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Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Land reform may be seen as an opportunity to remedy this imbalance, either by prioritizing the needs of households headed by single women or widows, or by ensuring systematic joint titling in the reform process.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 107i
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Create buffer zones around plantations and farms until pesticides are phased out, to reduce pesticide exposure risk;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 107l
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Regulate corporations to respect human rights and avoid environmental damage during the entire life cycle of pesticides;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Access to land is thus closely related to the right to adequate food, as recognized under article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The right to food requires that each individual, alone or in community with others, have physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement. States may be under an obligation to provide food where "an individual or group is unable, for reasons beyond their control, to enjoy the right to adequate food by the means at their disposal". Primarily, however, the right to food requires that States refrain from taking measures that may deprive individuals of access to productive resources on which they depend when they produce food for themselves (the obligation to respect), that they protect such access from encroachment by other private parties (the obligation to protect) and that they seek to strengthen people's access to and utilization of resources and means to ensure their livelihoods, including food security (the obligation to fulfil).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- For some of the groups that are the most vulnerable today, this means protecting existing access to land, water, grazing or fishing grounds, or forests, all of which may be productive resources essential for a decent livelihood. In such cases, as detailed below, the right to food may complement the protection of the right to property or of indigenous peoples' relationship with their lands, territories, and resources. In other cases, because landlessness is a cause of particular vulnerability, the obligation of the State goes further: it is to strengthen such access or make it possible - for example, through redistributive programmes that may in turn result in restrictions on others' right to property. This obligation of States is especially clear in cases in which the members of such groups have no alternative means of producing food or gaining sufficient income to purchase food that is sufficient, adequate and culturally acceptable.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Access to land and security of tenure are essential to ensure the enjoyment of not only the right to food, but also other human rights, including the right to work (for landless peasants) and the right to housing. This fact led the former Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing to conclude that the Human Rights Council should "ensure the recognition in international human rights law of land as a human right". The present report confirms that conclusion, while taking the right to food as its departure point. It describes the increasing pressures on land. It then discusses the right of land users to be protected in terms of their existing access to natural resources, particularly land. It also argues in favour of ensuring more equitable access to land.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The pressures on land are increasing dramatically. As rural populations grow, plots cultivated are becoming smaller per capita and per household. In India, the average landholding size fell from 2.6 hectares in 1960 to 1.4 hectares in 2000 and continues to decline; similar evolutions have been documented in Bangladesh, the Philippines and Thailand, where the decline in the average farm size is combined with an increase in landlessness. The trend is not limited to the Asian region. In Eastern and Southern Africa, the amount of cultivated land per capita declined by half over the past generation, and in a number of countries the average cultivated area now amounts to less than 0.3 hectares per capita. This phenomenon is compounded by erosion and soil depletion: worldwide, 5 million to 10 million hectares of agricultural land are being lost annually to severe degradation. And it would be difficult to expand the areas under cultivation to the degree required to accommodate the growth of rural populations, since forests have a major role in storing carbon and deforestation is already a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- These long-term trends have been exacerbated in recent years by policies that have further increased the pressures on farmland. In many regions, under export-driven agricultural policies, large-scale plantations have developed for the production of food, energy or cash crops. While the tendency towards land concentration has resulted primarily from a dominant model of agricultural development that rewards the most mechanized and capital-intensive farms, it has also been encouraged by the expansion of long supply chains. This has generally favoured large agricultural producers, which are better connected to markets and can more easily produce the volumes and meet the standards required for export. The competition among various uses of farmland has recently been increased by policies favouring the switch to biofuels in transport, which leads to competing resource claims on the part of local resource users, Governments and incoming agrofuel producers, creating the risk that poorer groups will lose access to the land on which they depend. A recent inventory by the World Bank listing 389 large-scale acquisitions or long-term leases of land in 80 countries shows that, while 37 per cent of the so-called investment projects are intended to produce food (crops and livestock), agrofuels represent 35 per cent of such projects. For all these reasons, the Special Rapporteur has insisted that investments implying a shift in land rights should be treated with great caution. At the thirty-sixth session of the Committee on World Food Security, he will detail both the risks of large-scale land investments and possible alternative business models.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Measures adopted with a view to climate change mitigation or environmental conservation, which have placed priority on technological and market-based solutions over the deconcentration of land in order to encourage more sustainable land uses, have created further conflicts with the rights of land users. Under the clean development mechanism provided for in article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, annex I (industrialized) countries that have committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions receive additional emission credits if they help to implement emissions-reducing projects in developing countries. However, the planting of forests in order to benefit from the mechanism may result in evictions, against which the local populations concerned may be insufficiently protected. The REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) scheme, launched in 2005 and strengthened at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, convened in Bali in December 2007, may represent a threat to forest dwellers, whose customary rights over the forests on which they depend for their livelihoods are not widely recognized, if the State or other actors are tempted to appropriate the benefits derived from carbon sequestration. Governments are also working to protect natural environments by creating wildlife reserves, national parks and other protected areas. Ecosystems perform vital services for agriculture, including support of the soil structure and soil retention, nutrient cycling, dung burial and pest control, pollination, water provision and purification, biodiversity and atmospheric regulation. However, the implementation of conservation measures, including land-use planning, should take into account the right to food of people who depend on the land for their livelihoods.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Industrial uses of land and urbanization have also increased in recent years, further heightening the competition: 19.5 million hectares of farmland are converted annually into land for industrial and real estate development. Researchers have documented cases in which farmers' lands have been expropriated for mining projects or for the building of industrial plants, in conditions amounting to forced eviction with no or insufficient compensation. In certain regions, the expansion of industrial areas has taken the form of the establishment of special economic zones aimed at creating conditions favourable for the arrival of foreign investors. Large infrastructure projects such as dams and highways have also had an important impact, and a significant proportion of the communications sent to Governments by the Special Rapporteur during the period from 2003 to 2009 relates to evictions for such projects.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the right of all peoples to freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources - as provided for in article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 16 December 1966 and in article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966 - entails the protection of indigenous peoples from certain forms of dispossession from their territories or from the resources on which they depend. Article 5 (d) (v) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination also protects the right of indigenous communities to their lands. And the right of indigenous peoples to the official recognition and registration of their territories has been affirmed under relevant regional human rights instruments. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights consider that indigenous people's traditional possession of their lands has effects equivalent to those of a State-granted full property title: therefore, where members of indigenous peoples have unwillingly lost possession of their lands after a lawful transfer to innocent third parties, they are entitled to the restitution thereof or to obtain other lands of equal extension and quality. The right of indigenous communities to their lands includes the right to the natural resources contained therein. Property, as protected under article 21 of the American Convention on Human Rights, is considered to constitute a collective right of indigenous people, since land ownership is often centred not on the individual, but rather on the group and its community. Thus, States may have to recognize the customary systems of land tenure that protect communal property rights - for example, by giving the community a right to veto the alienation of its land by one of its constituent members, whether an individual or a clan, village or tribe.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- International human rights law protects the relationship of indigenous communities with their lands, territories and resources by requiring States to demarcate such land, protect it from encroachment and respect the right of the communities concerned to manage it according to their internal modes of organization. Although sometimes those guarantees seem to be honoured more in the breach than in the observance, case law shows that use rights derived from customary tenure can be recognized and protected by the legal system; it also shows that the right to communal property - a right of the community rather than of the individual - is an alternative to individual property rights. On both counts, it can serve as a source of inspiration, in order to enhance the protection of the rights of other users of natural resources.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Access to land and security of tenure are also essential for the ability of smallholders to achieve a decent standard of living. As noted above, the right to food imposes on States an obligation not to deprive individuals of access to the productive resources on which they depend. Where a community has settled on a piece of land and depends on that land for its livelihood, the obligation to respect the right to food thus requires that eviction of the community from that land be prohibited unless certain conditions are fulfilled. No eviction should take place that does not meet the criteria set out by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its general comment No. 7, on the right to adequate housing: forced evictions, and in the Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-Based Evictions and Displacement. Those guidelines provide a practical tool to assist States and agencies in developing policies, legislation, procedures and preventive measures to ensure that forced evictions do not take place or, should prevention fail, to provide effective remedies to those whose human rights have been violated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Under the right to property, land users are also protected from evictions in certain circumstances, as stipulated in article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, article 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and article 21 of the American Convention on Human Rights. While the conditions under which eviction may take place vary from instrument to instrument, the most common requirements are the following: an eviction must have a valid (or legitimate) public purpose (a condition that should exclude eviction to serve purely private interests); it must not be discriminatory; it must meet the requirements of due process; and it must be accompanied by fair compensation. Although this protection from arbitrary expropriation does not in principle extend to all forms of illegal occupation, it generally extends to forms of land occupation that are not formally recognized through a legal title ("extra-legal") or that are based only on customary tenure.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The effort to transplant the Western concept of property rights has created a number of problems, however. Unless it is transparent and carefully monitored, the titling process itself may be appropriated by local elites or foreign investors, with the complicity of corrupt officials. In addition, if it is based on the recognition of formal ownership, rather than on land users' rights, the titling process may confirm the unequal distribution of land, resulting in practice in a counter-agrarian reform. In particular, this will be the case in countries in which a small landed elite owns most of the available land, having benefited from the unequal agrarian structure of the colonial era. There is also a risk that titling will favour men. Any measures aimed at improving security of tenure should instead seek to correct existing imbalances, as the Land Management and Administration Project in Cambodia does.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Finally, the creation of a market for land rights may itself have a series of undesirable consequences. The primary justification for the establishment of such a market is that it facilitates the reallocation of land towards more efficient users, thus providing an exit route from agriculture for rural residents for whom farming is not sufficiently profitable. Accordingly, the World Bank notes, "secure and unambiguous property rights … allow markets to transfer land to more productive uses and users". However, the impact of titling on farm productivity has often been unclear when it has not been complemented by schemes providing producers with appropriate levels of support. Land sales tend to favour not those who can make the most efficient use of land, but those who have access to capital and whose ability to purchase land is greatest. In fact, the creation of a land rights market can cause land to be taken out of production in order to be held as an investment by speculators, resulting both in decreased productivity and in increased landlessness among the rural poor. The poorest farmers could easily be induced to sell land and then be "priced out", particularly if they have fallen into debt as a result of a bad harvest or other circumstances. Thus, considered in isolation from other policies, individual titling may have counterproductive effects, increasing the vulnerability of the poor. Indeed, the idea that individual titling contributes to poverty reduction as land is transformed into capital presupposes that property is transformed into collateral, collateral into credit and credit into income. However, the poor, for whom land is an essential social safety net where no others are available, may in fact be reluctant to mortgage their land in order to gain access to credit. Nor does titling necessarily result in significantly greater access to the credit offered by private financial institutions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- A number of countries, particularly in Africa, have extended formal legal recognition to existing customary rights, including collective rights, as an alternative to individual titling. Typically, neither individual members of households nor communities, through their representatives, can dispose of their land, for example, by selling it. Yet, the formal legal recognition of customary rights provides effective security. It favours long-term investments in the land. It may also facilitate access to credit, since creditors (although they will not be able to take possession of the land in the event of default) can be assured of the long-term viability of the investments that they help to finance. And it allows for the emergence of rental markets, which can improve access to land, particularly for land-scarce and labour-abundant households with little education. At the same time, there is a high risk that traditional, patriarchal forms of land distribution will be further legitimized through the recognition of customary forms of tenure, in violation of women's rights. Such risks should be addressed through the inclusion of strict safeguards in the process of such recognition.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- As customary forms of tenure are recognized, the relationship between individual and communal rights may vary. For instance, communal land rights may be formalized as an aggregation of individual rights. In Cambodia, although land may be held by indigenous communities as a whole, the 2001 Land Law allows individual community members to leave and receive their share of communal land, subject to the agreement of the entire community. Another approach is to allow local community authorities to administer rights. In Latin American States where indigenous groups have been granted both political rights and land rights, such groups have been able to achieve a degree of autonomy over land management, while gaining tenure security.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- True legal empowerment of the poor, then, should be seen as including the following: (a) a protection from eviction; (b) the provision of tools (legal aid, legal literacy training, paralegals) to ensure that formally recognized rights can be effectively defended; (c) support for land users in their utilization of the land; and (d) strengthening of the capacity of land administrations and efforts to combat corruption in those administrations. Individual titling schemes should be encouraged only where they can be combined with the codification of users' rights based on custom, and where the conditions have been created to ensure that the establishment of a land rights market will not lead to further land concentration. Customary forms of tenure, which are often perceived as highly legitimate, should be recognized although it is important that such systems be carefully scrutinized and, if necessary, amended, to bring them into line with women's rights, the use rights of those who depend on commons and the rights of the most vulnerable members of the community.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The protection of land-users' rights should not be limited to improving farmers' security of tenure. Fisherfolk need access to fishing grounds and may be severely affected by the fencing-off of land that provides access to the sea or to rivers. Pastoralists need grazing grounds for the animals that they raise. For these groups, as well as those practicing itinerant forms of agriculture, the formalization of property rights and the establishment of land registries may be the problem, not the solution: it may cause them to be fenced off from the resources on which they depend, making them victims of the vast enclosure movement that may result from titling. In Kenya, pastoralists whose rights were ignored in the formalization process have reportedly been the victims of violent land-grabbing by ranchers and others seeking scarce resources. Since they have no legal claim to the land, they cannot seek redress. In the United Republic of Tanzania, five years after a major titling effort had begun, pastoralists reported their eviction from multiple common grazing areas and were under threat of losing other grazing lands because those lands had been classified as "unused".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- In the presence of the sometimes highly unequal distribution of land in rural areas, strengthening security of tenure may not be sufficient; land redistribution may be required. Article 11, paragraph 2 (a), of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes the connection between the right to food and the use of natural resources, committing States to "developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources". This should be understood as encouraging agrarian reform that leads to more equitable distribution of land for the benefit of smallholders, both because of the inverse relationship between farm size and productivity and because small-scale farming (and linking farmers more closely to the land) may lead to more responsible use of the soil. The Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security, adopted in 2004 by the States members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), also encourage agrarian reform (guideline 8.1).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Agrarian reform leading to owner-operated family farms is desirable for a number of reasons. As land is transferred to family farms, idle lands of large estates are brought into production, thus increasing productivity levels. A 2003 World Bank analysis of land policies in 73 countries between 1960 and 2000 shows that countries in which the distribution of land was initially more equitable achieved growth rates two to three times higher than those in which land distribution was initially less equitable. Figure I highlights the correlation between the Gini coefficient for land and average per capita growth in gross domestic product (GDP), illustrating the link between unequal initial land distribution and slower economic growth.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The poverty-reducing potential of more equitable land distribution is further illustrated by statistical analyses showing that "a decrease of one third in the land distribution inequality index results in a reduction in the poverty level of one half in about 12-14 years. The same level of poverty reduction may be obtained in 60 years by agricultural growth sustained at an annual average of 3 per cent and without changing land distribution inequality". Land reforms in Asia following the Second World War resulted in a 30 per cent increase in the incomes of the bottom 80 per cent of households, while leading to an 80 per cent decline in the incomes of the top 4 per cent.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- In addition to its economic functions of stimulating growth and reducing rural poverty, more equitable access to land for the rural poor contributes to social inclusion and economic empowerment. Access to land also improves food security, since it makes food more easily and cheaply available, providing a buffer against external shocks. Evidence resulting from land redistribution in China suggests that "even though access to land insures household income only moderately against shocks, it provides almost complete insurance against malnutrition". More equitable land distribution and the development of owner-operated family farms are thus desirable on both efficiency and equity grounds. Small family-owned farms can use the land in more sustainable ways, since sustainable farming is often more labour-intensive and requires the linking of farmers to the land. Moreover, where rural areas face high unemployment and underemployment and relative scarcity of land, it is more sensible, from both an economic perspective and a social justice perspective, to raise land productivity than to try to increase labour productivity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Finally, land reform may be seen as an opportunity to strengthen access to land for women, particularly single women and widows. Article 14, paragraph 2 (g), of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women guarantees the right of women to equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes. However, there remain laws and social customs such as those ensuring that the land of a deceased husband belongs to his sons, not to his widow, despite the flagrant violation of women's rights to which this leads. As a result, women still represent a significant minority of the total number of title-holders, as illustrated by the statistics set out in figure II.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The most recent pledges to pursue land reform were made at the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development of FAO, convened in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in March 2006. The Final Declaration adopted at the Conference encourages the holding of a national and inclusive dialogue to ensure significant progress on agrarian reform and rural development and the establishment of appropriate agrarian reform "mainly in areas with strong social disparities, poverty and food insecurity, as a means to broaden sustainable access to and control over land and related resources". The Governments represented at the Conference also recommended that the FAO Committee on World Food Security adopt of a set of reporting guidelines in order to monitor the implementation of the Declaration.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The preparation of the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and other Natural Resources, led by FAO, is the single most important attempt to follow up on the commitments made at the Conference, and the Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security, held in 2009, underlines that link. It is too early to assess the Guidelines in the light of what they promise to achieve. At the regional level, however, the African Union's Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa are an important step in that direction, and the Latin American project to follow up on the Conference, launched in August 2009, involves a large number of countries in the operationalization of the commitments set out in the Declaration. But the overall picture remains uneven across regions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- It can be argued that part of the reason for this mixed outcome, lies in the strongly ideological overtones of the debate about how to implement land reform. Over the past generation, the major divide has been between centralized, or State-led, agrarian reform, effectuated through State land acquisitions compensated at below-market prices, and decentralized, or market-led, agrarian reform, based on the principle of a willing buyer and a willing seller. Although State-led agrarian reform has become less common, FAO continues to receive requests for assistance regarding such reform, and certain countries are still redistributing land or have committed to doing so. Since the 1990s, however, there has been a trend towards market-led agrarian reform, as illustrated by programmes such as the Cédula da Terra project, launched in Brazil during the period 1996-2001 and since renewed; the Colombian programme developed under Agrarian Law 160 of 1994; the South African Reconstruction and Development Programme, launched in 1994; the Community-Based Rural Land Development Project in Malawi; and the voluntary land transfer scheme in the Philippines.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- There are strong arguments, however, in favour of land reform as contributing to the progressive realization of the human right to food, at least in contexts characterized by (a) a high degree of concentration of land ownership (such as a level of inequality higher than a Gini coefficient of 0.65), combined with (b) a significant level of rural poverty attributable to landlessness or the cultivation of excessively small plots of land by smallholders. The implication is that States should monitor existing inequalities in terms of access to land and, where both circumstances are present, should allocate the maximum available resources to agrarian reform schemes and implement those programmes in accordance with the principles of participation, transparency and accountability, to protect them from being appropriated by local elites. Where States fail to establish land redistribution schemes, they should provide justifications for not having done so.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- While State-led agrarian reforms can generally be quite effective in addressing deeply entrenched inequalities in access to land provided certain conditions are met, market-led agrarian reforms have been less successful in that regard, sometimes even leading to the reconcentration of land, for reasons similar to those that explain the limits of titling as a means to ensure security of tenure. Important lessons can be drawn from past experiences: the success of State-led land reform programmes depends not only on effective land ceiling laws and other appropriate safeguards, such as legal frameworks that clearly define beneficiaries and exempted land, but also on continued social mobilization by peasant organizations, which can be vital partners in the implementation of policies to provide support to new beneficiaries. However, if the redistribution of land is to be sustainable, the beneficiaries must also be supported through comprehensive rural development policies. It has been estimated that improving access to credit and markets, as well as rural extension, can account for 60 to 70 per cent of the total costs of a land reform, exceeding the costs of acquiring and transferring the land. The failure of Latin American reforms when compared with Asian reforms has been attributed to the fact that Latin American reforms have traditionally focused solely on access to land, neglecting rural development policies. In order to be successful, land redistribution must be accompanied by broader agrarian reform policies that support smallholders and improve their ability to compete against larger farms; otherwise, there will be strong incentives for land reform beneficiaries to sell their land to large landowners. Women should be prioritized in such programmes, as under the Young Farm Women's Training Programme in the Canadian province of Manitoba or in the strategy currently being developed in Norway by the farming sector and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, aimed at achieving 40 per cent participation by women in agriculture. Land ceiling laws can also help. Although such laws are often circumvented by large landowners - for example, by registering land under the names of proxies - they can increase the amount of land available for redistribution to the poorest households and limit the risk of land reconcentration following reform. A similar result can be achieved by subjecting land transactions to administrative authorization, which enables the administration to object to transactions that would lead to the unacceptable concentration of land, as in Germany under section 9 (1) of the Land Transactions Act.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 40a
