Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 9
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- The right to food is increasingly stipulated in domestic constitutions, as recommended by Guideline 7 of the Right to Food Guidelines. In 1994, South Africa included the right to food in article 27 of the post-apartheid Constitution. Other countries have followed suit. The new Constitution of Kenya, approved by a popular referendum in 2010, states the right of every person "to be free from hunger and to have adequate food of acceptable quality"; like that of South Africa, the Constitution imposes on the State a duty to respect, protect, promote and fulfil that right. A 2011 study identified 24 States in which the right to food was explicitly recognized, although in about half of them, it was recognized for the benefit of a particular segment of the population only, such as children, and sometimes through another human right such as the right to life. Since that study was completed, articles 4 and 27 of the Constitution of Mexico were amended in order to insert the right to food. In El Salvador, Nigeria, and Zambia, processes of constitutional revision are under way that may lead to insertion of the right to food in the respective Constitutions. In other countries, such as Uganda and Malawi, ensuring access to adequate food and nutrition is defined as a principle of State policy. In Germany, the right to food is indirectly protected by the guarantee to a decent subsistence minimum so that everyone may live in dignity. In addition, among the countries that replied to the Special Rapporteur's questionnaire, a number, including Argentina and Norway, implicitly guarantee the right to food by granting constitutional rank or a rank superior to the Constitution to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international human rights treaties ratified by the State.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Reference
- SR Food, Report to the UNGA (2013), A/68/288, para. 9.
- Paragraph number
- 9
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