and poverty, in particular in
developing countries, including through the promotion of investments in appropriate, smallscale irrigation and water management technologies in order to reduce vulnerability to
droughts, as well as in programmes, practices and policies to scale up agroecological
approaches, and encourages States and donors, both public and private, to examine and
consider ways to integrate, where applicable and according to national contexts, the
recommendations contained in the latest report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to
food1 in policies and programmes;
17.
Recognizes that 80 per cent of people suffering from hunger live in rural
areas, and 50 per cent are small-scale and traditional farmers, in particular women farmers,
and that these people are especially vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity, given the
increasing cost of various inputs and the fall in farm incomes; that access to land, water,
seeds and other natural resources is an increasing challenge for poor producers; that
sustainable and gender-sensitive agricultural policies are important tools to achieve food
and nutrition security and rural development; and that support by States for small farmers,
fishing communities and local enterprises is a key element to food security and the
provision of the right to food;
18.
Stresses the importance of fighting hunger in rural areas, including through
national efforts supported by international partnerships to stop desertification and land
degradation and through investments and public policies that are specifically appropriate to
the risk of drylands and, in this regard, calls for the full implementation of the United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in countries experiencing serious drought
and/or desertification, particularly in Africa;
19.
Recalls the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,
and acknowledges that many indigenous organizations and representatives of indigenous
peoples have expressed in different forums their deep concern over the obstacles and
challenges they face to the full enjoyment of the right to food, and calls upon States to take
special actions to combat the root causes of the disproportionately high level of hunger and
malnutrition among indigenous peoples and the continuous discrimination against them;
20.
Requests all States and private actors, and international organizations within
their respective mandates, to take fully into account the need to promote the effective
realization of the right to food for all, including in ongoing negotiations in different fields;
21.
Encourages all relevant international organizations and agencies to bring a
human rights perspective and the need for the realization of the right to food for all to their
studies, research, reports and resolutions on the issue of food and nutrition security;
22.
Recognizes the need to strengthen national commitment as well as
international assistance, upon the request of and in cooperation with affected countries,
towards the full realization and protection of the right to food and, in particular, to develop
national protection mechanisms for people forced to leave their homes and land because of
hunger or humanitarian emergencies affecting the enjoyment of the right to food;
23.
Stresses the need to make efforts to mobilize and optimize the allocation and
utilization of technical and financial resources from all sources, including external debt
1
A/HRC/19/59 and Corr.1.
5