- Paragraph text
- [In order to respect the right to food, States should:] Ensure security of tenure. States should take measures to confer legal security of tenure upon those persons, households and communities currently lacking such protection, including all those who do not have formal titles to home and land. The adoption of anti-eviction laws imposing strict conditions for interference with the rights of land users should be seen as a priority. This should supplement any strengthening of the regulatory framework concerning expropriation, which itself should provide clear procedural safeguards for landowners while, at the same time, providing for the possibility of agrarian reform where land concentration is excessive;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 40b
- Paragraph text
- [In order to respect the right to food, States should:] Refrain from criminalizing legitimate social protest. Where insufficient progress has been made on the implementation of the commitments set out in the Final Declaration of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, and where deep land inequalities remain, the non-violent occupation of land by landless movements should not be criminalized. Human rights defenders who protest evictions and defend or promote land rights should be protected;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 40c
- Paragraph text
- [In order to respect the right to food, States should:] Respect the needs of special groups. States should implement the specific rights of indigenous peoples by demarcating their lands and territories and by providing them with specific protection. States should also protect access to fishing grounds, grazing grounds and water points for fisherfolk, herders and pastoralists, for whom the protection of commons is vital. The recognition of communal rights should extend beyond indigenous communities, at least to certain communities that entertain a similar relationship with the land, centred on the community rather than on the individual;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 40d
- Paragraph text
- [In order to respect the right to food, States should:] Prioritize development models that do not lead to evictions, disruptive shifts in land rights and increased land concentration. States should carefully consider the development models that they follow, as the mainstream agro-export-led model has major detrimental impacts on the access to land of vulnerable groups, disproportionately favouring the largest producers and landowners. Land investments implying an important shift in land rights should represent the last and least desirable option, acceptable only if no other investment model can achieve a similar contribution to local development and improve the livelihoods within the local communities concerned.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 41a
- Paragraph text
- [In order to protect the right to food, States should:] Conduct decentralized mapping of various users' land rights and strengthen customary systems of tenure. Mapping should be performed at the level of the local community and in a participatory manner. While customary systems of tenure may receive legal recognition, public authorities should ensure that appropriate safeguards are established in order to ensure that control by the community will not be exercised arbitrarily or in ways that lead to discrimination or inequitable outcomes, in keeping with international norms and standards. States should establish appropriate mechanisms for the resolution of land conflicts between landlords and tenants, between land users and the State or between private-sector entities involved in development projects;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 41b
- Paragraph text
- [In order to protect the right to food, States should:] Adopt tenancy laws, and effectively implement existing laws against the pressure to free land for private investors. The adoption of tenancy laws can protect tenants from eviction and from excessive levels of rent. Such laws can also allow a tenant's heirs to occupy the land if the tenant dies, and provide the tenant with the right to pre-emption if the landowner wishes to sell (ideally, at a below-market price); they can provide for the joint titling of husband and wife as tenants, in order to protect widows from the risk of eviction; and they can ensure that the tenant will be allowed to remain on the land if the property changes hands;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 42a
- Paragraph text
- [In order to ensure the enjoyment of the right to food, States should:] Implement the conclusions set out in the Final Declaration of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and prioritize "improved" State-led land redistribution programmes. States should implement land redistribution programmes where a high degree of land ownership concentration (which could be defined as a level of inequality higher than a Gini coefficient of 0.65) is combined with a significant level of rural poverty attributable to landlessness or to the cultivation of excessively small plots of land by smallholders. Redistributive agrarian reforms should: (a) include comprehensive rural development policies that follow the recommendations resulting from the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, including extension systems, access to credit and agricultural research and support beneficiaries, provided with sufficient budgets; (b) make use of land ceiling laws and be based on legal frameworks that clearly define beneficiaries and exempted land; (c) encourage communal ownership systems, rather than focusing solely on individual beneficiaries; (d) be implemented in accordance with the principles of participation, transparency and accountability, in order to prevent their appropriation by local elites; (e) be grounded in constitutional provisions regarding the social functions of land, where such provisions exist. All States should monitor land inequalities before and after the implementation of such programmes;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 42b (i)
- Paragraph text
- [In order to ensure the enjoyment of the right to food, States should:] Ensure that market-led land reforms are compatible with human rights. If, despite the reservations expressed in the present report, States choose to seek to improve security of tenure through titling programmes and the creation of land rights markets, they should: Regulate such markets by taking appropriate measures to prevent increased land speculation, increased land concentration, abuse of customary forms of tenure by new landowners, and distress sales by indebted farmers;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 42b (iv)
- Paragraph text
- [In order to ensure the enjoyment of the right to food, States should:] Ensure that market-led land reforms are compatible with human rights. If, despite the reservations expressed in the present report, States choose to seek to improve security of tenure through titling programmes and the creation of land rights markets, they should: Prioritize the titling of land for those who are dependent on land for their livelihoods and are more vulnerable to land-grabbing, rather than for those who claim to be the formal landowners;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 43a (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur also makes the following recommendations to the international community:] Establish adequate governance instruments to operationalize the commitments set out in the Final Declaration of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. The Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and other Natural Resources could make a significant contribution, provided that they: Encompass land redistribution issues in addition to land administration issues, consistent with the Conference commitments;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 43c
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur also makes the following recommendations to the international community:] Governments investing in farmland abroad should ensure that they do so in accordance with their human rights obligations. They should regulate the conduct of private actors on which they can exercise an influence, thus helping to protect the human rights of the communities concerned. Similar obligations exist for development banks funding projects that have an impact on land rights (see A/HRC/13/33/Add.2, para. 5);
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 43d
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur also makes the following recommendations to the international community:] International human rights bodies should consolidate the right to land and take land issues fully into account when ensuring respect for the right to adequate food. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights could play a leading standard-setting role in clarifying the issue of land as a human right by issuing a general comment in that regard. Acting in their monitoring capacity, human rights bodies should examine the justifications offered by Governments that fail to put in place land redistribution programmes or policies with similar aims, despite the existence of a high degree of concentration of land ownership, combined with a significant level of rural poverty attributable to landlessness or inequitable land distribution.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Firms transfer responsibilities for labour management to farmers through contract farming, and labour costs may be lower because contract farmers often use unpaid family workers. Furthermore, firms using contract farming arrangements can maintain more fluid operations because they are not constrained by fixed assets. These are some of the reasons why, for instance, contract farming with smallholders has been seen as an attractive option in India for companies in the horticultural, poultry and dairy sectors. Although transaction costs are relatively high, this model spreads risk over a large number of suppliers (the buyer, therefore, is not at risk if any one major supply source defaults) and provides for flexible supply that adapts easily to volume or quality variations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- A human rights-based approach requires a focus on the most vulnerable, those who are most often excluded from progress. Contract farming schemes often exclude the poorest farmers, who have limited and marginal land and fewer resources to invest and live in remote areas. Researchers note that the transaction costs associated with providing inputs, credit and extension services and carrying out product collection and grading are disincentives for firms to contract with smallholders, so firms often prefer to engage with medium- or large-scale farmers. Unless vulnerable and marginalized groups are considered specifically, they may be excluded from the opportunities that these business models seek to create. Moreover, small-scale farmers are usually in weaker bargaining positions. They may be illiterate or lack the skills to effectively defend their rights and interests in contract negotiations. Women often are marginalized, particularly where decisions are made at the community level through decision-making processes from which they are de facto excluded.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Contract farming is generally associated with the production of commercial crops for export, mono-cropping and forms of production that rely heavily on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, often with adverse repercussions for human health and for soil. None of these consequences, however, are inevitable in contract farming. As already noted, this kind of contractual arrangement between a buyer and a farmer can be used to produce crops for sale on the domestic market and contribute to the strengthening of local markets, and in particular to improving the links between rural producers and urban consumers. Contract farming could and should include incentives for moving towards more diverse farming systems, using a combination of plants, trees and animals according to the principles of agroecology (see A/HRC/16/49). While contract farming often involves the provision of inputs, including mineral fertilizers, by the buyer, it may also include provisions that oblige the producer to comply with certain environmental conditions, for instance more cautious use of pesticides.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Contract farming often leads the producer to shift from food crops to cash crops. When farmers change all of their crop production to non-food crops covered by contractual arrangements, however, they relinquish the ability to produce food for their families, thus losing a valuable safety net. This renders the farmers vulnerable to food price increases, particularly if firms do not meet their contractual obligations or if farm incomes are lower than expected in comparison to the evolution of food prices. Farmers sometimes also have to manage gaps between contract cycles, during which time they do not earn any money from farming. To mitigate the risks involved in the shift to cash crops and the resulting dependence of farming households on the market to purchase food, a portion of the contracting farmer's land should be left to the farmer or other household members to grow food crops for household consumption. This can be effective especially where the contract farmer benefits from technology and skills transfers, leading to multiplier effects on non-contracted farming activities, including subsistence crop farming. Similarly, farmers can use by-products and residues from contract farming activities in various ways, including by selling the by-products or using them for subsistence activities. In Madagascar, small-scale farmers contracted by Lecofruit for vegetable production use part of the land for the production of rice, the staple crop, and the productivity of rice increases (from 3.6 to 6.0 tons/ha) thanks to the use of compost and manure and the recycling of waste from vegetable production. In Mali, the production of biodiesel from jatropha by small-scale farmers contracted by MaliBiocarburant SA (MBSA) produces residual "press cakes" that can be used as an organic fertilizer, as well as glycerine used to produce soap. The jatropha trees are intercropped with maize, which accounts for 80 per cent of the surface, ensuring that priority is given to staple food crops. This should ensure adequate protection for the contract farmer against the risk of occasional bad harvests or sudden crop price depressions. Such a guarantee of a stable income commensurate with an adequate standard of living is essential, and even a pricing mechanism that, as proposed below, guarantees a minimum price to the producer (unless the price is linked to the cost of production and the cost of living) would not provide an equivalent safeguard.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Beyond the farming household, the switch to cash crops also increases vulnerability to price shocks for the local community. When the contracted crops are edible produce that is available on the local market, it may be helpful to ensure the accessibility (physically and economically) of adequate and culturally acceptable food for the population. One possible solution to facilitate the enjoyment of the right to food of the community is to include a local marketing requirement in the contract whereby a certain percentage of crops is sold on the local market.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- More generally, contract farming can lead to a loss of control over production, including which crops to produce and how to produce them. Contract farming can thus cause farmers to become essentially wage-earning agricultural labourers on their own land, but without the benefits associated with paid labour, such as minimum wages, sick leave and other legislated benefits. Contracted small farmers are then seen by the buyer as labour market intermediaries. This is particularly clear after plantations are broken up by owners to create small-scale farms, possibly to break the power of unions or divest firms of their responsibilities, with negative effects on former labourers. Seen in this light, contract farming raises a number of questions that concern the right to work and the conditions of employment on family farms. Contract farmers often rely on family labour to fulfil work requirements. While this may be seen as leading to greater employment opportunities, it often simply results in more family members working without pay because that may be the only way to cut costs and to make the contractual arrangement profitable. In such contexts, child labour can become a problem in contract farming arrangements. Article 10 of the International Covenant on Social and Cultural Rights and article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child impose on States the obligation to protect children and young persons from economic and social exploitation and to punish their employment in work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, spiritual, moral or social development. States must adopt effective measures to ensure that the prohibition of child labour is fully respected (see E/C.12/GC/18, para. 24). It is also relevant to note that in accordance with article 9 of the Covenant, States must guarantee the right to social security, which must also be accessible to independent producers (see E/C.12/GC/19).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Specific problems are associated with the hiring of outside labourers by contracting farmers. Such labourers may not be covered by the same labour laws that cover agricultural workers on larger plantations. Article 7 of the Covenant recognizes the individual dimension of the right to work, stating the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable working conditions. All workers are entitled to fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value without distinction of any kind; in particular, women are guaranteed conditions of work not inferior to those enjoyed by men, with equal pay for equal work; a decent living for themselves and their families; and safe and healthy working conditions. Working conditions for labourers on small farms, however, are often worse than on larger plantations. Wages for labourers on small farms are often extremely low, and women labourers are frequently paid even less than male labourers. Monitoring compliance with labour legislation is difficult, especially since labourers on small farms (just like agricultural workers on large plantations) are unlikely to be unionized, and labourers' employment situations on small farms are often insecure. Contract farming makes small farms more like large-scale plantations, and in this case in particular it encourages the farmer to hire an outside workforce on a more or less regular basis. In such cases, the enforcement of labour legislation encounters specific challenges, which may be best tackled by ensuring that the buyer controlling production also controls compliance with domestic labour legislation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Women have less access to contract farming than men. A study found that in the Kenyan horticulture export industry, women comprised fewer than 10 per cent of contracted farmers, and in a sample of 59 contract farmers for French beans exported from Senegal, only one was a woman. The ability of women to benefit from contract farming is determined by their rights over land and by the power relationships both within households or, when the contract is negotiated through representatives of the community or the farmers' organizations, within those groups. Indeed, even where most of the work is in fact performed by the wife and other family members, it is not unusual for the contract to be signed by the husband, as head of the household, as is seen in sugar contract farming in South Africa or in vegetable contract farming in the Indian Punjab. In addition, studies suggest that women lose control over decision-making when crops are produced for cash rather than for local consumption. While women decide about the use of food produced for self-consumption, they do not decide how the income of the household is spent. Therefore, unless the framework for contract farming respects women's rights and is gender sensitive, it will undermine gender equality. Research done on bean contract farming in Kenya shows, for instance, that while women performed most of the work, they received a limited portion of the revenues from the contract. In addition, where they did receive cash, they were expected to contribute to household expenditures even when this would have been the husband's responsibility. Strengthening the position of women is not only a matter of guaranteeing the right to equality of treatment, but also a means of improving productivity, since women receiving a greater proportion of the crop income will have a greater incentive to increase production. Moreover, household food security and children's health, nutrition and education all gain from improved income for women, in comparison to the gains that result from improved income for men. The more women decide on how to spend household income, the more it is usually spent on children's needs; a child's chance of survival increases by 20 per cent when the mother controls the household budget (see A/HRC/13/32, para. 58).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- While the ability of buyers to purchase inputs at wholesale prices might allow them to pass savings on to farmers through lower prices, it may also be that when a farmer has access to inputs only through a buyer, the buyer will charge farmers higher than market prices for those inputs. In the course of consultations, the Special Rapporteur received a communication indicating that in the absence of public services, contract farming can create potentially devastating dependence by small farmers on the technology, credit, inputs and services provided by their contracting companies. This not only points to the danger of the Government relinquishing its duty to support farming communities by providing adequate public goods in the hope that private investors will fill in the gap, it also highlights one of the main negative effects of contract farming for farmers, which is its potential to trap them in cycles of debt. One common occurrence is that farmers must borrow money to invest in agricultural production as required under the contract and then do not earn enough money to cover their debts, for instance, because of falling market prices or poor harvests. This risk is particularly important where the investment on the land is related specifically to one type of production for which the contracting firm is the only buyer, a constraint that may be exploited by the firm as a way to exercise monopolistic power and thus gradually impose lower prices on farmers. Crops that rely on complex production and processing technologies and substantial specialized inputs that are unfamiliar to most growers and require large capital outlays significantly increase the level of risk confronted by growers, as illustrated by the Smallholder Sugar Authority and Smallholder Tea Authority contract-farming schemes in Malawi. The resulting cycle of debt can trap farmers into contractual arrangements that are neither optimal nor easily abandoned, either because of the debt itself or for other reasons, for example, because the soil was degraded by heavy pesticide use or because farmers have lost their relationships with former transaction partners, are unable to re-establish traditional cultivation methods or products or have become too dependent on the firm for other services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Under such clauses, firms may reject delivered products by stating falsely that they do not conform to quality regulations, thus transferring financial losses to farmers when market prices are low. Firms can manipulate prices when the price mechanism specified by the contract is not transparent, using complex price formulas, quantity measurements or price measurements. They also can manipulate delivery schedules to benefit from market price changes or from changes in a product's qualities upon which prices are based (for example, delaying the purchase of sugar cane when prices are based on sucrose levels because sucrose levels decline rapidly after harvest).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The arrangement must be viable for all the parties concerned. If it appears unviable to the buyer, the contract may be terminated or the buyer may renege on obligations when under financial stress, with detrimental consequences for the livelihoods of farmers. If the arrangement is unviable for the farmer, for instance because of an unsustainable debt, the buyer may face supply problems in the short term and incur high reputational costs with other farmers, which may make it more difficult for the buyer to enter into arrangements with other producers in the longer term. Agreements should be structured so that both farmers and firms benefit and so that both sides desire to respect the contract and do not have strong incentives to renege on it.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The pricing mechanisms should be clear and transparent and show how prices incorporate production costs, risks and returns. While a variety of price models exist (e.g. spot market-based pricing, split pricing, fixed prices and flexible price model), in the view of the Special Rapporteur, the ideal pricing mechanism is one replicating the formula used in fair trade schemes. The producer should be guaranteed a fixed minimum price based on the need to meet production costs and to ensure a living wage for all the workers concerned (including family members, where applicable) (see A/HRC/13/33, paras. 14-17), but the prices paid by the buyer should be higher if market prices increase. This is the price-setting mechanism used, for instance, by MBSA for the acquisition of jatropha produced by smallholders in Mali. The farmers, represented by a union of cooperatives, are guaranteed a minimum price, which may increase relative to the price of diesel at the pump. This eliminates the temptation for the producer to sell goods outside the terms of the contract, and thus the need for the buyer to closely monitor the producer's operations. It therefore guarantees a stable supply for the buyer, while simultaneously reducing transaction costs linked with the contracting of a large number of small-scale suppliers. Pricing mechanisms should be subject to an independent arbitration mechanism, and farmers should be provided with the market prices of internationally traded commodities to reduce the risks associated with the asymmetry of information between the parties.