A/69/275 the effects of unpaid work on women’s right to food; and consider the need for mainstreaming gender concerns in legislative frameworks, programmes and policies related to food security and nutrition. 19. The first five years of a child’s life are the most important in terms of human development and focus must be given to encouraging investment in future generations by providing healthy, adequate and nutritious food to young children. Ensuring food security, including a nutritious diet, makes a vital contribution to achieving a healthy society, both physically and mentally. The Special Rapporteur will make every effort to raise global awareness of the right of every child to enjoy the benefits of healthy, nutritious, sustainable food. That goal is especially relevant for societies faced with significant economic and climatic challenges. 20. The priorities identified by the Special Rapporteur are interrelated. It is not possible to develop a successful sustainable policy framework to eradicate hunger and provide adequate and nutritious food accessible to all without considering the specific requirements of women and children. It should be understood that the mandate encompasses issues relating to corporate responsibility with respect to global food policy and practices and linkages between private sector behaviour, food security and the right to food. The Special Rapporteur intends to address those issues in future reports. In so doing, she will coordinate her efforts with the relevant work being done by civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). IV. Substantive priorities A. Justiciability of the right to food 21. While the right to food may once have been a controversial “positive” right, it is now enshrined in international law and States are obliged to ensure its progressive realization through ratification of international treaties an d the development of supportive domestic and national legislation. However, many countries have failed to develop a judicial culture of recognition in practice, or the necessary legal frameworks required to ensure that the rights enshrined in the Internati onal Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are justiciable. Accountability at both international and national levels is paramount to ensuring that the right to food and its correlative obligations are being implemented. 22. General comment No. 12 entails three levels of State obligation, including the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil (paras. 14 and 15). The obligation to respect requires States to refrain from adopting measures that prevent access to adequate food; the obligation to protect requires implementation or enforcement of regulations by States to ensure that third parties do not deprive people of their right to access adequate food; and the obligation to fulfil entails proactive steps to facilitate access to food and strengthen food security. Access to justice in relation to the right to food is also provided for in the recommendations in the Voluntary Guidelines that States should enshrine the right to food in their domestic law, including through the constitution, and provide suitable mechanisms for effective redress in the event of violations of the right to food. 2 __________________ 2 14-58889 See, FAO, “The right to food in practice: implementation at the national level” (2006) and Guidelines 7.1 and 7.2 of the Voluntary Guidelines. 7/18