A/HRC/37/61
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
25 January 2018
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Thirty-seventh session
26 February–23 March 2018
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 report focuses on the right to food in the context of natural disasters, and
follows the interim report devoted to the humanitarian system and the right to food in
conflict situations (A/72/188). Based on country-specific examples, the report
contextualizes direct and indirect impacts of natural disasters on the right to food and
people’s livelihoods. The Special Rapporteur then discusses how disasters contribute to
hunger and what should be done to reduce human rights violations and damage to the
environment. The report also underlines the importance of achieving a convergence
between emergency food aid, food assistance and development cooperation, to ensure the
realization of the right to food. Finally, she argues that in order to achieve these goals, the
common understanding whereby voluntarism is seen as central to humanitarian response
efforts needs to change.
GE.18-01163(E)