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Contracts should facilitate communication between parties through appropriate management structures and should identify ways of resolving disputes. It should be acknowledged that in the vast majority of cases where one of the parties fails to comply with the requirements of the contract, there is no resort to courts because the sums involved are too small and because, in many developing countries, courts are in practice inaccessible to the rural poor. Buyers, on the other hand, are reluctant to use formal legal procedures, not only because it is impractical to do so, but also because of the risk that the relationships with the farming communities will turn sour. The real sanctioning mechanism is the breakdown of the contractual relationship. The farmer will refuse to continue to supply the buyer if he or she feels that the relationship is imbalanced, and the firm will cease buying from the farmer if it considers that he or she is not complying with the expectations set. Therefore, while the legal system is one of the main accountability mechanisms available, other mechanisms should be established. Among them are negotiation spaces, independent arbitration mechanisms, forums in which farmers can raise concerns and conflict mediation by non-governmental organizations or third parties. Regular meetings should be organized between the parties to ensure a consistent flow of communication so as to identify problems early on. Specific quotas to ensure the equitable representation of women on committees representing contracting farmers could be established.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Contract farming rarely encourages farmers to climb up the value chain and move into the packaging, processing or marketing of their produce. The purpose of contract farming is to organize a division of labour between the seller and the buyer in which the seller is confined to the production of raw commodities. In addition, all the strategic decisions - about what to grow and how to grow and about which markets to target - are with the buyer. The producer is merely the executor. Finally, in contract farming, the interests of the two parties differ: while both have an obvious interest in the success of the arrangement, the terms of the contract will be more or less favourable to each, at the expense of the other. Other business models, therefore, should be explored.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Farmers can be encouraged to form their own cooperatives, farmer associations or collectives. While such farmer-controlled enterprises can enter into contract farming schemes (in conditions more favourable to the members), they also can strengthen farmers' negotiating skills and bargaining positions in their dealings with the suppliers of inputs and commodity buyers; they can facilitate access to markets and to moving towards the processing, packaging and marketing of crops; and they can improve the ability of their members to contribute to the design and implementation of public policies that affect them (see A/HRC/13/33, paras. 30 and 31). For instance, the total income of farmers with group marketing in the Philippines (as supported by the MASIPAG network, which reaches 35,000 farmers practising sustainable agriculture) is about 45 per cent higher than the income of other farmers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Farmers (generally through their organizations) and private investors may establish joint ventures, with each party contributing in cash or in kind. Such business models ensure, in theory, that both sides are equal partners and are co owners of the project. Both sides hold equity shares in the joint venture, while retaining their individual legal status and sharing in profits or losses made by the joint venture. Enabling farmers to be shareholders allows them to influence company governance and negotiate price policy, to share in the benefits (whether profit is reinvested or distributed as dividends) and to improve access to credits and other farm-related services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- For instance, Divine Chocolate Company Ltd. (formerly the Day Chocolate Company) was established in 1998 by Kuapa Kokoo Farmers' Union (KKFU), representing 68,000 cocoa-producing farmers in Ghana, and TWIN Trading, a membership organization based in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland comprising 24 farmer cooperatives from eight countries dedicated to developing the fair-trade supply chain for the coffee, nuts, cocoa, sugar and fruit produced by 163,000 farmer families. Christian Aid, Comic Relief and Oikocredit, a microfinance institution, also supported the joint venture by taking shares, as did the Body Shop, which later donated its shares to KKFU. The Department for International Development of the United Kingdom guaranteed a bank credit line from a major commercial bank, which gave Divine Chocolate better access to finance and enabled it to grant a larger quantity of shares of the company to KKFU, resulting in greater decision-making power in the operations. KKFU now owns 45 per cent of the shares of Divine Chocolate as well as 33 per cent of the shares of the United States branch of Divine created in 2007. Divine Chocolate sold more than $71.5 million worth of chocolate in its first nine years of operation. In 2001, dividends were paid for the first time, after offsetting set-up costs. They remain symbolic (a direct payment of $1 per member), but come on top of the fixed prices by KKFU, the fair-trade premium and the benefits of the farmer support and development programme, to which Divine contributed more than $1.22 million in its first 10 years of operation. The arrangement facilitated income-generating activities and supported community projects (including boreholes, schools, sanitary facilities and mills), as well as the training of farmers and participatory decision-making.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- MBSA is another promising joint venture model, focusing on the production of biodiesel from jatropha in collaboration with smallholders in Burkina Faso and Mali, with support from Dutch private institutional investors and the Government of the Netherlands. In Mali, 2,611 farmers were involved in 2009, having planted 1.6 million jatropha trees on 3,250 ha of land. The farmers are organized in 12 cooperatives, joined in a farmers' union. The union negotiates the price of the jatropha with MBSA and provides support to the farmers. The farmers' union is represented on the board of the company and owns a 20 per cent share of the company. The farmers, therefore, benefit directly from the sale of their produce and from dividend payments as shareholders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Two interesting attempts to link small-scale farmers to local consumers through a redefinition of local food systems are found in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and Durban, South Africa. Both examples were studied closely by the Special Rapporteur when he conducted official missions to those countries in 2009 and 2011. In 1993, Belo Horizonte adopted a municipal law, setting out a policy framework based on the concept of food sovereignty and established a secretariat for food policy and supply. Under this framework, it sought to create various channels of affordable access to healthy food. Because conventional markets were often found to be too expensive for low-income groups and because the poorest parts of the city, the favelas, were usually not well served with respect to food distribution, the secretariat established mobile food distribution services. It sought to support family agriculture through government food purchases and incentives prioritizing local producers, seeing such support as a key to reducing migration to the cities and encouraging organic production methods. The local food system of the city was rethought by integrating the logistics and supply chains of the entire food system and by tying local producers directly to consumers to reduce prices. In 2008, 34 producers from eight rural municipalities of Belo Horizonte, selected through a public process, were assigned fixed sale points throughout the city, and the price and quality of their produce were regulated to ensure that the food would be affordable and healthy. In the same year, the city operated 49 conventional and 7 organic markets, benefiting 97 small producers from surrounding areas.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- In the City of Durban/eThekwini Municipality, with a population approaching 4 million people, a new Agricultural Management Section within the municipality seeks not only to support community food gardens, but also community mini-farms and emerging commercial farms. The municipality identified 26 farmers' associations and 800 community gardens and aims to improve market linkages with the urban residents. It is estimated that, provided that there is adequate support, such gardens could generate 60,000 jobs. One key objective for the municipality is to become increasingly self-sufficient in fresh and affordable food through surplus sales to the urban centre. The Agricultural Management Section established six hubs to pursue this strategy - in effect, centres to support local farmers and improve their ability to market their produce, including sites demonstrating agroecology techniques, a research and development centre on agroecology, training sites, a packing and marketing hub and, in the future, a seed bank.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Governments should support the organization of farmers into cooperatives and other types of producers' organizations that can improve farmers' bargaining position and help them to move up the value chain into the produce packaging, processing and marketing operations and help them to acquire inputs and sell their produce under better circumstances. This condition is necessary to ensure fairness in the negotiations between investors and farmers' organizations. Governments could also provide legal advice to farmers or their organizations to enhance their negotiating position and to ensure that any contract they choose to enter into is economically sustainable for them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Governments should ensure that the degree of competition among traders is sufficient to prevent farmers from being locked into unequal relationships with a particular trader in the absence of alternative buyers for a given crop. In particular, Governments should ensure that the expansion of contract farming does not result in the dismantling of public support schemes and the privatization of agricultural extension services, which would narrow the range of options available to small-scale farmers and increase the asymmetry of power between unorganized small-scale farmers and private actors operating on a national, regional or global scale.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Governments should ensure that regulatory oversight keeps pace with the level of the expansion and the complexity of business models, including small-scale farming. Certain key clauses of contracts should be regulated, including those concerning price fixing, quality grading and the conditions under which inputs are provided, and the reservation of a portion of land for the production of food crops for self-consumption. The contracts, once agreed upon by the parties, could be subjected to vetting by authorities to ensure that any abuse is identified and, where appropriate, remedied; in addition, non-judicial dispute resolution mechanisms should be made available. Particular attention should be paid to the seven critical aspects and good practices for contract farming identified in section III above. [...]
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 53a
- Paragraph text
- [National food security institutions should monitor and assess the contribution of the various business models explored in the present report to the realization of the right to food. These institutions could build on the work of the National Council on Food and Nutrition Security in Brazil or the specific work of the South African Human Rights Commission on food security issues. Governments should also set up forums in which the fairness of food chains could be discussed among producers, processors, retailers and consumers to ensure that farmers are paid fair prices for the food they produce. Such forums could examine:] How the farm gate price relates to the retail price and whether the wedge between the two remains within a reasonable margin;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 53b
- Paragraph text
- [National food security institutions should monitor and assess the contribution of the various business models explored in the present report to the realization of the right to food. These institutions could build on the work of the National Council on Food and Nutrition Security in Brazil or the specific work of the South African Human Rights Commission on food security issues. Governments should also set up forums in which the fairness of food chains could be discussed among producers, processors, retailers and consumers to ensure that farmers are paid fair prices for the food they produce. Such forums could examine:] How more direct links could be established between producers and consumers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Development partners and international organizations can ensure that contract farming schemes work for the benefit of the poor small-scale food producers and respect the principles of the right to adequate food, including by increasing the capacity of community-based organizations to negotiate equitable agreements with the private sector, by contributing to financing equity participation by local communities in joint ventures or by supporting farmer-controlled enterprises to acquire the assets and managerial skills necessary to climb up the value chain, as initial support is frequently needed to start businesses that will become self-sustaining.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Agroecology is both a science and a set of practices. It was created by the convergence of two scientific disciplines: agronomy and ecology. As a science, agroecology is the "application of ecological science to the study, design and management of sustainable agroecosystems." As a set of agricultural practices, agroecology seeks ways to enhance agricultural systems by mimicking natural processes, thus creating beneficial biological interactions and synergies among the components of the agroecosystem. It provides the most favourable soil conditions for plant growth, particularly by managing organic matter and by raising soil biotic activity. The core principles of agroecology include recycling nutrients and energy on the farm, rather than introducing external inputs; integrating crops and livestock; diversifying species and genetic resources in agroecosystems over time and space; and focusing on interactions and productivity across the agricultural system, rather than focusing on individual species. Agroecology is highly knowledge-intensive, based on techniques that are not delivered top-down but developed on the basis of farmers' knowledge and experimentation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Agroecology is a coherent concept for designing future farming systems as it is strongly rooted both in science and in practice, and because it shows strong connections with the principles of the right to adequate food (Section III). It can be seen as encompassing - or closely related to - approaches such as "ecoagriculture" and "evergreen agriculture," while the concepts of "ecological intensification" and "conservation agriculture" often follow certain agroecological principles. Agroecology is also linked to the "ecosystem approach to sustainable crop production intensification" recently supported by the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG). Discussion of the detailed differences among these concepts is beyond the scope of this report.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Crop breeding and agroecology are complementary. For instance, breeding provides new varieties with shorter growing cycles, which enable farmers to continue farming in regions where the crop season has already shrunk. Breeding can also improve the level of drought resistance in plant varieties, an asset for countries where lack of water is a limiting factor. Reinvesting in agricultural research must consequently mean continued efforts in breeding. However, agroecology is more overarching as it supports building drought-resistant agricultural systems (including soils, plants, agrobiodiversity, etc.), not just drought-resistant plants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- A wide panoply of techniques based on the agroecological perspective have been developed and successfully tested in a range of regions. These approaches involve the maintenance or introduction of agricultural biodiversity (diversity of crops, livestock, agroforestry, fish, pollinators, insects, soil biota and other components that occur in and around production systems) to achieve the desired results in production and sustainability. Integrated nutrient management reconciles the need to fix nitrogen within farm systems with the import of inorganic and organic sources of nutrients and the reduction of nutrient losses through erosion control. Agroforestry incorporates multifunctional trees into agricultural systems. In Tanzania, 350,000 hectares of land have been rehabilitated in the Western provinces of Shinyanga and Tabora using agroforestry; there are similar large-scale projects developed in other countries including Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. Water harvesting in dryland areas allows for the cultivation of formerly abandoned and degraded lands, and improves the water productivity of crops. In West Africa, stone barriers built alongside fields slow down runoff water during the rainy season, allowing an improvement of soil moisture, the replenishment of water tables, and reductions in soil erosion. The water retention capacity is multiplied five- to ten-fold, the biomass production multiplies by 10 to 15 times, and livestock can feed on the grass that grows along the stone barriers after the rains. Integration of livestock into farming systems, such as dairy cattle, pigs and poultry, provides a source of protein to the family, as well as a means of fertilizing soils; so does the incorporation of fish, shrimps and other aquatic resources into farm systems, such as irrigated rice fields and fish ponds.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The most recent large-scale study points to the same conclusions. Research commissioned by the Foresight Global Food and Farming Futures project of the UK Government reviewed 40 projects in 20 African countries where sustainable intensification was developed during the 2000s. The projects included crop improvements (particularly improvements through participatory plant breeding on hitherto neglected orphan crops), integrated pest management, soil conservation and agro-forestry. By early 2010, these projects had documented benefits for 10.39 million farmers and their families and improvements on approximately 12.75 million hectares. Crop yields more than doubled on average (increasing 2.13-fold) over a period of 3-10 years, resulting in an increase in aggregate food production of 5.79 million tonnes per year, equivalent to 557 kg per farming household.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- By enhancing on-farm fertility production, agroecology reduces farmers' reliance on external inputs and state subsidies. This, in turn, makes vulnerable smallholders less dependent on local retailers and moneylenders. One key reason why agroecology helps to support incomes in rural areas is because it promotes on-farm fertility generation. Indeed, supplying nutrients to the soil does not necessarily require adding mineral fertilizers. It can be done by applying livestock manure or by growing green manures. Farmers can also establish a "fertilizer factory in the fields" by planting trees that take nitrogen out of the air and "fix" it in their leaves, which are subsequently incorporated into the soil. That, in essence, is the result of planting Faidherbia albida, a nitrogen-fixing acacia species indigenous to Africa and widespread throughout the continent. Since this tree goes dormant and sheds its foliage during the early rainy season at the time when field crops are being established, it does not compete significantly with them for light, nutrients or water during the growing season; yet it allows a significant increase in yields of the maize with which it is combined, particularly in conditions of low soil fertility. In Zambia, unfertilized maize yields in the vicinity of Faidherbia trees averaged 4.1 t/ha, compared to 1.3 t/ha nearby, but beyond the tree canopy. Similar results were observed in Malawi, where this tree was also widely used. The use of such nitrogen-fixing trees avoids dependence on synthetic fertilizers, the price of which has been increasingly high and volatile over the past few years, exceeding food commodity prices, even when the latter reached a peak in July 2008. In this way, whatever financial assets the household has can be used on other essentials, such as education or medicine.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Agroforestry or comparable techniques such as the use of leguminous-cover crops to fix nitrogen also have a huge potential. This matters particularly to the poorest farmers, who are least likely to be able to afford to buy inorganic fertilizers, and whom fertilizer distribution systems often do not reach, particularly since the private sector is unlikely to invest into the most remote areas where communication routes are poor and few economies of scale can be achieved. But it is also of great importance to low-income countries, which import to meet their inorganic fertilizer needs. In sub-Saharan Africa, part of the reason why the use of fertilizers is very low (average 13 kilograms (kg) of fertilizer nutrients per hectare) is because of the considerable fiscal costs involved in the import and distribution of fertilizers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- In Burkina Faso, rather than migrating, work groups of young men specialized in land rehabilitation techniques, such as tassas and zai planting pits, go from village to village to satisfy farmers' growing interest in improving their own lands. Farmers are now buying degraded land for improvement and paying these labourers to dig zai pits and construct the rock walls and half-moon structures which can transform yields. This is one of the reasons why more than 3 million hectares of land in Burkina Faso are now rehabilitated and productive.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- Youth
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Although they can create jobs, agroecological approaches are fully compatible with a gradual mechanization of farming. The need to produce equipment for conservation agricultural techniques such as no-till and direct seeding actually results in more jobs being created in the manufacturing sector. This is true in particular in Africa which still imports most of its equipment, but which increasingly manufactures simple equipment Employment could also result from the expansion of agroforestry. In Southern Africa, farmers produce trees as a business, supported by a financing facility established by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). During its first year, the Malawi Agroforestry Food Security Programme distributed tree seeds, setting up 17 nurseries that raised 2,180,000 seedlings and establishing 345 farmer groups.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- In the past, Green Revolution approaches have focused primarily on boosting cereal crops. However, rice, wheat and maize are mainly sources of carbohydrates: they contain relatively little protein, and few of the other nutrients essential for adequate diets. The shift from diversified cropping systems to simplified cereal-based systems thus contributed to micronutrient malnutrition in many developing countries. Indeed, of the over 80,000 plant species available to humans, rice, wheat and maize supply the bulk of our protein and energy needs. Nutritionists now increasingly insist on the need for more diverse agro-ecosystems, in order to ensure a more diversified nutrient output of the farming systems.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The diversity of species on farms managed following agroecological principles, as well as in urban or peri-urban agriculture, is an important asset in this regard. For example, it has been estimated that indigenous fruits contribute on average about 42 per cent of the natural food-basket that rural households rely on in southern Africa. This is not only an important source of vitamins and other micronutrients, but it also may be critical for sustenance during lean seasons. Nutritional diversity, enabled by increased diversity in the field, is of particular importance to children and women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Agroecology improves resilience to climate change. Climate change means more extreme weather-related events. The use of agroecological techniques can significantly cushion the negative impacts of such events, for resilience is strengthened by the use and promotion of agricultural biodiversity at ecosystem, farm system and farmer field levels, which is materialized by many agroecological approaches. Following Hurricane Mitch in 1998, a large-scale study on 180 communities of smallholders from southern to northern Nicaragua demonstrated that farming plots cropped with simple agroecological methods (including rock bunds or dikes, green manure, crop rotation and the incorporation of stubble, ditches, terraces, barriers, mulch, legumes, trees, plowing parallel to the slope, no-burn, live fences, and zero-tillage) had on average 40 per cent more topsoil, higher field moisture, less erosion and lower economic losses than control plots on conventional farms. On average, agroecological plots lost 18 per cent less arable land to landslides than conventional plots and had 69 per cent less gully erosion compared to conventional farms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the diversity of species and of farm activities that agroecological approaches allow are ways to mitigate risks from extreme weather events, as well as from the invasion of new pests, weeds and diseases, that will result from global warming. The agroecological practice of cultivar mixtures bets on genetic diversity in the fields in order to improve crop resistance to diseases. In the Yunnan Province in China, after disease-susceptible rice varieties were planted in mixtures with resistant varieties, yields improved by 89 per cent and rice blast disease was 94 per cent less severe than when the varieties were grown in monoculture, leading farmers to abandon the use of fungicidal sprays.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Agroecology also puts agriculture on the path of sustainability by delinking food production from the reliance on fossil energy (oil and gas). It contributes to mitigating climate change, both by increasing carbon sinks in soil organic matter and above-ground biomass, and by avoiding carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions from farms by reducing direct and indirect energy use. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has estimated the global technical mitigation potential for agriculture at 5.5 to 6 Gt of CO2-equivalent per year by 2030. Most of this total (89 per cent) can come from carbon sequestration in soils, storing carbon as soil organic matter (humus), something which can be done through agroecology.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- The participation of farmers is vital for the success of agroecological practices. So far, agroecology has been developed by grassroots organizations and NGOs, and it has spread through farmer field schools and farmers' movements, such as the Campesino a Campesino movement in Central America. Experience with agroecological techniques is growing everyday within peasant networks such as La Via Campesina and the AgriCultures Network (former LEISA) globally; Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et des Producteurs Agricoles de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (ROPPA), Eastern & Southern Africa Farmers' Forum (ESAFF), and PELUM (Participatory Ecological Land Use Management) network in Africa, MASIPAG network in the Philippines (Magsasaka at Siyentista Tungo sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura), or Assessoria e Serviços a Projetos em Agricultura Alternativa (AS-PTA) and Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra (MST) in Brazil.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- State support can build on those efforts. In Brazil, for example, the 2010 Act on extension and technical assistance for family farming and agrarian reform (Lei 12.188/2010) prioritizes support to rural extension activities in ecological agriculture. This Act will accentuate the qualitative shift in the Brazilian extension services which is parallel to quantitative changes in the last decade. Indeed, extension activities organized under the Brazilian National Rural Extension Policy (2003) have increased from an average of 2,000 activities/year in 2004-2005 to an average of close to 30,000/year in 2007-2009. Such efforts enable a rapid dissemination of best practices, including agroecological practices, especially when farmers participate in the system and are not mere receivers of trainings.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Scaling up agroecology in order to maximize its positive impacts on farmers' incomes, productivity and the environment means both (horizontally) increasing the areas cultivated by agroecological techniques and (vertically) creating an enabling framework for the farmers. Innovative ways of ensuring horizontal expansion include the "pilot scaling up" strategy such as the one successfully implemented in the Chinyanja Triangle (Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia) and West and Central Africa by the World Agroforestry Centre for tree domestication. The strategy relies on the identification of Pilot Scaling Up Areas (PSUAs) and the establishment of "scaling up platforms," the formation of "change teams" and the identification of partners: from grassroots organization to private companies. The targeting of the zones where the adoption of agroecology has the greatest potential, based on biophysical criteria, may be facilitated by Geographic Information Systems (GIS), such as those that have been used both in Europe and in Southern Africa in order to identify the suitability areas for the scaling up of agroforestry systems. As mentioned earlier, the dissemination of the push-pull strategy in East Africa by the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) was based both on demonstration fields managed by model farmers, which attracts visits by other farmers during field days, and on partnerships with national research systems in neighbouring countries that facilitated take-up of this approach. Localized innovations can spread rapidly through such approaches (see Figure 2 below).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Agroecological practices require the supply of public goods such as extension services, storage facilities, rural infrastructure (roads, electricity, information and communication technologies) and therefore access to regional and local markets, access to credit and insurance against weather-related risks, agricultural research and development, education, and support to farmer's organizations and cooperatives. While this requires funding, the investment can be significantly more sustainable than the provision of private goods, such as fertilizers or pesticides that farmers can only afford so long as they are subsidized. While many efforts have been made since 2008 to reinvest in agriculture, too little attention has been paid to the differences between the various types of investment required and to understanding their impacts on the reduction of rural poverty. This has led World Bank economists to note that "underinvestment in agriculture is […] compounded by extensive misinvestment" with a bias towards the provision of private goods, sometimes motivated by political considerations. Research based on the study of 15 Latin American countries over the period 1985-2001 in which government subsidies for private goods was distinguished from expenditures in public goods indicated that, within a fixed national agriculture budget, a reallocation of 10 per cent of spending to supplying public goods increases agricultural per capita income by 5 per cent, while a 10 per cent increase in public spending on agriculture, keeping the spending composition constant, increases per capita agricultural income by only 2 per cent. In other words, "even without changing overall expenditures, governments can improve the economic performance of their agricultural sectors by devoting a greater share of those expenditures to social services and public goods instead of non-social subsidies." Thus, while the provision or subsidization of private goods may be necessary up to a point, the opportunity costs should be carefully considered.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Agroecological practices are best adopted when they are not imposed top-down but shared from farmer to farmer. Extension services play a key role in favouring the scaling up of agroecology. An improved dissemination of knowledge by horizontal means transforms the nature of knowledge itself, which becomes the product of a network. It should encourage farmers, particularly small-scale farmers, living in the most remote areas to identify innovative solutions, by working with experts towards a co-construction of knowledge to ensure that advances will benefit them as a matter of priority, rather than only benefiting the better-off producers. Co-construction is key for the realization of the right to food. First, it enables public authorities to benefit from the experience and insights of the farmers. Rather than treating smallholder farmers as beneficiaries of aid, they should be seen as experts with knowledge that is complementary to formalized expertise. Second, as the Special Rapporteur has previously illustrated in describing participatory plant-breeding, participation can ensure that policies and programmes are truly responsive to the needs of vulnerable groups, who will question projects that fail to improve their situation. Third, participation empowers the poor - a vital step towards poverty alleviation. Lack of power is a source of poverty, as marginal communities often receive less support than the groups that are better connected to government. Poverty exacerbates this lack of power, creating a vicious circle of further disempowerment. Fourth, policies that are co-designed with farmers have a high degree of legitimacy and thus favour better planning of investment and production and better up-take by other farmers. Participation of food-insecure groups in the policies that affect them should become a crucial element of all food security policies, from policy design to the assessment of results to the decision on research priorities. Indeed, improving the situation of millions of food-insecure peasants cannot be done without them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- The best of what scientists can offer and the valuable experience of smallholder farmers should be brought together in order to develop participatory modes of learning. The development of participation can go beyond the field technology itself. In West Africa, for instance, citizens' juries on the governance of food and agricultural research were set up by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the Coordination Nationale des Organisations Paysannes (CNOP) and other partners, resulting in farmers formulating 100 recommendations after having heard experts on the models of agriculture, land tenure and property rights, macroeconomic issues and the governance of agricultural research. Not only research and extension services should develop into learning organisations, so too should ministries, and educational and financial institutions. Farmers' organizations and networks have accumulated experience on the dissemination of agroecological practices in the last decade, with proven results. These movements are already functioning as learning organizations; they must now be supported in this role.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Specific, targeted schemes should ensure that women are empowered and encouraged to participate in this construction of knowledge. Culturally-sensitive participatory initiatives with female project staff and all-female working groups, and an increase in locally-recruited female agricultural extension staff and village motivators facing fewer cultural and language barriers, should counterbalance the greater access that men have to formal sources of agricultural knowledge. It is a source of concern to the Special Rapporteur that, while women face a number of specific obstacles (poor access to capital and land, the double burden of work in their productive and family roles, and low participation in decision-making), gender issues are incorporated into less than 10 per cent of development assistance in agriculture, and women farmers receive only 5 per cent of agricultural extension services worldwide. In principle, agroecology can benefit women most, because it is they who encounter most difficulties in accessing external inputs or subsidies. But their ability to benefit should not be treated as automatic; it requires that affirmative action directed specifically towards women be taken.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- In previous reports, the Special Rapporteur has insisted on the need to facilitate the ability of small-scale farmers to join supply chains. Farmers should also be encouraged to move up the value chain by adding value to raw products through assuming increased roles in packaging, processing, and marketing their produce. Cooperatives can help them achieve economies of scale to facilitate adding value. This can also be supported by novel types of partnerships with the private sector. However, improved access to markets is essential if this is to happen. Better access to markets requires the development of communication routes, particularly rural feeder roads. The marginal returns to public spending on feeder roads for agriculture output and poverty reduction has been estimated to be "three to four times larger than the return to public spending on murram and tarmac roads." In addition, support for agroecological practices will fail to achieve the desired results if markets are not organized to protect farmers from volatile prices and the dumping of subsidized products on their local markets, which can seriously disrupt local production. Similarly, public procurement systems, fiscal incentives and credit, and land tenure policies - all areas on which the Special Rapporteur has made contributions in the past - must be aligned with the need to make the transition towards low-carbon and low-external-input modes of production in which farmers co-design the policies that affect them. The school-feeding programme in Brazil for instance, has been used as a leverage to support family farming through its public procurement scheme; future public procurements schemes should promote agroecological practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- [As part of their obligation to devote the maximum of their available resources to the progressive realization of the right to food, States should implement public policies supporting the adoption of agroecological practices by:] making reference to agroecology and sustainable agriculture in national strategies for the realisation of the right to food and by including measures adopted in the agricultural sector in national adaptation plans of action (NAPAs) and in the list of nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) adopted by countries in their efforts to mitigate climate change;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- [As part of their obligation to devote the maximum of their available resources to the progressive realization of the right to food, States should implement public policies supporting the adoption of agroecological practices by:] reorienting public spending in agriculture by prioritizing the provision of public goods, such as extension services, rural infrastructures and agricultural research, and by building on the complementary strengths of seeds-and-breeds and agroecological methods, allocating resources to both, and exploring the synergies, such as linking fertilizer subsidies directly to agroecological investments on the farm ("subsidy to sustainability");
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- [Donors should:] engage in long-term relationships with partner countries, supporting ambitious programs and policies to scale up agroecological approaches for lasting change, including genuine multi-polar engagement with public authorities and experts and existing local organizations of food providers (farmers, pastoralists, forest dwellers) and the networks they form, such as ROPPA, ESAFF, La Via Campesina, and PELUM, which have accumulated experience that could be the basis for rapid scaling-up of best practices;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- [Donors should:] encourage South-South and North-South cooperation on the dissemination and adoption of agroecological practices;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- [The research community, including centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, should:] increase the budget for agroecological research at the field level (design of sustainable and resilient agroecological systems), farm and community levels (impacts of various practices on incomes and livelihoods), and national and sub-national levels (impact on socio-economic development, participatory scaling-up strategies, and impacts of public policies), and develop research with the intended beneficiaries according to the principles of participation and co-construction;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- [The research community, including centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, should:] assess projects on the basis of a comprehensive set of performance criteria (impacts on incomes, resource efficiency, impacts on hunger and malnutrition, empowerment of beneficiaries, etc.) with indicators appropriately disaggregated by population to allow monitoring improvements in the status of vulnerable populations, taking into account the requirements of the right to food, in addition to classical agronomical measures.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- At its 36th session, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) requested its High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) to examine the respective roles of large-scale plantations and small-scale farming, and to review existing assessments and initiatives on the effects of climate change on food security and nutrition, with a view to informing the 37th CFS session. The HLPE and the CFS should assess the potential of agroecology to meet the current challenges in the areas of food security and nutrition, with a view to informing the preparation of the Global Strategic Framework for Food and Nutrition Security (GSF) in 2012, and to strengthening the consistency between the international agendas in the areas of climate change and agricultural development respectively.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- The total contribution by fisheries to food consumption has grown substantially over the past 50 years, averaging an increase of more than 3 per cent annually. Global per capita fish consumption stands at some 18.4 kg per annum, although significant regional differences exist. In low-income food-deficit countries (excluding China), per capita fish consumption stands at some 10 kg, compared to approximately 29 kg in industrialized countries. Africa has the lowest per capita fish consumption of all continents, at 9.1 kg. Even these aggregate figures mask considerable variations between and within countries, however. Fish consumption, and dependency on fish, can be much higher in island and coastal countries, and in countries with large freshwater lakes and rivers. Furthermore, the lower average fish consumption in many developing countries notwithstanding, fish represents a higher proportion of dietary animal protein in developing countries and low-income food-deficit countries than in developed countries. Globally, fish represents 15 per cent of all animal protein consumed by people, whereas in low-income food-deficit countries the proportion is higher, at about 20 per cent, and in Asia it is higher still, at about 23 per cent. In West and Central African countries such as the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon and Ghana, fish provides almost half of a person's animal protein needs. Indeed, there are at least 30 countries in which fisheries contribute more than one third of total animal protein supply, 22 of which are low-income food-deficit countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The fisheries sector can contribute to the realization of the right to food by providing employment and income and sustaining local economies. Globally, 54.8 million people are engaged in capture fisheries and aquaculture and approximately three times as many are involved in upstream and downstream activities (e.g. fish processing, selling, net-making and boatbuilding). Small-scale fisheries predominate in developing countries, where most fishing-related employment resides. Industrial boats employ some 200 people for every 1,000 tons of fish caught, while small-scale fishing methods (used by 90 to 95 per cent of people in the fisheries sector) employ some 2,400 people for the same amount of fish. This greater intensity of labour has led experts to conclude that the small-scale fisheries sector is particularly pro-poor. Women comprise about half of the global fisheries workforce, typically concentrated in the pre-harvest and post-harvest sector. While employment is stagnating in wild-capture fisheries in most regions, it is increasing in aquaculture, especially in Asia, where employment rose from some 3.7 million people in 1990 to well in excess of 10 million people by the late 2000s (see table 1).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- The small-scale fisheries sector is therefore an extremely important, albeit undervalued, source of livelihood, providing employment and income to millions of people, including women, in the post-harvest sector. It also plays an important safety net function, however. In times of crisis, often caused by failing agriculture, conflict or recession, fishing provides important part-time or temporary income or relatively free food. The increased price volatility of food commodities created by climate change and other factors could make this role even more important in the future. Nevertheless, for fishing to provide this safety net, it must be kept relatively open and free. This creates tension with some approaches to avoiding overfishing, in particular exclusive user rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Maintaining, and in some cases increasing, fish supply can contribute significantly to the realization of the right to food in many countries, especially where alternative sources of high-quality protein are scarce or unaffordable. As demand for fish increases as a result of population growth and urbanization, however, supply can be matched only by further overfishing (beyond the carrying capacity of stocks) and reliance on industrial fishing methods that have profound environmental impacts, or by other means, including the development of aquaculture, the reduction of post-harvest losses and of the diversion of fish for fishmeal and other non-food uses, or the prohibition of the use of destructive fishing gear. Although a decline in per capita fish-food supply is measurable today only in sub-Saharan Africa and is projected for the Pacific island countries and territories, a number of trends now result in serious threats to fish-food availability on a worldwide basis.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The world's oceans and many of the world's lakes and rivers face serious threats. Without considerable effort to reverse existing trends, the ability of these aquatic ecosystems to continue to provide healthy quantities of fish will further decline. As acknowledged in paragraphs 163 to 168 of the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, the situation is worsening rapidly as the impacts of overfishing, destructive fishing and discards are exacerbated by the effects of climate change, pollution and habitat destruction.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Since the 1950s, there has been tremendous growth in fishing capacity worldwide, with the number and power of fishing vessels increasing dramatically. Between 1970 and 1990, global fish harvesting capacity grew eight times faster than the rate of growth in landings. Although this trend may have slowed, technological improvements in fishing (including the use of spotter planes, sonar devices and underwater mapping technology, in addition to new fishing gears and improvements in refrigeration and navigation) mean that fishing capacity is bound to continue to grow. It has been estimated that, because of overcapacity and technology creep, the capacity of the global aggregate fishing fleet is at least double that which is needed to exploit the oceans sustainably. Fishing sector subsidies may be contributing to this problem: each year, fisheries subsidies amount to between $30 billion and $34 billion, with $20 billion used to directly support improved fishing capacity, such as fuel and boatbuilding subsidies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Overfishing is but one reason why the current system is unsustainable. Although recent technological progress has reduced the environmental impact of industrial fishing, some methods, such as industrial bottom trawling, remain highly destructive and wasteful. Other methods, such as high-grading (where fishing boats do not retain catches because of their inferior market value or because the size or species of the catch is prohibited by regulations), also cause significant discards of fish and other marine wildlife. Conservative estimates put average annual discards at some 7.3 million tons, or about 9 per cent of total global production.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Reducing the most unsustainable practices is difficult for numerous reasons, including the prevalence of illegal fishing practices, trans-shipment at sea, the targeting and trading of protected species, the use of banned fishing gear and the activities of industrial boats in coastal zones reserved for small-scale fisheries. Estimates of the scale of illegal fishing vary considerably, from about $9 billion to $25 billion, or between 10 million and 28 million tons. Although such estimates should be treated with caution, it is clear that, as fish are becoming less abundant, fishing vessels are tempted to evade rules and conservation strategies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- In comparison to some industrial fishing methods, small-scale fisheries rarely discard catches and tend to have a much lower impact on aquatic habitats. In many parts of the world, however, the increase in the number of small-scale fishers is causing stress on fish populations. A minority of small-scale fishers also uses destructive methods of fishing, such as encroachment into protected areas and the use of dynamite fishing, poisons to catch reef fish and extremely fine nets that are banned because of their impact on juvenile fish. In one report on illegal fishing in West Africa, it is claimed that the scale of illegal/unreported fishing by the artisanal fishing fleet is of a similar magnitude to that found in the industrial sector.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- These direct threats to the sustainability of fish production systems are magnified by the impacts of climate change. The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide leads to increased sea temperatures and ocean acidification, threatening many calcifying organisms such as molluscs, plankton and coral reefs. This reduces dependent fish populations and is exacerbated by unsustainable fishing practices. Warmer sea temperatures may lead to more frequent and severe outbreaks of algal blooms, which can have a devastating impact on fish populations. Extreme climate-related events may destroy coastal habitats. Marine species respond to the warming of oceans by moving to colder waters, which includes shifting their latitudinal range or moving to greater depths. Some fish will gradually move away from rich tropical waters, resulting in localized extinctions and the invasion of some species into waters where they were previously not found.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Oil spills, agricultural and industrial run-off, pollution from aquaculture and the enormous accumulation of plastic debris in water will have lasting effects on marine wildlife. Both climate change and pollution have contributed to dead zones in the ocean, where oxygen levels in surface water are extremely low and can no longer support wildlife. Dead zones are linked with increasingly frequent outbreaks of red tides, where mass mortality events of fish and marine mammals are caused by toxin build-ups owing to lower oxygen levels in their environment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Lastly, the future of fishing is threatened by habitat loss. Mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, salt marshes and coral reefs play a vital role in the reproductive cycles of many fish and marine species. Since the 1940s, however, 35 per cent of the world's mangrove forests has been destroyed and one third of seagrass areas and 25 per cent of salt marshes have been lost. For some habitats, declines are accelerating. Before 1990, seagrass meadows were being lost at a rate of about 1 per cent annually; since 1990, this rate has increased to 7 per cent. One third of coral reefs has disappeared during the past 50 years.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- International trade in fish products rose from 8 million tons in 1976, with a value of about $8 billion, to 57 million tonnes in 2010, worth an estimated $102 billion. Approximately 40 per cent of all fish production is traded internationally, which is more than other foods such as rice (5 per cent) and wheat (20 per cent). For many low-income food-deficit countries or developing countries, the fisheries sector has become an increasingly important, but undervalued, economic sector, both as a source of export revenue and as a source of State revenue from selling access to distant-water fishing fleets. The overall economic, social and food security impacts of this increase in international trade of fish products are, however, ambiguous
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Theoretically, the globalization of the fishing industry through trade and access arrangements may lead to decreased fish-food consumption by those who face food shortages and malnutrition, as competition for marine resources increases between populations with widely diverging purchasing power. The evidence in this regard is mixed, however, as shown by studies in which it is suggested that there may be cases where the availability of fish in low-income food-deficit countries may increase as exports rise. For some countries in which small-scale fishing is not historically abundant, increased foreign fishing and investments in fish-processing factories to supply foreign markets may improve the availability of food locally, in particular where Government programmes redirect fish products from export to local markets. It has also been suggested that an increase in exports of high-value fish could be commensurate with an increase in imports of lower-value fish, made possible by export revenue and leading to a healthy trade balance in terms of volume and value.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Concurrently, dependence on exports for revenue and on imports for food security creates a vulnerable situation in which economic shocks and food price volatility may increase the cost of fish-food imports for some developing countries, or lower the demand and prices paid for their exports. In Mozambique, for example, from 2004 to 2008, exports of high-value fish such as prawns decreased in volume by 34 per cent and in value by 41 per cent, while imports of cheaper fish for local consumption from Namibia and South Africa increased in volume by 50 per cent and in value by 45 per cent. This meant that the fisheries trade balance in Mozambique had been reduced from about $90 million in 2002 to slightly in excess of $23 million by the end of the decade.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Local food supplies can be reduced where host Governments have issued licences or signed access agreements allowing foreign vessels to target fish and fishing grounds used by small-scale fishers, given that foreign boats are geared towards export and may undermine local small-scale fisheries. Although it is noted in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that countries should provide access to foreign fishing only for surplus fish that the local fishing sector cannot catch (arts. 62 (2), 69 (2) and 70 (3)), short-term economic incentives often prevail and, in many countries, scientific knowledge of surplus fish and information about catches are insufficient to ensure adequate compliance with this provision.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- For small-scale fishers in developing countries, increased demand in foreign markets may open up opportunities. In Sri Lanka, fishers targeting species for overseas markets, such as tuna, shrimp and lobster, have much higher incomes than those involved in fisheries for local markets. In other cases, however, where small-scale fishers sell fish destined for overseas markets, middlemen or fish-processing factories may pay relatively low prices, only marginally higher (or even the same) than those paid by local markets and consumers. In a study of fish trade in India, it was noted that fishers had little information on the prices paid for fish for export and relatively few actors controlled the supply chain and points of final sale. Although there are promising counter-examples, small-scale fishers generally face considerable obstacles, such as competition from larger firms and tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, including difficulties in meeting the stringent hygiene and sanitation standards demanded by importing countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The creation of fisheries for export markets and the increasing investments of foreign fishing firms may lead to new jobs on fishing boats and at the processing stage (in countries that have the appropriate infrastructure). In many countries, however, jobs on foreign vessels are not open to local citizens and, even where they are, wages and job security are often poor and dangerous. In a 1999 study on safety and health in the fishing industry, the International Labour Organization estimated that 24,000 people working in the fish industry died annually from work-related causes. More recent research has exposed poor, even slave-like, working conditions in many industrial vessels operating illegally in developing coastal countries. This highlights the importance of swift and wide ratification of the Convention concerning Work in the Fishing Sector (Convention No. 188) and the need to introduce provisions concerning work conditions on-board fishing vessels in fishing access agreements.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The quality of working conditions in the fish-processing industry also raises concerns, although conditions have improved since developed countries imposed higher sanitation and hygiene standards. In a 2004 study, FAO showed that, for 9 of the 11 countries surveyed, fish workers were paid close to the minimum wage and often received much lower than the average per capita income for the country. In Chile, for example, the area home to most fish processing factories was also the area with the lowest per capita income levels. Moreover, high levels of seasonal and informal work exist in the processing sector, meaning that many workers are not employed on full-time contracts with basic labour benefits, such as sick pay, pension or maternity leave. In part owing to the many fish-processing firms in the sector, workers often fail to unionize and to enter into collective bargaining.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The employment benefits from the increase of commercial exports must be weighed against the costs. Such an increase may lead to demand-led overfishing and sharpen the competition for resources between industrial and small-scale fishing. Export increases may over time lead to the loss of jobs for fishers in the small-scale sector. In Argentina, for example, the considerable expansion of industrial pelagic fisheries in the 1990s saw the gradual control of those fisheries by foreign-owned fishing enterprises, which displaced smaller, more labour-intensive local companies. The growth of export-oriented fisheries may also lead to employment losses for the fish processors working in the small-scale sector supplying local or regional markets, as was seen in Kenya with the growth in commercial exports of Nile perch to Europe.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Support should be given to small-scale fishers to enable their entry into global markets under conditions that provide decent employment and allow fishers' cooperatives to expand into the high-added-value stages of the industry (see table 2). Maldives may serve as an example in this regard. Industrialized tuna fishing has not been permitted and the vast majority of fishing is undertaken by locally owned pole-and-line fishing boats. In other cases, lobster fishers in Ceará, Brazil, for example, formed a cooperative that bypassed middlemen and allowed direct sales to retailers in the United States of America, increasing their profits by 70 per cent.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Increased trade and licence-related and access-related payments can generate revenue for the developing countries concerned. The benefits, however, often continue to be shared unequally. Among the island nations in the western and central Pacific Ocean, for example, most commercial tuna fishing is managed through bilateral agreements with distant-water fishing fleets. The tuna fisheries are estimated to be worth $3 billion annually, yet local countries receive only some 6 per cent of that amount. Research into European Union fisheries agreements conducted in the late 1990s also showed that benefits were unevenly shared. Overall, Union agreements generated more than seven times as much value to European countries (mostly France and Spain) than they did for the host countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Even where licences and access agreements generate substantial revenue for host countries, the poverty-reducing impacts are ambiguous. Managing foreign industrial fisheries may absorb a significant proportion of the revenue received by Governments. Corruption and embezzlement may result in State fisheries revenue contributing little to economic development, a situation compounded by the confidentiality of many bilateral fisheries agreements and fisheries licence payments. The World Bank, having identified this aspect as an important area for governance reform, is preparing to launch a fisheries transparency initiative modelled on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Nevertheless, it is too early to determine whether increased information disclosure in fisheries revenue will improve financial accountability and redistribution in the fisheries sector.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Aquaculture has developed rapidly over the past few decades and is now considered the fastest-growing food production system in the world. Between 1980 and 2010, global fish-food production from aquaculture expanded twelvefold and, by 2010, total production from aquaculture was measured at 79 million tons, worth $125 billion. Aquaculture may provide up to 45 per cent of all fish for direct human consumption, although that figure does not consider the large amount of unrecorded fish caught by both small-scale and industrial fisheries. There are, however, strong regional imbalances. About 62 per cent of the world's total aquaculture production comes from China, and the next five largest producers are all in Asia, which accounts for about 88 per cent of all aquaculture production.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The impressive growth of aquaculture is seen, in part, as a response to the challenges discussed above, in particular to the stagnating wild-capture fisheries. While this holds true in Asia, fish farming is minimal in Africa, the Pacific and Latin America. Consequently, it remains difficult, in the absence of adequate data, to assess whether aquaculture is genuinely supporting food availability and accessibility for people living in poverty. Although small-scale aquaculture can contribute significantly to local food security, considerable investment and growth in aquaculture is for the benefit of exports or for middle-class urban consumers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The reliance on wild-caught fish, fishmeal and fish oil in some forms of aquaculture must be considered. While most aquaculture products, such as non carnivorous fish and molluscs, do not need fish as input, many species grown in fish farms require wild-caught fish as feed, for healthy growth and resilience to disease, and to ensure the high nutritional value of the product. In Asia, large quantities of what is known as "trash fish" are used by aquaculture farms, supplied by larger-scale fishing vessels as by-catch and also caught by small-scale fishers in some regions. Data on the volumes of trash fish used in aquaculture in Asia are considered unreliable, but the best estimates put the volume at about 5 million tons. Other forms of aquaculture use processed fishmeal and fish oil as ingredients in fish-feed products, with most caught by industrial fisheries for small pelagics in South America. Overall, some 27 million tons of fish (34 per cent of the world fisheries catch) are ground up annually into fishmeal and oil. Aquaculture accounts for slightly in excess of half of this amount.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- The expansion of aquaculture has not led to an overall increase in the fish reduction industry. Instead, fishmeal has shifted from use in livestock farming to use in aquaculture over the past decade. While using fish to farm fish is a more efficient method of producing protein than feeding fish to chickens or pigs, the industry continues to face problems. Recent reports highlight extensive overfishing and negative ecosystem impacts caused by the reduction industry. Use of the industry to produce farmed fish for wealthy consumers may come at the expense of poorer populations who could benefit from improved availability of and accessibility to wild fish.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The relationship between fishmeal and fish-food availability for human consumption is complex: the aquaculture industry has become more efficient in its use of fishmeal (for example, the use of plant-based feed to grow fish or a greater use of fish waste from industrial fish-processing factories: about one quarter of all fishmeal and fish oil comes from offcuts), significant regional variations exist and trade-offs may appear less obvious because of the higher costs in processing fish for human consumption compared to processing fish for fishmeal. Policy initiatives may reduce the competition between fishmeal and fish-food availability for human consumption. Peru supplies about half of the world's fishmeal and fish oil, but also needs to address food insecurity. To combat malnutrition, the Government has been promoting direct human consumption of fish since 2006, with 30 per cent of the food security budget ($80 million) spent on programmes to stimulate supply of and demand for fish products for human consumption. It has also imposed restrictions on the industry to ensure a proportion of fish that cannot be used for reduction purposes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- First, the right to food requires that States respect existing access to adequate food and abstain from taking measures that result in reducing such access. To fully discharge this obligation, States should refrain from adopting any policy that affects the territories and activities of small-scale, artisanal and indigenous fishers unless their free, prior and informed consent is obtained. National and local courts may play a significant role in this regard. Courts should be empowered, in particular, to adjudicate claims from small-scale fishers whose livelihoods are threatened by measures that infringe on their ability to fish so as to provide sufficient income to ensure an adequate standard of living.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Lastly, States have an obligation to fulfil the right to food, which requires them to act proactively to strengthen people's access to and utilization of resources and means to ensure their livelihoods. The search for arrangements that preserve the long-term (environmental) sustainability of fishing, including by reducing overfishing and conserving fish habitats, while concurrently improving the incomes of small-scale fishing communities, is the key challenge facing Governments in developing strategies that progressively realize the right to food. The example of the work carried out by a group of organizations, led by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, to identify current per capita fish consumption in the Pacific island countries and territories in order to project future scenarios of fish food security and to develop plans to tackle the key challenges, may serve as a source of inspiration.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- As awareness has grown of the threat posed by overfishing, international agreements and guidelines have been drawn up to address various dimensions of the problem. These include the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (the 1995 Fish Stocks Agreement) and the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, which adopt precautionary and ecosystem approaches to fisheries. Arguably the most ambitious is the Plan of Action of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which includes actions to reduce overcapacity in the global fishing fleet, a commitment to expand the total coverage of marine protected areas to 10 per cent of the world's oceans by 2012 (later deferred to 2020 in the light of the slow progress) and to rebuild fish stocks by 2015. At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Governments pledged to intensify their efforts in that regard (see para. 168 of the outcome document).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Progress is also being made in managing coastal and inshore areas fished predominantly by small-scale fishers. The limitations of top-down management strategies are now better appreciated and the participation of fishing communities is seen as paramount, as is the integration of local fishers' knowledge of fish and marine habitat changes. The need for community co-management arrangements in fisheries is reinforced in the draft FAO guidelines for securing sustainable small-scale fisheries, which are being finalized through extensive stakeholder consultations at the time of writing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Although success in some countries to restore fish stocks to healthy levels has been achieved, global progress in implementing the various commitments remains disappointing, as confirmed in studies of fisheries management effectiveness. Other targets in the Plan of Action of the World Summit on Sustainable Development have largely been missed. Although fishing capacity has declined in some countries since 2002, it has increased globally from about 4.02 billion kilowatt-days in 2002 to 4.35 billion kilowatt-days in 2010. The total coverage of marine protected areas is estimated at less than 2 per cent.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- The widespread failure to implement responsible fisheries management notwithstanding, the situation can be rectified. For example, there has been notable progress in creating marine protected areas, with some of the largest protected areas being declared recently, including in northern Australia and in the Indian Ocean surrounding the Chagos Islands. During the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Maldives announced that its entire territorial waters would become a marine reserve by 2017 and industrial fishing and extractive industries therein would be banned. Notwithstanding the benefits expected to accrue from marine protected areas and their relatively minor management costs (around $2 billion in total, compared to the $16 billion spent annually on subsidies in the fishing sector), marine protected areas cannot replace regulation of fishing efforts and harvesting capacity. In addition, they can negatively affect the livelihoods of small-scale fishers and local food security.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- As mentioned in paragraph 11 of the present report, subsidies, at least those that support increased industrial fishing capacity, may encourage overfishing. At the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), held in Doha in November 2001, negotiations to clarify and improve WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies were initiated. At the Sixth Ministerial Conference of WTO, held in Hong Kong, China, in December 2005, broad agreement was reached on strengthening those disciplines, including a prohibition of fisheries subsidies that directly contributed to overcapacity and overfishing. In 2007, the Chair of the Negotiating Group on Rules submitted recommendations that included exemptions for low-income food-deficit countries, in particular for subsidies that promoted the development of and supported small-scale fishers. Such exemptions would be conditional on countries showing that subsidies were provided only where there were robust measures to protect fish stocks and prevent overfishing. While this recommendation has gained widespread approval, there have been more controversial calls to expand the exemptions to other developing countries. Some States have expressed doubts over the contribution of subsidies to overfishing. Disagreements also exist as to exactly what type of subsidies should be prohibited, with opinions differing on issues such as the building of ports and fisheries access agreements. Lastly, there are concerns that, even if agreement is reached, enforcing the WTO disciplines will be extremely difficult, given that 90 per cent of fisheries subsidies are confidential and beyond public scrutiny.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Other efforts to address overfishing include international initiatives to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. In 2001, FAO produced an international plan of action to prevent, deter and eliminate such fishing, within the framework of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. The European Community followed with a Community action plan to eradicate such fishing, in 2002. In 2005, FAO produced a model scheme on port State measures to combat such fishing, focusing on the role of port States in preventing illegally caught fish from being trans-shipped to or laundered in the legal market, and, in 2009, the first legally binding instrument in that regard was adopted by the FAO Conference. Under the instrument, port States are obliged to deny access to vessels known to engage in illegal activities and port authorities required to share data on port visits of fishing vessels with regional fisheries management organizations. The European Union has now also passed legislation (Council Regulation (EC) No. 1005/2008 of 29 September 2008) requiring all fish entering the Union to be accompanied by verified catch documentation and proof of chain of custody.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 50a
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur has previously described the role that human rights impact assessments of trade and investment agreements can play in allowing countries to discharge their human rights obligations (see A/HRC/19/59/Add.5). Trade and access agreements in fisheries provide another such illustration. The above assessment of the potential opportunities and risks of such agreements (see paras. 29-32) may serve to identify the questions that should be asked in any impact assessment before the conclusion of an agreement by the coastal State. These are, for example:] Will the agreement increase or decrease food availability in the coastal State? If food availability increases, either because of improved fishing capacity or because of the imports made possible by export revenue, is this sustainable in the long term to protect the coastal State from potential shocks?
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 50b
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur has previously described the role that human rights impact assessments of trade and investment agreements can play in allowing countries to discharge their human rights obligations (see A/HRC/19/59/Add.5). Trade and access agreements in fisheries provide another such illustration. The above assessment of the potential opportunities and risks of such agreements (see paras. 29-32) may serve to identify the questions that should be asked in any impact assessment before the conclusion of an agreement by the coastal State. These are, for example:] Is the agreement accompanied by measures aimed at improving local fishing capacity, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea?
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 50c
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur has previously described the role that human rights impact assessments of trade and investment agreements can play in allowing countries to discharge their human rights obligations (see A/HRC/19/59/Add.5). Trade and access agreements in fisheries provide another such illustration. The above assessment of the potential opportunities and risks of such agreements (see paras. 29-32) may serve to identify the questions that should be asked in any impact assessment before the conclusion of an agreement by the coastal State. These are, for example:] Are measures in place to ensure that small-scale fishers are equipped to benefit from the opportunities created by trade agreements, in particular by improving their ability to comply with standards and their bargaining position vis-à-vis buyers?
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 50d
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur has previously described the role that human rights impact assessments of trade and investment agreements can play in allowing countries to discharge their human rights obligations (see A/HRC/19/59/Add.5). Trade and access agreements in fisheries provide another such illustration. The above assessment of the potential opportunities and risks of such agreements (see paras. 29-32) may serve to identify the questions that should be asked in any impact assessment before the conclusion of an agreement by the coastal State. These are, for example:] Are measures in place to ensure that export-oriented fishing creates decent work opportunities to ensure an adequate standard of living? Overall, will the agreement increase the incomes of the poorest and most marginalized groups within the coastal communities, especially women?
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 50e
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur has previously described the role that human rights impact assessments of trade and investment agreements can play in allowing countries to discharge their human rights obligations (see A/HRC/19/59/Add.5). Trade and access agreements in fisheries provide another such illustration. The above assessment of the potential opportunities and risks of such agreements (see paras. 29-32) may serve to identify the questions that should be asked in any impact assessment before the conclusion of an agreement by the coastal State. These are, for example:] Are the licence and access agreements fair in sharing the benefits between the coastal State and the flag State under which the fishing vessels operate? Is the revenue from such agreements used to support poverty reduction in the coastal State?
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The FAO Committee on Fisheries is currently developing international guidelines for securing sustainable small-scale fisheries, a follow-up to the Global Conference on Small-Scale Fisheries, held in Bangkok in October 2008, and a complement to the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. The Special Rapporteur welcomes this important initiative, in which he intends to remain actively involved. Linking the content of the guidelines to the norms and standards of international human rights law, including the right to food, is essential. Below, the Special Rapporteur offers general remarks on some key issues to be considered in the negotiations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Access rights of artisanal and small-scale fishing communities - more than 90 per cent of whom are in developing countries - are protected under various instruments. Under article 5 (i) of the 1995 Fish Stocks Agreement, States are required to take into account the interests of artisanal and subsistence fishers. In article 6.18 of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, there is recognition of the important contributions of artisanal and small-scale fisheries to employment, income and food security, with States recommended to appropriately protect the rights of fishers and fish workers, particularly those engaged in subsistence, small-scale and artisanal fisheries, to a secure and just livelihood, as well as preferential access, where appropriate, to traditional fishing grounds and resources in the waters under their national jurisdiction.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Beyond general wording, however, disagreements exist about how user rights, which can range from individual to community-based rights, should be approached for the small-scale sector, and the overall aims of strengthening or changing user rights. One view is that a clarification and strengthening of access rights, including the use of transferable fishing quotas, would increase economic efficiency and avoid overfishing. Another view is that priority should be accorded to poverty-reduction objectives and to improving access to fishing rights by the communities most in need and who could be best placed to manage the common-pool resources concerned and monitor catches at the local level.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Individual transferable quotas systems may lead to rent capture by some actors in a privileged position, which is difficult to reconcile with poverty-reduction objectives. An alternative might be to allow operators to rent quotas from the Government so that quotas are periodically redistributed on equity grounds. Transferability of quotas (conceived as property rights) will inevitably lead to monopolization, unless limited to transferability between the deceased holder and his/her descendants (if they also fish). Indeed, the Human Rights Committee noted that a system in which the quotas originally held could be sold or leased at market prices instead of reverting to the State for allocation to new quota holders in accordance with fair and equitable criteria might result in discrimination in violation of article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (see CCPR/C/91/D/1306/2004). Other systems can be explored that combine sustainability requirements (limiting overfishing) and redistributive aims based on human rights norms and standards.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- There has been notable progress in providing exclusive rights to coastal areas for small-scale fishers. In many developing countries, Governments have introduced exclusive artisanal fishing zones, often under pressure from their small-scale sectors. In Cambodia, community-based dialogues and participatory research on the causes of conflict and overfishing in Tonle Sap Lake (the largest freshwater lake in South-East Asia, providing employment to an estimated 3 million people) resulted in the cancellation of all commercial fishing licences and the establishment of community-based user rights for small-scale and subsistence fisheries. This success illustrates the positive poverty-reduction outcomes of community deliberation and participation in fisheries management.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Progress in providing exclusive fishing zones for small-scale fishers notwithstanding, there are persistent and widespread complaints of violations, such as prohibited fishing by industrial boats and the damaging effects of other industries, including mining, port development, fish processing, coastal aquaculture and real estate development, especially linked to the tourism sector. There is growing conflict over the use of marine and aquatic resources, in particular owing to insecure land tenure for the members of small-scale fishing communities. This underscores the important need for States to fully implement the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security. It also highlights the need for programmes in which fishers collaborate with the authorities to monitor infringements of their exclusive fishing zones. Such programmes have been initiated in some countries with varying degrees of success.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- There is also growing recognition that top-down management strategies have proved unsuccessful for the small-scale sector. The active and meaningful participation by communities in the management of fisheries and the integration into decision-making of local or traditional knowledge of fish and marine habitats held by fishers is paramount. Indeed, there has been significant progress in terms of decentralization and co-management arrangements. Researchers recently identified 130 co-management schemes, covering 44 developed and developing countries, often showing how local communities have been able to develop legitimate institutions of self-governance and established sustainable approaches to managing fishing intensity and ecosystem impacts.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- States should discharge their duties to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food in the fisheries sector by moving towards sustainable resource use while ensuring that the rights and livelihoods of small-scale fishers and coastal communities are respected and that the food security of all groups depending on fish is improved. This is a difficult balance to strike, but, without swift and bold action by States, the contribution made by fisheries to securing the right to food will diminish, with considerable consequences, in particular for poorer rural communities that depend on fisheries for both their nutritional needs and their income. Both coastal and flag States should accept their duties in this regard and should actively involve the fishing communities themselves, both in fisheries management and in the design and implementation of policies in adjacent sectors that could affect fishing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 61c
- Paragraph text
- [Coastal States and landlocked States with inland fisheries should:] Refrain from taking measures, including large-scale development projects, that may adversely affect the livelihoods of inland and marine small-scale fishers, their territories or access rights, unless their free, prior and informed consent is obtained, and ensure that courts protect such rights; and conduct ex-ante assessments of extractive industry projects, such as sand extraction, operated by private entities in order to evaluate the possible negative human rights impacts on local fishing communities;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 61d (iii)
- Paragraph text
- [Coastal States and landlocked States with inland fisheries should:] Consistent with the pledge made at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (see para. 175 of the outcome document), strengthen access to fishery resources and improve the incomes of small-scale fishing communities by: Strengthening the position of small-scale fishers in the production chain, for example by supporting the formation of cooperatives and assisting them to expand into the high-added-value stages of the industry;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 61d (v)
- Paragraph text
- [Coastal States and landlocked States with inland fisheries should:] Consistent with the pledge made at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (see para. 175 of the outcome document), strengthen access to fishery resources and improve the incomes of small-scale fishing communities by: Providing adequate social protection or safety net interventions to communities who depend on fishing for their livelihoods, in order to reduce the need for food-insecure and/or low-income groups to engage in coping but unsustainable fishing practices in times of crisis;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 62b
- Paragraph text
- [Flag States should protect labour rights in the fishing industry, including by ratifying and implementing the Convention concerning Work in the Fishing Sector (Convention No. 188). In addition, flag States should:] When engaging in fishing access agreements, agree to introduce provisions concerning conditions of work in the fishing industry; support the preparation of human rights impact assessments; and support the efforts of coastal States to regulate the fishing practices of industrial vessels operating in exclusive economic zones.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 63a
- Paragraph text
- [To preserve the long-term sustainability of fishing and the availability of local fish as food, in particular by combating overfishing, all States should:] Act in accordance with the pledge made at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (see para. 173 of the outcome document) to abolish subsidies for fuel or boatbuilding to the industrial fishing sector and review all other subsidies to ensure that they contribute to the realization of the right to food (domestically and extraterritorially), in particular for small-scale fishers in developing countries. While the members of WTO are encouraged to meet their commitment to clarify and improve WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies, the abolishment of the subsidies negatively affecting the right to food should not be made conditional on arriving at a multilateral agreement;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 63d
- Paragraph text
- [To preserve the long-term sustainability of fishing and the availability of local fish as food, in particular by combating overfishing, all States should:] Implement the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, while taking into account the role of occasional fishing as a safety net in times of crisis for some coastal communities and recognizing the essential difference between unreported fishing by small-scale fishers and illegal industrial fishing;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 63e
- Paragraph text
- [To preserve the long-term sustainability of fishing and the availability of local fish as food, in particular by combating overfishing, all States should:] Reduce the proportion of fish used for fishmeal purposes, including by promoting direct human consumption of some small and nutritious fish, curbing demand for fish proteins from fish higher up the food chain (such as tuna and salmon or farmed carnivorous species such as prawns) by affluent consumers, which leads to overexploitation of marine resources worldwide, and considering imposing restrictions on the proportion of fish that can be used for reduction purposes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Since the 1960s, food security has been linked largely to production, while the links to nutrition were often neglected. Hunger and malnutrition were equated with a lack of calorie intake. In the face of widespread global hunger, this focus was perhaps understandable. But this prompted an overemphasis on increasing agricultural outputs and lowering food prices, while scant attention was paid to ensuring the availability of and accessibility to a wide range of diverse foods containing the micronutrients necessary for the full physical and mental development of children, and for adults to lead healthy and productive lives. In other words, because addressing protein-calorie malnutrition was seen as the major challenge, the requirement of dietary adequacy was neglected. In addition, beyond making foodstuffs available at low prices, the other functions of agriculture-to ensure decent incomes to food producers and to maintain the ecosystems-were not considered.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- This is changing. Experts now agree that food systems must ensure the access of all to "sustainable diets", defined as "diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimizing natural and human resources". This definition recognizes the need to gear agrifood systems away from an exclusive focus on boosting production and towards integrating the requirements of the adequacy of diets, social equity and environmental sustainability. All these components are essential to achieving durable success in combating hunger and malnutrition, as emphasized by the Special Rapporteur in past reports.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The world is now paying a high price for having focused almost exclusively on increasing production over the past half-century. Undernutrition remains considerable, largely because agrifood systems have not contributed to the alleviation of rural poverty. One in seven people on a global level are still hungry. About 34 per cent of children in developing countries, 186 million children in total, have a low height for age, the most common symptom of chronic undernutrition. Although the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Food Price Index, adjusted for inflation, indicates that food costs declined from the early 1960s until 2002 (apart from a peak in 1973-1974), the poorest are still too poor to feed themselves in dignity because agriculture has not been designed to support the livelihoods of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Additionally, a large number of people (with children and women being affected disproportionately) suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. Vitamin A deficiency affects at least 100 million children, limiting their growth, weakening their immunity and, in cases of acute deficiency, leading to blindness and to increased mortality. Between four billion and five billion people suffer from iron deficiency, including half of the pregnant women and children under 5 in developing countries, and an estimated two billion are anaemic. Iron deficiency impairs growth, cognitive development and immune function, and it leads children to perform less well in school and adults to be less productive. Iodine and zinc deficiencies also have adverse impacts on health and reduce the chances of child survival. About 30 per cent of households in the developing world do not consume iodized salt, and children born to highly iodine-deficient mothers are likely to experience learning disabilities or cretinism. Finally, lack of certain vitamins and minerals may also affect physical and mental development and the immune system.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Like undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency or "hidden hunger" is a violation of a child's right to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical and mental development, and to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, recognized under article 6, paragraph 2, and article 24, paragraph 2 (c), of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The environment, not genetics, explains differences in child development between regions. The WHO Child Growth Standards demonstrate that infants and children from geographically diverse regions of the world experience very similar growth patterns when their health and nutrition needs are met, so that all children have in principle the same development potential. States, therefore, have a duty to support exclusive breastfeeding for six months and continued breastfeeding, combined with adequate complementary foods, until the second birthday of the child; and to establish food systems that can ensure each individual's access not only to sufficient caloric intake, but also to sufficiently diverse diets, providing the full range of micronutrients required.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- An additional nutritional challenge concerns people whose caloric intakes exceed their needs. Today, more than one billion people worldwide are overweight (with a bodily mass index (BMI) >25) and at least 300 million are obese (BMI >30). Overweight and obesity cause, worldwide, 2.8 million deaths, so that today 65 per cent of the world's population live in a country (all high-income countries and most middle-income countries) where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight. In a country such as the United States of America, this means that today's children could have shorter life expectancies than their parents. But obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) linked, in particular, to unhealthy diets are no longer limited to rich countries (see figures 1 and 2). It is estimated that by 2030, 5.1 million people will die annually before the age of 60 from such diseases in poor countries, up from 3.8 million today. Obesity and overweight affect 50 per cent or more of the population in 19 of the 34 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, but they have become public health challenges in all regions (see figure 2). Death and disease from NCDs now outstrip communicable diseases in every region except Africa, and it is expected that NCD deaths will increase globally by 15 per cent between 2010 and 2020-and by over 20 per cent in Africa, South-East Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean. Moreover, NCDs are more rapidly fatal in poorer countries. In both South-East Asia and Africa, 41 per cent of deaths caused by high BMI occur under age 60, compared with 18 per cent in high-income countries. For society, the costs are huge, directly in medical care and indirectly in lost productivity. An important time lag exists between the onset of obesity and the increase in health-care costs, but it has been estimated for instance that the costs linked to overweight and obesity in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2015 could increase by as much as 70 per cent relative to 2007 and could be 2.4 times higher in 2025. In countries such as India or China, the impact of obesity and diabetes is predicted to surge in the next few years. On average, a 10 per cent increase in NCDs results in a loss of 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The fight against NCDs is underfunded, in part, because it was not included in the Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000. Less than 3 per cent of development assistance for health goes to combating NCDs, even though they cause more than one third of all premature deaths. The poorest segments of the population are affected disproportionately. Poor families may be unable to afford the increased health-care expenditures that result from NCDs. Annually, 100 million people are pushed into poverty because they cannot afford the necessary health services. In India for example, treatment for diabetes costs an affected person on average 15-25 per cent of household earnings, and cardiovascular disease leads to catastrophic expenditure for 25 per cent of Indian families and drives 10 per cent of families into poverty. Furthermore, people who are affected may not be able to work, and their family members may have to provide care, resulting in lost revenues. Poor families may be less educated, on average, about the risks of unhealthy diets, and they lack the resources to improve their diets.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- The agrifood systems must be reshaped to address these challenges of malnutrition-undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency, and overnutrition-not in isolation, but concurrently. Malnutrition in all its forms cannot be addressed only by a food sciences approach, such as through the provision of ready-to-use therapeutic foods or micronutrient-enriched "health foods" to combat micronutrient deficiency or the negative health impacts of foods high in saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, sodium and sugar ("HFSS" foods). Ensuring adequate availability of and accessibility to fruits and vegetables and diets that are sufficiently diverse and balanced across food groups requires the rebuilding of agrifood systems. This means prioritizing access to adequate diets that are socially and environmentally sustainable over the mere provision of cheap calories. Any intervention seeking to address the diverse forms of malnutrition described above should be assessed against the requirement that it favour, and does not create obstacles to, such a reprioritization.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Assessments of these various nutrition promotion initiatives and the projects under the umbrella of the SUN initiative fall outside the scope of the present report. The increasing international profile of nutrition should be welcomed. It is positive too that SUN acknowledges the need for efforts to scale up nutrition to be driven by national authorities with a cross-sectoral approach, and that it brings together commitment and support from developing country Governments, donors, civil society, development agencies and the private sector. In providing assistance however, these actors must not overlook the entitlements that have been established under international law for women, children, minorities, refugees and internally displaced persons, and other groups that may be subjected to marginalization and discrimination. The Special Rapporteur, while welcoming the progress made through SUN, calls for an explicit alignment of its initiatives with human rights, including the right to food. A number of observations should be made in this regard.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- First, it is troubling that the 1981 International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent World Health Assembly (WHA) resolutions remain under-enforced, despite the wide recognition that exclusive breastfeeding for the six first months and continued breastfeeding, combined with safe and adequate complementary foods, up to 2 years old or beyond is the optimal way of feeding infants, and reduces the risk of obesity and NCDs later in life. Countries committed to scaling up nutrition should begin by regulating the marketing of commercial infant formula and other breast-milk substitutes, in accordance with WHA resolution 63.23, and by implementing the full set of WHO recommendations on the marketing of breast-milk substitutes and of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children, in accordance with WHA resolution 63.14.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Second, the focus on pregnant and lactating women and infants in some recent nutrition initiatives, while understandable, should not lessen the need to address the nutritional needs of others, including children, women who are not pregnant or lactating, adolescents and older persons. The right to adequate food, which includes adequate nutrition, is a universal right guaranteed to all. This pleads in favour of broad-based national strategies for the realization of the right to food that address the full range of factors causing malnutrition, rather than narrowly focused initiatives that address the specific needs of a child's development between conception and the second birthday.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Third, interventions aimed at improving nutrition and targeting pregnant or lactating women and children under 2 years old, while vital, do not substitute for addressing the structural causes of undernutrition or inadequate diets. The Special Rapporteur noted previously that chief among these structural causes are inequitable food systems that are not sufficiently inclusive of the poorest, small-scale farmers and that do not reduce rural poverty; and the priority given to monocropping of certain staples over more diverse farming systems that would help to ensure more adequate diets. The violations of women's rights, gender inequality and the lack of women's empowerment are another major factor explaining poor nutritional outcomes. Improving women's access to productive resources, allowing women to make decisions regarding the household budget and protecting women from pressure, including economic pressure, to renounce optimal breastfeeding practices would contribute significantly to positive nutritional outcomes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The efforts on these fronts must continue. Nutrition interventions should be but one part of broader-based strategies for the realization of the right to adequate food. For example, the provision of fortified foods (enriched to improve nutritional content) may be necessary, where local production is insufficiently diversified and incapable of supplying the full range of foods required for adequate diets. Rebuilding and strengthening local food systems through diversified farming systems to ensure the availability of and accessibility to adequate diets will be more sustainable in the long term. Food systems based on local knowledge and conditions, such as homestead or community gardens, can be a cost-effective way to combat micronutrient deficiency, as demonstrated by examples in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, the Niger and South Africa; such alternative food systems present the additional advantage of increasing local incomes and resilience to price shocks, another pathway through which positive nutritional outcomes can be achieved.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Fourth, potential concerns exist regarding the relationship between solutions that rely on imported technologies and products and the local contexts in which these solutions are applied. Technology has a key role to play in improved nutrition. For instance, the iodization of salt is a cost-effective way to reduce iodine deficiency. Biofortification-the improvement at crop level of the micronutrient content of staples-can provide important benefits for rural populations, improving their access to micronutrient-rich foods produced locally at more affordable prices, as illustrated by the adoption of the orange-fleshed sweet potato in Mozambique that reduced vitamin A deficiency significantly. But such technologies could result in long-term dependency for the communities concerned if protected by intellectual property rights. Moreover, opportunities and market access for local farmers could be reduced if they result in the creation of new markets that are captured by the economic actors introducing such technologies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The requirement of participation, consistent with guideline 10.3 of the Right to Food Guidelines, ensures that local agricultural and nutrition contexts be considered. It also means that solutions will be demand-driven, that local partners will be identified, and that country-led action will not be equated with government-led action. It also allows identifying alternative solutions based on local knowledge and conditions, such as homestead or community gardens. Participation requires that beneficiaries take part in the process of evaluation, and co-design the solutions that could benefit them most. This is not only empowering, but also enhances the effectiveness of interventions because it builds a feedback loop to facilitate ongoing learning and improvement of policies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The requirement of non-discrimination ensures that interventions are targeted, with a focus on the most vulnerable and marginalized groups, and that they are gender sensitive. Finally, the adoption of national strategies for the realization of the right to food by Governments through participatory means should ensure that the needs of all groups are identified, including those of pregnant and lactating women and infants, and actions planned to address those needs. Such strategies should also link efforts to improve nutrition during early childhood with later life, adopting a life-course perspective as recommended by WHO, in order to take into account, for instance, that in contrast to breastfeeding, formula feeding may be a cause of obesity; they should facilitate inter-departmental coordination, recognizing that the right to adequate diets requires a collaborative effort across all government; and they should create a stable, multi-year framework, providing the necessary conditions both for private investment and for a continued effort of government.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- In section II, the Special Rapporteur described the considerable growth of non-communicable diseases and preventable deaths in all regions. A wide range of factors explain this evolution. They include tobacco and alcohol use, reduced physical activity linked to urbanization and thus more sedentary lifestyles, and inadequate diets. These avoidable deaths are often attributed to "lifestyle choices"-choices to exercise less, choices to consume more salt, sugars and fats. But the problem is a systemic one. We have created obesogenic environments and developed food systems that often work against, rather than facilitate, making healthier choices. The transformation of agrifood systems plays a major part in this trend.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Agricultural production has risen dramatically over the past 40 years, the combined result of crop breeding, intensive fertilizer use, the mechanization of production on large plantations in new cultivated areas and, in countries that could afford it, subsidies supporting farmers and intense research and development efforts. But there was an imbalance in this development. Some basic cereals and soybean were promoted, and the subsidies they benefited from were partly responsible for overproduction and overconsumption. In comparison, too little was done to improve the availability and affordability of pulses such as lentils or pigeon peas, or of fruits and vegetables, for instance by reducing post-harvest losses and improving marketing through better transport infrastructure connecting farmers to consumers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- What was the result? Between 1961 and 2009, while fruit and vegetable production increased 332 per cent, world oilseed production increased by 610 per cent and meat production increased 372 per cent. This was associated with shifting diets. Over roughly the same period (1963-2003), developing countries increased the amount of calories they consumed from meat (119 per cent), sugar (127 per cent) and vegetable oils (199 per cent), and industrialized countries also increased vegetable oil consumption (105 per cent). Globally, diets became increasingly energy-dense and rich in sugar, salt and saturated fats, as many higher fibre foods were replaced by heavily processed foods.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Agricultural policies led to these shifts in diets through two channels. First, maize and soybean have become a conveniently cheap input for the food processing and livestock industries. Most of the world's soybean is processed into meal to feed animals and into vegetable oil. Increasingly larger quantities of cereals (primarily maize) are used to produce sweeteners derived from starch (high-fructose corn syrup), largely explaining the global increase in caloric sweetener consumed. In 2000, 306 kcal were consumed per person per day, about a third more than in 1962, and caloric sweeteners by then also accounted for a larger share of both total energy and total carbohydrates consumed. Because the prices of basic crops went through such a significant decline, the agrifood industry responded by "adding value" by heavily processing foods, leading to diets richer in saturated and trans-fatty acids, salt, and sugars. This, combined with urbanization and higher employment rates for women, precipitated the rapid expansion for processed foods, both domestically and through exports dumped on foreign markets.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Another impact on diets was through the price channel, by changing the relative prices of foods in the consumer's basket. In high-income countries, healthy diets including a wide range of fruits and vegetables are more expensive than diets rich in oils, sugars and fats. While this may not be the reason why overweight and obesity have been increasing over the years, it is certainly one factor among others responsible for this situation. And it leads to important socio-economic disparities in quality diets. Scientists show a strong correlation between low-education and -income levels and higher rates of obesity, type II diabetes and coronary heart disease.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- The globalization of food supply chains affects nutrition in two ways. First, the general pattern has been for developing countries to export high-quality foods, tropical fruits and vegetables in particular, to rich countries, while importing refined grains. This means that while increased trade may have lowered the price of macronutrients in low-income countries (although with a greater vulnerability to price shocks), the reverse has been true for micronutrient-rich products, leading poor families in developing countries to shift to monotonous, micronutrient-poor diets, relying mainly on starchy staples, as more diverse diets may become unaffordable or less affordable than diets comprised of staples. Nutrition may thus be affected by this "price effect," resulting from the shift in the relative prices of food commodities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Second, the globalization of food chains leads to a shift from diets high in complex carbohydrates and fibre to diets with a higher proportion of fats and sugars. As a result of this "nutrition transition," disease patterns shift away from infectious and nutrient-deficiency diseases toward higher rates of coronary heart disease, non-insulin dependent diabetes, some types of cancer and obesity. This trend is particularly noticeable in emerging economies, and the Special Rapporteur studied the mechanisms at work closely in his missions to Brazil, China, South Africa and Mexico. Nutrition transition is accelerated by the expansion of trade in food commodities and by the acceleration of vertical integration in food chains, both of which increase the availability of processed foods.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The impacts of increasingly globalized food chains and the uniformization of diets across the globe have disparate impacts across population groups. As a country transitions towards higher income levels, the burden of overweight and obesity shifts. The poorest segment of the population is at low risk of obesity in poor countries, but in upper-middle income developing economies (with a gross national product per capita of over about US$ 2,500) and in high-income countries, it is the poorest who are most negatively affected. In high-income countries, while the poor bear a disproportionate burden of overweight or obesity, women are particularly at risk because their incomes are on average lower than those of men, and because men in the low-income group often are employed on tasks that are physically demanding and require large expenses of energy. Overweight or obese women tend to give birth to children who themselves tend to be overweight or obese, resulting in lower productivity and discrimination. Thus, socio-economic disadvantage is perpetuated across generations by the channel of overweight or obesity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Significant concerns are expressed today about the marketing practices of the agrifood industry, particularly as regards marketing to children. The range of practices is wide: they include television advertising, product placement, promotional partnerships, sales promotions, and direct marketing in schools, among others. Most advertisements promote unhealthy foods, high in total energy, sugars and fats, and low in nutrients. A recent study covering television advertising in Australia, Asia, Western Europe, and North and South America, found that in all sampled countries, children were exposed to high volumes of television advertising for unhealthy foods, featuring child-oriented persuasive techniques, leading the authors to call for regulation of food advertising during children's peak viewing times. The ability of these marketing practices to change consumer behaviour is remarkable in developing countries, in part because brands of North-based global companies carry positive connotations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Governments have become aware of the adverse impacts of the spread of non-communicable diseases, caused by suboptimal breastfeeding and young child feeding and unhealthy diets, and they recognize the urgent need to take action. In 2002 and 2004, respectively, WHA adopted the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding and the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. The latter recommends, inter alia, reducing energy intake from total fats, shifting fat consumption away from saturated fats to unsaturated fats, and eliminating trans-fatty acids; increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts; limiting the intake of free sugars; limiting salt consumption and ensuring that all salt is iodized. States are encouraged to adopt a national strategy on diets and physical activity; to provide accurate and balanced information to consumers; to align food and agricultural policies with the requirements of public health; and to use school policies and programmes to encourage healthy diets. Infant food manufacturers are expected to comply with provisions of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent relevant WHA resolutions and manufacture their products according to Codex Alimentarius standards. The agrifood industry is expected to reduce the fat, sugar and salt content of processed foods and portion sizes, to increase nutritious and healthy choices, and to review their marketing practices. More recently, in 2011, Governments pledged to promote, protect and support breastfeeding and strengthen the implementation of the International Code and to "reduce the impact of the common non-communicable disease risk factors," including unhealthy diets, by implementing "relevant international agreements and strategies, and education, legislative, regulatory and fiscal measures."
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- These advances remain short of what the situation requires. The emphasis remains largely on demand-side measures, focused on consumers' choices, rather than on the supply side: the range of foods made available to consumers and the prices of different types of food. And commitments remain voluntary. States should protect the right to adequate food by adopting measures that reduce the negative impacts on public health of the existing food systems. Moreover, States should discharge their duty to fulfil the right to adequate food by taking immediate measures to progressively make a transition to more sustainable diets.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- States should implement fully in legislation the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent WHA resolutions. But the marketing practices of the food industry have impacts such that bolder action is required. Self-regulation by the agrifood industry has proven ineffective. As noted by the International Obesity Task Force Working Group experts when they developed the Sydney Principles for reducing the commercial promotion of foods and beverages to children, industry codes cannot "substantially reduce the large volume and high impact of marketing obesogenic foods and beverages to children". It is one thing to prohibit advertising that "exploits the credulity of children," but quite another to control the amount of advertising delivered and the appeal it creates for the products, influencing children's diets. Even the best practices in the area, such as the EU Pledge initiated in December 2007 by a number of large agrifood companies, do not go as far as they should, namely, to prohibit all advertising that could encourage children to consume more HFSS foods.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- The General Assembly recognized the problem. It recommended further implementation of the WHO set of recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children, and that States consider statutory regulation as the most effective way to reduce the marketing of HFSS foods to children (see para. 22 and recommendation 8 of the WHO recommendations). Indeed, the protection of the human right to adequate food requires nothing less. But efforts should not stop there. Children are not the only victims of marketing practices that promote HFSS foods and make questionable health claims. The power of the agrifood industry to influence diets has been well documented, and the public budgets for nutrition education are no match for the advertising budgets of fast food and sweet beverage companies. The Special Rapporteur sees no reason why the promotion of foods that are known to have detrimental health impacts should be allowed to continue unimpeded: these products reduce the life expectancy, in particular, of the poorest segment of the population, who are also the least nutritionally literate, and to protect children only would be like reducing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to its article 16, which deals with sales of tobacco products to minors. In addition, an international framework, in the form of an international code of conduct regulating marketing food and beverages in support of national efforts, might be desirable in order to take into account the international nature of commercial promotion of energy-dense, micronutrient-poor food and beverages.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- While the agrifood industry is encouraged to produce and develop more healthy foods, very little is said about the need to develop more healthy food systems that can deliver sustainable diets in the holistic sense referred to above. But it is high time to recognize the real tension that exists between a strategy that promotes processed foods, enriched with nutrients to the point that diets become medicalized, and a strategy that promotes local and regional food systems, as well as a shift towards foods that are less heavily processed and thus more nutritious. For reasons of logistics and seasonality, as well as the urbanization of lifestyles, these two strategies must sometimes be combined, as not all foods can be sourced locally or bought in farmers' markets. But priorities must nevertheless be set in public policies. The market for food products cannot expand infinitely, and choices must be made as to which food system to promote.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Premature deaths resulting from non-communicable diseases linked to bad diets are deaths that can be avoided, and States have a duty to protect in this regard. By implementing the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding and the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, as well as the Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases, States are not only making political commitments but also discharging their duty under international human rights law to guarantee the right to adequate food.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- As such, States should set binding targets in pursuing a double-track approach: (a) protecting the right to adequate diets; and (b) ensuring a transition towards more sustainable diets. They should ensure accountability, in accordance with the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, by establishing independent monitoring mechanisms and allowing individual victims or organizations to file claims against any failures to take the measures required under the national strategy for the realization of the right to food; this is what distinguishes legal obligations from mere policy commitments. Among the indicators that should be used to monitor the implementation of national strategies to prevent non-communicable diseases, WHO should therefore include the existence of a binding legal framework, clearly allocating responsibilities, and including sanctions where the measures that are pledged are not adopted, and it should include the requirements of participation and non-discrimination that form part of an approach based on human rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Combating the different faces of malnutrition requires adopting a life-course approach guaranteeing the right to adequate diets for all, and reforming agricultural and food policies, including taxation, in order to reshape food systems for the promotion of sustainable diets. Strong political will, a sustained effort across a number of years, and collaboration across different sectors, including agriculture, finance, health, education and trade, are necessary for such a transition. In line with these conclusions, the Special Rapporteur makes the following recommendations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The right to food has more to do with modes of production and issues of distribution than with levels of food production alone. It primarily aims to guarantee to each person, individually or as part of a group, permanent and secure access to diets that are adequate from the nutritional point of view, sustainably produced and culturally acceptable. Such access can be ensured through three channels that often operate in combination: (a) self-production; (b) access to income-generating activities; and (c) social protection, whether informally through community support or through State-administered redistributive mechanisms. As such, depending on the population concerned, the right to food is closely related to the right of access to resources such as land, water, forests and seeds, that are essential to those who produce food for their own consumption; the right to work, guaranteed under article 6 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and the right to social security, protected under article 9 of the Covenant.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- The right to food seeks to ensure access to adequate diets. Although access is necessary for individuals to be adequately nourished, it is not the only requirement. Obviously, food availability is also required (which necessitates appropriate functioning of markets to ensure that foodstuffs can travel from the producers to the markets and from food-surplus regions to food-deficit regions). Access to health-care services and sanitation, as well as adequate feeding practices, are also essential. In this regard, the right to food is also closely connected to the right to health and to what is described as adequate "utilization".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- The contribution of the right to adequate food to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition operates at three levels. First, as a self-standing right recognized in international law and in a range of domestic constitutions, it imposes on States obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to adequate food. Second, the right to food encourages the transformation into legal entitlements of social welfare benefits that individuals or households receive under governmental food security schemes. Third, the right to food requires that States adopt national strategies to progressively realize the components of the right to food that cannot be immediately guaranteed. The significant progress achieved at each of these levels in recent years has been brought about by the interplay of different actors, including courts, parliaments, governments, national human rights institutions, civil society and social movements.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 9
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Courts are generally well-equipped to enforce this obligation. In the case of Kenneth George and Others v. Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the High Court of South Africa ordered a revision of the Marine Living Resources Act, requiring the development of a new framework taking into account "international and national legal obligations and policy directives to accommodate the socioeconomic rights of [small-scale] fishers and to ensure equitable access to marine resources for those fishers". This resulted in the adoption of a new Small-Scale Fisheries Policy in May 2012, which recognizes the importance of small-scale fisheries in contributing to food security and as serving as a critical safety net against poverty. In Honduras, the Sectional Court of Appeal in San Pedro Sula granted a constitutional remedy in the Brisas del Bejuco case in order to prevent the eviction of a group of small-scale farmers, referring to the obligation of the State to protect the right to food under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has protected the resources on which the Ogoni people depend for their livelihoods against the damage caused by oil companies operating on their territories, a position reaffirmed in 2012 by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States. In all these cases, courts or quasi-judicial bodies have protected the right to food by prohibiting actions that would undermine the ability of individuals and communities to produce their own food.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to protect requires that the State protect individuals' enjoyment of the right to food against violations by third parties (namely, by other individuals or groups or private enterprises), including by establishing an adequate regulatory framework. Courts too may play a role by intervening where private actors violate the right to food. For instance, in a case on which the Special Rapporteur wrote a letter of allegation, the High Court of Uganda at Kampala ordered on 28 March 2013 that compensation be paid to 2,041 individuals who had been evicted from their land in August 2001, when the Government of Uganda gave the land to a German company to establish a coffee plantation. The Court not only held agents of the State liable but also stated that the investors "had a duty to ensure that our indigenous people were not exploited. They should have respected the human rights and values of people and as honourable businessmen and investors they should have not moved into the lands unless they had satisfied themselves that the tenants were properly compensated, relocated and adequate notice was given to them." This illustrates how courts are in a position to protect individuals against the action of third parties and how private enterprises also have a responsibility to respect human rights and to carry out human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their impacts on human rights, as stipulated in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (see A/HRC/17/31, annex, paras. 6 and 17-21).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- It is sometimes believed that, owing to the fact that certain dimensions of the right to adequate food can be realized only progressively, courts have no role to play in adjudicating claims concerning the alleged insufficiency of measures adopted by the State to discharge this third-level obligation. This betrays a fundamental misunderstanding about the notion of progressive realization. Progressive realization is the opposite of passivity. It requires immediate steps that are deliberate, concrete and targeted and that aim to "move as expeditiously and effectively as possible" towards the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights (see E/1991/23-E/C.12/1990/8, annex III, paras. 2, 8 and 9).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, while the notion of progressive realization acknowledges that some aspects of the right to food may be realized only over time owing to resource constraints, including budgetary constraints, States still have a core obligation "to ensure for everyone under its jurisdiction access to the minimum essential food which is sufficient, nutritionally adequate and safe, to ensure their freedom from hunger" (see E/1991/23-E/C.12/1990/8, annex III, para. 10 and E/C.12/1999/5, para. 14). This obligation is immediate, as also reflected in the wording of article 11 (2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, referring to "the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Second, in situations of natural disaster or conflict, or "whenever an individual or group is unable, for reasons beyond their control, to enjoy the right to adequate food by the means at their disposal, States have the obligation to fulfil (provide) that right directly" (see E/C.12/1999/5, para. 15). This component of the right to food has been invoked successfully before courts in recent years. In Nepal, the Supreme Court issued an interim order in 2008 for the immediate provision of food in a number of districts that food distribution programmes were not reaching, confirming and extending its initial order on 19 May 2010. It acted at the request of the non governmental organization Pro Public, which invoked the provisions of the 2007 interim Constitution of Nepal guaranteeing the fundamental right to food sovereignty and the right to a dignified life, as well as the international obligations of Nepal to fulfil the right to food. In Mexico, relying on the recent amendment to article 4 of the Constitution and the 2009 Food and Nutrition Security Law of the Federal District, one homeless person obtained on 22 March 2012 an injunction from the First District Administrative Judge of the Federal District, directed in particular against the Secretariat for Social Development and the National Coordination Office of the "Desarrollo Humano Oportunidades" programme for a failure of the authorities to comply with their obligation to protect the rights to health, to food and to housing. In May 2013, a juvenile court in Guatemala ordered 10 Government institutions to adopt a set of 26 specific measures to compensate damages caused to five children in two villages of Camotán, who were left malnourished as a result of the State's failure to provide support. The order was based on the 2005 Food and Nutrition Security Law and Guatemala's obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It included such restitution and compensation measures as food assistance, land distribution, water access, agricultural training and seed provision. Where the situation of individuals or communities is so desperate as to condemn them to hunger unless they are given support, courts routinely have relied on the right to life to impose such obligations to provide.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Policies aimed at eradicating hunger and malnutrition that are grounded in the right to food shall redefine as legal entitlements benefits that have traditionally been seen as voluntary handouts from States. The right to food requires that schemes providing benefits, whether guaranteeing access to food or promoting agricultural and rural development and national social protection floors, be consolidated into legal entitlements, clearly identifying the beneficiaries and providing them with access to redress mechanisms if they are excluded. In the same spirit, paragraph 7 of International Labour Organization (ILO) Recommendation No. 202 concerning national floors of social protection provides that "national laws and regulations [establishing basic social security guarantees] should specify the range, qualifying conditions and levels of the benefits giving effect to these guarantees. Impartial, transparent, effective, simple, rapid, accessible and inexpensive complaint and appeal procedures should also be specified. Access to complaint and appeal procedures should be free of charge to the applicant. Systems should be in place that enhance compliance with national legal frameworks".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- This transforms the relationship between the authorities in charge of delivering the benefits and the beneficiaries into a relationship between duty-bearers and rights-holders. The institutionalization of social protection schemes facilitates decentralized monitoring of their implementation and broader accountability. It acts as a safeguard against elite capture, corruption, political clientelism or discrimination. Various studies also show that, in the absence of such safeguards, farm inputs as well as extension services may benefit primarily the elites or the best-connected households, leaving aside the poorest producers or those living in remote areas, as well as women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Such institutionalization will be effective provided a number of conditions are fulfilled: the beneficiaries must be informed about their rights under the programme; the claims mechanisms that they must have access to should be established at a decentralized level and should be free and accessible without excessive formalities and without language barriers for ethnic groups; the claims mechanisms must have the capacity to process these claims and the power to prescribe remedies; they must act in ways that are independent and impartial; and the claimants should not be exposed to retaliation for exercising their rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Courts may contribute to strengthening benefits into legal entitlements. Following the filing of the public interest litigation Petition (Civil) No. 196/2001, People's Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India and Others (PUCL), the Supreme Court of India derived from the right to life mentioned in article 21 of the Constitution a series of requirements articulating how various social programmes should be expanded and implemented in order to ensure that the population is guaranteed a basic nutritional floor. This is to this date the most spectacular case of a court protecting the right to food. The Court prohibited the withdrawal of the benefits provided under existing schemes, including feeding programmes for infants, pregnant and nursing mothers and adolescent girls; midday school meal programmes; pensions for the aged; and a cash-for-work programme for the able-bodied, thus converting such benefits into legal entitlements. Moreover, the Court expanded on and strengthened existing schemes, to ensure that they provide effective protection against hunger. For instance, it ordered that school meals be locally produced and be cooked and hot, whereas in the past children were fed with dry snacks or grain, and that preference be given, in the hiring of cooks, to Dalit women; it raised the level of old-age pensions; and, consistent with the idea that the schemes implement a constitutional right, it ordered their universalization, significantly expanding the number of beneficiaries. To supervise the implementation of its orders, the Court also established two independent Commissioners to monitor the implementation of programmes fulfilling the right to food throughout the country.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Providing a legal framework to public programmes that aim to ensure food security may strengthen these programmes and ensure that they are maintained across time. The recent developments following the "right to food case" in India provide an example. On 5 July 2013, the Government adopted the National Food Security Ordinance, based on a legislative bill initially tabled in 2011. This new legislation is aimed at ensuring access to food throughout the life cycle for two thirds of the population of India through a combination of a variety of programmes that will henceforth be considered legal entitlements, making their removal unlikely even if political winds change.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- From the point of view of the right to food, the provisions that ensure transparency and accountability in the implementation of the programmes are particularly noteworthy. As part of the reform of the Targeted Public Distribution System, all transactions relating to the distribution of foodgrains will be computerized, from the stage of procurement to the stage of delivery, "in order to ensure transparent recording of transactions at all levels and to prevent diversion" (sect. 12 (2) (b)); and the records are to be made available to the public (sect. 27). Periodic social audits must be performed on the functioning of the fair price shops, Targeted Public Distribution System and other welfare schemes and the findings will be publicized and lead to improvements (sect. 28 (1)). State governments are to put in place grievance redressal mechanisms, "which may include call centres, helplines, designation of nodal officers, or such other mechanism as may be prescribed" (sect. 14). Grievance Redressal Officers will be appointed at the level of each district, with a power to "hear complaints regarding non-distribution of entitled foodgrains or meals" and provide redress (sect. 15). Appeals against decisions by these officers may be filed before State Food Commissions established, within each State of the Union of India, to monitor and review implementation of the Ordinance (sect. 16). In addition to hearing appeals against decisions by District Grievance Redressal Officers, their powers include inquiring about implementation of the Ordinance, whether upon receiving complaints or at their own initiative; making recommendations for improvements; and preparing annual reports to the State Legislature. Finally, vigilance committees are to be established at the various levels, from the fair price shop level to the state level, with a view to ensuring proper implementation and alerting the District Grievance Redressal Officer to any violation (sect. 29).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The National Food Security Ordinance could be further improved. Questions relating to access to productive resources for food producers are omitted, and too little attention has been paid to issues of nutrition. For destitute persons, Grievance Redressal Officers established at the District level may be, in fact, inaccessible. Although they are to exercise quasi-judicial investigatory powers (sect. 20), the State Food Commissions, whose six members are to be appointed as provided by each State government, may not present the required guarantees of independence and impartiality to function effectively as monitoring bodies. The Ordinance nevertheless provides an example of a food security law that defines as legal entitlements a large range of benefits that are aimed at ensuring that people are not denied access to food simply because they are poor, and establishes a set of accountability mechanisms at different levels.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Social audits, in particular, have proved to be particularly useful to the poor and illiterate, both because they are more proximate and because they involve communities rather than individuals acting alone. They may take different forms. Government officials may have to report publicly to village assemblies on the use of funds allocated to certain programmes and on the allocations received by each of the beneficiaries. The revenues of and disbursements by public authorities at all levels may have to be published on the Internet, allowing non-governmental organizations to track instances of misuse or diversion of funds. In Rajasthan, the 2012 Right to Hearing Act and the accompanying Orders of 9 April 2013 provide that the filing of claims at the panchayat level will be facilitated through a Hearing Officer; the claimants must be given a receipt and strict deadlines apply for a written response to be provided by the administration; regular public hearings are organized at various levels, obliging officials to provide justifications in public and ensuring that claimants will not be intimidated as in face-to-face meetings.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Other examples include the parallel vigilance committees set up in 1992 by women from low-income neighbourhoods in Mumbai to monitor the fair price shops under the Public Distribution System; the public expenditure tracking surveys in Ghana, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania to identify diversion of funds in the health and education sectors; citizens' report cards in India, the Philippines and a range of African countries, through which citizens rate the quality of the public services they are provided; community score cards in the Gambia, Kenya and Malawi, which combine report cards with public meetings between communities and public service providers; participatory audits in the Philippines or as conducted by Javanese farmers in Indonesia. Beyond post hoc accountability, participation may extend to the design of policies and the ranking of budgetary priorities: in Brazil, following the example of Porto Alegre, a number of cities have elaborated participatory budgets.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Social audits can be effective provided a number of conditions are met, including: (a) adequate information to beneficiaries on the entitlements they have a right to claim; (b) wide publicity to ensure broad participation across all segments of the community; (c) adequate information on inputs or expenditures, making it possible to track discrepancies with actual delivery of services; (d) technical competence of an intermediary group to facilitate the process; and (e) choice of indicators and appropriate level of the community involved.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Laws guaranteeing a right to information can also contribute to improving accountability in the delivery of public programmes and may be key to social audits. Research shows the effectiveness of freedom of information or transparency laws in ensuring access by citizens to entitlements, as well as the benefits of such laws for the poor or those without political connections. Right to information acts, such as those in Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, India, Norway and Pakistan, may be used by beneficiaries to access information by filing an application to demand copies of records or by visiting a public office in order to examine the records and files. For example, in India, under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the attendance sheet details the names of workers, how many days of work they have completed, and the quantity of work completed (on the basis of which payment is calculated), while under the Targeted Public Distribution System, beneficiaries can tally the distribution register with their ration card to prove that rations meant for them have been sold in the black market, allowing the detection of fraudulent practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The right to food also contributes to policies aimed at eradicating hunger and malnutrition by ensuring that such policies comply with the principles of participation, accountability, non-discrimination, transparency, human dignity, empowerment and the rule of law. Each of these principles has a foundation in international human rights law, particularly in the right to participate in public affairs, in the right to an effective remedy, and in the prohibition of discrimination. Together, they serve to address the political economy questions that play such an important part in explaining the failure to achieve durable success in tackling hunger and malnutrition. Framework laws designed in conformity with these principles allow those affected by hunger and malnutrition to co-design the policies that seek to support them. National right to food strategies ensure that the efforts made are adequately coordinated and responsibilities for implementation properly allocated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- This wave of legislative reforms is continent-wide. Similar laws are currently being considered in Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Panama, Paraguay and Peru. To further promote these developments, the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO), of which 23 Latin American countries are members, adopted a model Framework Law on the Right to Food, Food Security and Food Sovereignty on 1 December 2012 at its XVIIIth General Assembly. The Framework Law underlines the duty of the State to respect, protect and promote the enjoyment of the human right to food and to guarantee the mechanisms to make the right justiciable.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The dedication of parliamentarians is particularly noteworthy. The Parliamentary Front against Hunger serves as a network for sharing best practices among national parliaments to encourage the drafting and adoption of legislation that improves the protection of the right to food. A number of parliamentary fronts have also been established at the national level. These fronts have been strengthened by initiatives taken by such regional parliamentary institutions as PARLASUR, PARLATINO, the Andean Parliament, the Central American Parliament and the Forum of Presidents of Legislative Powers of Central America and the Caribbean. In November 2011, the Central American Parliament also created a Subregional Front.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Progress is being made on this front in other regions as well. The 2011 Zanzibar Food Security and Nutrition Act affirms the obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food; establishes a National Food Security and Nutrition Council; and instructs sector ministers to account for food security and nutrition concerns in their policies and programmes and to include adequate resources in their budgets. In Malawi, a proposal was made by civil society organizations in 2010 for a national food security bill. In Mozambique, the Technical Secretariat for Food and Nutritional Security, an interministerial coordination body, led an inclusive process to the same effect. In Uganda, the Nutrition Action Plan 2011-2016 mentions the need to fast-track the adoption of the Food and Nutrition Bill, which should lead to the adoption of a Food and Nutrition Council. Senegal and Mali, in 2004 and 2006, respectively, adopted framework laws that are centred on the establishment of agricultural policies, allowing farmers' organizations to contribute to the design of such policies. Although restricted to the agricultural sector and not extending to food security policies as a whole, they are a first and promising attempt to improve accountability and participation. In Indonesia, a Food Law (18/2012) was passed in November 2012 where the right to food, food sovereignty and food self-sufficiency are important pillars; a national food security agency should be established before 2015. Thailand adopted the 2008 National Food Committee Act, establishing a body composed of 11 ministers and four secretariats, as well as seven independent experts, tasked in particular to promote the adoption of food security strategies and to "control, monitor and evaluate the outcomes of policies and strategies" adopted in this area (section 10 (5)).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- The involvement of civil society and farmers' organizations in the design and implementation of policies aiming at the eradication of hunger and malnutrition ensures that such policies will not be driven by political expediency. However, one of the shortcomings of current food and nutrition security systems and legal frameworks is that they do not designate the judicial, quasi-judicial and administrative bodies to which claims relating to the violation of the right to food can be presented, nor are sanctions for non-compliance set out in national law. Framework laws could be strengthened by providing recourse mechanisms to the individuals or organizations aggrieved by their lack of implementation, for instance if the Food and Nutrition Security Council does not meet as provided or if its recommendations receive no response.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommends that States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights work towards "the adoption of a national strategy to ensure food and nutrition security for all, based on human rights principles that define the objectives, and the formulation of policies and corresponding benchmarks" (see general comment No. 12, para. 21). Similarly, Guideline 3 of the FAO Right to Food Guidelines encourages the adoption of "a national human-rights based strategy for the progressive realization of the right to adequate food … [which] could include objectives, targets, benchmarks and time frames; and actions to formulate policies, identify and mobilize resources, define institutional mechanisms, allocate responsibilities, coordinate the activities of different actors, and provide for monitoring mechanisms".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Such strategies fulfil three key functions. First, they identify the measures to be adopted, assigning responsibilities across different departments and imposing deadlines. This increases accountability: failure to deliver will be noticed and will be imputable to specific bodies that will be called upon to justify lack of implementation; and monitoring by independent bodies, including courts, national human rights institutions or food and nutrition security councils, is facilitated. Such monitoring and evaluation of food security policies ensure permanent feedback and thus learning from experience, so that the policies are constantly improved in the light of successes and failures in implementation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Third, multi-year strategies make it possible to combine short-term approaches (that prioritize access to food for the hungry) and long-term concerns (removing the structural causes of hunger), building bridges across them. This is especially important where, as is often the case for low-income countries, years of underinvestment in agriculture has led them to increase their dependency on food imports and food aid, leading to a vicious cycle in which imports and aid discourage local production, which in turn increases dependency, increasing vulnerability in a context of higher and more volatile prices on international markets. Such countries must gradually reinvest in local production and social protection, but the transition from a high dependency on food aid and imports must be managed across time: a multi-year strategy facilitates the management of such a transition.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Providing such a predictable framework is essential to attract investors and to allow the private sector to adapt to what the strategy entails. It is also important for public programmes to bridge the gap between short-term and ad hoc approaches and longer-term objectives. For instance, it has been found that school-feeding programmes work best when they are part of multi-year strategies, with predictable and secured funding. This favours investment in local food producers supplying the programme and in the skills required to implement it, including cooking skills that must be mobilized within schools or community kitchens serving schools.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- The increasing recognition of the importance of a legal and policy framework grounded in the right to food reflects a growing understanding that hunger is not simply a problem of supply and demand, but primarily a problem of a lack of access to productive resources such as land and water for small-scale food producers; limited economic opportunities for the poor, including through employment in the formal sector; a failure to guarantee living wages to all those who rely on waged employment to buy their food; and gaps in social protection.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The remarkable success of Brazil in reducing child malnutrition rates over the past 15 years bears witness to the power of strategies such as "Zero Hunger" and participatory approaches. Beyond that example, recent research shows that countries that have made significant progress in reducing malnutrition present a number of common characteristics. First, they sought to adopt a multisectoral approach to combating hunger and malnutrition. Their strategies combined attention to agriculture, with the mainstreaming of nutrition in health-care policies, and coordinated policies in the areas of education, gender, water, sanitation and habitat, pro-poor economic development (both through employment and income generation for the poor and through social development), and trade. Second, in almost all cases, the political impetus at the highest level of government was a key factor. Change was achieved after Governments placed food and nutrition security at the top of the political agenda and adopted strategies specifically aimed at combating hunger and poverty. Third, civil society participation and empowerment were essential, contributing to the sustainability of policies across time and improving their acceptance and impact among affected populations. Fourth, multiphased approaches were the most effective, as allowed by multi-year national strategies combining both short-term interventions and long-term approaches to nutrition. Fifth, the establishment of institutions monitoring progress ensured that the political pressure remained present throughout the implementation phase of the strategy and that the resources were committed. Sixth, the continuity of financial investment from national resources, supplemented with external matching funds, was vital: one-time efforts, over short periods, failed to achieve significant impact.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- These are the ingredients of success that approaches grounded in the right to food provide. All branches of government - legislative, executive and judiciary - have a responsibility to contribute to this implementation. As illustrated by the range of examples above, the protection of the right to food requires a legislative framework, policies implementing food security strategies, and enforcement through judicial means. Yet, even that may not suffice. Various veto points may make it difficult for political systems to create the requisite conditions for accountability. The poor are often a constituency that matters less to politicians. The poor may experience considerable difficulties in accessing judicial redress mechanisms, which is why social audits matter. The role of other actors, national human rights institutions and civil society, is therefore essential.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- National human rights institutions established in conformity with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles; see General Assembly resolution 48/134, annex) can play a crucial role in monitoring compliance with the right to adequate food and, where they have such competence, to examine complaints filed by aggrieved individuals. In India, investigations by the National Human Rights Commission facilitated the work of the Supreme Court and that of the Commissioners of the Court by inquiring into the implementation of schemes securing livelihoods. In Colombia, the Office of the Public Defender presented a report on the implementation of the 2008 National Food and Nutrition Security Policy, recommending improvements to the legal framework and to mechanisms ensuring coordination. In Guatemala, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman has a specific mandate to monitor the implementation of the national food and nutrition security policy. Its 2011 report regretted persistent coordination failures despite the establishment of the National Council on Food and Nutrition Security, and its 2012 report encouraged improved funding for food and nutrition security programmes, which remain highly dependent on foreign aid. In El Salvador, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman has prepared three national reports since 2007 proposing the development of an appropriate legal and political food and nutrition security framework to guarantee the right to food. National human rights institutions in a range of other countries, including Cameroon, Honduras, Malawi, Slovenia, South Africa and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), monitor violations of the right to food. In Norway, an important function of the Parliamentary Ombudsman is to investigate complaints concerning social security benefits.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- National human rights institutions, ombuds institutions or human rights ombudsmen may go beyond monitoring violations and reporting. They occasionally may seize judicial authorities or trigger action by food and nutrition security councils established under framework laws on the right to food. In Argentina, the National Ombudsman requested in 2007 that the Supreme Court order the national State and the Government of Chaco Province to provide food and drinking water to the province's indigenous Toba communities. In Brazil, a similar role can be played by the Public Ministry, which is composed of independent public prosecutors that can hold public authorities accountable in the implementation of programmes relating to food and nutrition.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The major advantages of national human rights institutions or equivalent institutions are their independence and the flexibility with which they can exercise their mandates. This allows innovative solutions to develop. For instance, the South African Human Rights Commission supported the Southern Africa Food Security Change Lab, linking the various actors of the food chain with non-governmental organizations, academics, and Government officials in the search for innovative solutions that can improve the sustainability of the food chains (see A/HRC/19/59/Add.3, para. 32). National human rights institutions can also recommend the adoption of legislation protecting the right to food or ensure that national food security policies adopt a rights-based approach, as was done by the Uganda Human Rights Commission with regard to the Nutrition Action Plan 2011-2016.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- In Haiti, a national platform of civil society organizations was a major driving force behind the adoption in March 2010 of the National Plan for Food Security and Nutrition elaborated by the National Food Security Council. In Nepal, the non governmental organization Pro Public was instrumental in the right to food case brought before the Supreme Court, mentioned in paragraph 18 above. The Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee, a well-known non-governmental organization, has also been instrumental in scaling up the anti-hunger social protection network. In the Dominican Republic and Paraguay, civil society organizations are playing an active role in support of the adoption of food and nutrition security laws.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Civil society actors can develop their own, original monitoring methods, as in Brazil where they established a National Rapporteur for the Human Right to Land, Territory and Food, whose legitimacy allows him/her to become an interlocutor with the authorities. A growing number of civil society organizations such as FIAN International, the International Federation for Human Rights, Rights and Democracy, the Center for Economic and Social Rights or the Social Collective for the Right to Food have produced reports assessing the implementation of the right to food reports in various countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 58i
- Paragraph text
- [In particular, the Special Rapporteur encourages:] The FAO Committee on World Food Security to serve as a catalyst to accelerate progress towards the establishment of legal, institutional and policy frameworks that are conducive to the full realization of the right to food for all, and to use the review of the implementation of the Right to Food Guidelines at its forty-first session in 2014 to encourage all member States to make effective use of the right to food to eradicate hunger and malnutrition;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- In addition, it is not unusual for the remuneration in this "periphery" segment to be calculated on a piece-rate basis, based on how much of the task has been accomplished. This mode of calculation of the wage is advantageous to the employer; it generally means that the employer does not provide benefits or social security in addition to the wage earned, and it is a method of calculating wages that is self-enforcing and requires much less supervision. Yet, though the most efficient women sometimes benefit, this mode of calculation of wages may be unfavourable to women in the heavier tasks, where the pay is calculated on the basis of male productivity standards. In addition, it encourages workers, especially women, to have their children work with them as "helpers", in order to perform the task faster. The result is that about 70 per cent of child labour in the world is in agriculture, representing approximately 132 million girls and boys aged 5-14 (A/HRC/13/33, para. 10).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Finally, women may face specific difficulties in reconciling their responsibilities in the care economy, particularly as regards the minding and educating of children of pre-school age, and their work on farms. The lack of access to child-care services in rural areas, combined with poor transportation services, sometimes leads women to bring the children with them on the plantation, as has been documented in the horticultural sector in Punjab, Pakistan, or in the informal settlements established near the plantations during the working season, as in South Africa.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- A number of the issues that in practice are of particular concern to women could be addressed in principle through effective policies and laws, and collective bargaining. These include equality of opportunity policies, equal pay for work of equal value, maternity leave and benefits, child care issues, reproductive health services. However, apart from the general problems related to unionization on farms, male-dominated unions do not always pay sufficient attention to issues that matter especially to women. Male union representatives may fail to consider the gender implications of apparently neutral issues for collective bargaining, including how wages are determined, leave, overtime, or bonus systems since these often in reality impact on women and men differently. To address this problem, the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF) has for example produced a gender-equality guide and aims at a 40 per cent representation of women on all its committees.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Improving access to education for girls requires that the incentives structures for families be changed, and that social and cultural norms that lead parents to interrupt the schooling of girls earlier than that of boys be challenged. Many poor households are unable to send girls to school because of the costs, both direct and indirect (school fees or other costs related to attending school, such as uniforms and books), of doing so; because of opportunity costs (girls who go to school are not available to work within the household); because of the commute involved, when the family lives at a far distance from the nearest school, and associated security concerns. The absence of separate sanitation facilities for girls in schools can also be a major obstacle.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Various programmes have proven to be effective in removing some of these obstacles. Bangladesh launched the Female Secondary School Assistance Project (FSSAP) in 1993; ten years later, as it entered its second phase, the project covered one quarter of rural Bangladesh and now benefits almost one million girls across the country in more than 6,000 schools. FSSAP provides a stipend to girls who agree to delay marriage until they complete secondary education, for a total cost to the programme of about US$121 per year per person; and it has improved sanitation facilities in schools. It has spectacularly succeeded in improving girls' school attendance rates.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Another successful example is the female school stipend programme introduced by the Government of Punjab, Pakistan, in 2004, as part of the broader Punjab Education Sector Reform Programme (PESRP), inaugurated in 2003. In targeted districts defined by their low literacy rate, the female school stipend programme provides girls a stipend (an amount slightly higher than the average cost of schooling), conditional on class attendance. An early study of the impacts of this stipend found a modest but statistically significant impact on girls' attendance of schools.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- School-feeding programmes can also make a significant contribution to improving access to education for girls, with impacts ranging from 19 to 38 per cent in increased female school attendance, according to certain cross-country studies. The provision of take-home rations to pupils can be particularly effective in this respect, especially where markets are unreliable or prices of essential food commodities highly volatile, or where the capacity of the schools to provide meals is limited. In Pakistan, the provision of take-home rations to girls attending school for at least 20 days a month made overall enrolment grow by 135 percent from 1998-99 to 2003-04. In Afghanistan, school enrolment has increased significantly since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, though - due to cultural norms, lack of sanitation facilities and the security situation - the enrolment of girls in schools as compared to boys remains very low (at 0.35 in 2008). WFP seeks to bridge this gap by distributing a monthly ration of 3.7 litres of vegetable oil to girls, conditional upon a minimum school attendance of 22 days per month. In Malawi, the introduction into the school-feeding programme of take-home rations of 12.5 kg of maize per month for girls and double orphans attending at least 80 per cent of school days led to a 37.7 per cent increase in girls' enrolment. In Lao People's Democratic Republic, where girls' enrolment can be very low, particularly in rural areas and within some ethnic groups, pupils receive a take-home family ration of canned fish, rice and iodized salt as an incentive for parents to send them to school. From 2002 to 2008, enrolment rates in primary schools benefiting from the programme increased from 60 percent to 88 percent for boys and from 53 percent to 84 percent for girls.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- School-feeding programmes can also have important multiplier effects on the local economy. The above-mentioned study of the mid-day meals programme in India was found to create employment opportunities for poor women: in the sampled schools, more than two thirds of the cooks were women, often from underprivileged backgrounds. Ideally, under these programmes, priority should be given to disadvantaged persons when hiring, and living wages should be paid to the women employed through them. The local procurement of foods, and local processing, provides market opportunities for local food producers and service providers. In this regard, the Right to Food Guidelines recommends that States "consider the benefits of local procurement for food assistance that could integrate the nutritional needs of those affected by food insecurity and the commercial interests of local producers". In Brazil, Act No. 11,947 of 16 June 2009 requires that the national school feeding programme (PNAE), benefiting 49 million children, source 30 per cent of its food from family farms. Linkages with public works programmes could also be encouraged, in which poor, unemployed women could be paid to cook meals in schools.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- In addition to expanding their economic opportunities in later life, higher enrolment rates for girls delay marriage and can thus lower the number of children a woman has, therefore enabling more women to seek employment with higher incomes. Low levels of education and early marriage create a vicious cycle in which women have many children and thus reduced opportunities for improving their education and seeking employment outside the home. Higher levels of education means women can take control over their fertility and be able to make informed decisions in terms of their sexual health and family planning, resulting in fewer children and improved economic opportunities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- While improved access to education is essential to creating such economic opportunities for women, such efforts will only be effective in combination with other measures. These include active labour policies that gradually improve the representation of women in all sectors and break down the vertical and horizontal segmentation of the labour market where it exists, through positive action; measures aimed at reconciling family and professional life, and access to employment for workers with family responsibilities, as stipulated in ILO Convention No. 156 (1981) on Workers with family responsibilities. Both of these measures should be combined with efforts to break down gender stereotypes, not only as regards the type of employment performed by women, but also as regard the allocation of responsibilities between women and men in the discharging of family responsibilities. Indeed, although more women than ever are gainfully employed, their share of family responsibilities has not diminished.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The right to social security, as guaranteed under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, includes access to health care; benefits and services to persons without work-related income due to sickness, disability, maternity, employment injury, unemployment, old age or death of a family member, including contributory or non-contributory pensions for all older persons; family and child support sufficient to cover food, clothing, housing, water and sanitation; survivor and orphan benefits. The Special Rapporteur observes that, in many cases, the specific situation of women is not considered in the design and implementation of programmes. Three examples may serve to illustrate this.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Most social transfer programmes are in the form of cash transfer programmes which can be conditional or unconditional. Unconditional cash transfer programmes correspond better to the idea that social protection is a human right that should benefit all those in need of income support. They reduce the risks of under-inclusion and may be easier to administer where the administrative capacity is weak. A comparison across three Latin American countries concluded that verifying compliance with conditionalities represented 18 per cent of the administrative costs of the programme, and 2 per cent of the total costs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- However, partly because of concerns with the fiscal sustainability of unconditional cash transfer programs, and partly in order to encourage poor families to invest more in their children and thus reduce the inter-generational transmission of poverty, conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have been expanding in recent years. Such CCTs generally target certain poor regions and, within those regions, poor households. They generally provide cash or sometimes nutritional supplements, usually to the mother or primary caregiver, provided certain conditions are met. These conditions relate most often to children's school enrolment and attendance level, and attendance at pre- and postnatal health-care appointments to ensure that children receive appropriate vaccinations and to check their growth. In previous mission reports, the Special Rapporteur discussed the well-known CCTs that have been launched in Mexico (Progresa/Oportunidades) and in Brazil (Bolsa Familia) (A/HRC/13/33/Add.6 and A/HRC/19/59/Add.2). An early example is Bangladesh's Female Secondary School Assistance Project (FSSAP) launched in 1993 (see para. 16 above), which was complemented, in July 2002, by the Primary Education Stipend Project (PESP). The PESP aimed to increase the educational participation (enrolment, continued attendance and educational performance) of primary school children from poor families throughout Bangladesh (initially estimated at more than 5 million pupils) by providing cash payments to targeted households. Despite significant targeting problems during its initial phase, the programme is credited for improving educational attainments.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Insofar as conditionalities can improve the educational attainments of girls, they should be welcomed. CCT benefits are usually given to women, as the "caregivers" of households - in Brazil, 94 per cent of the recipients of the Bolsa Familia transfers are women. This is expected to strengthen their negotiating role within the family, although such an outcome is far from automatic. The Right to Food Guidelines recommend that States "give priority to channelling food assistance via women as a means of enhancing their decision-making role and ensuring that the food is used to meet the household's food requirements." (guideline 13.4). Beyond these aspects however, too little attention has been paid to the gender impacts of CCTs, when such programmes are put in place. [...]
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Public works programmes are designed to provide employment to families who have no other source of income; remuneration is usually in the form of cash (cash-for-work) or food (food-for-work), or a combination of both. Because the work is demanding and the wages are low (or payment is made in the form of food items), only those in genuine need, who have run out of other options, may seek to enter these programmes, which are therefore self-targeting. Public works programmes may serve to create physical infrastructure (such as irrigation schemes, wells or rural roads) or to deliver environmental services (for instance hillside terracing or other landscape arrangements to facilitate the capture of rain water or the planting of trees) that contribute to long-term development aims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Many public works schemes set aside a quota for women. India's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), introduced in 2005 and which benefited 52.5 million households in 2009-2010, provides for one third of the employment to be allocated to women. The Rural Maintenance Programme in Bangladesh goes even further; it is an all-women programme, successfully employing over 50,000 rural women to maintain 60,000 miles of earthen roads. While access to employment in such programmes can favour the empowerment of women, paying greater attention to the gender impacts could significantly increase their benefits to women:
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 27b
- Paragraph text
- Similar self-exclusion may occur where the work proposed under the public works programmes is considered too demanding physically (more suitable for men) or violates certain cultural norms as to which tasks are suitable for women. The challenge in this case would be to ensure that the division of tasks on the programme takes into account the specific constraints faced by women, without reinforcing gender stereotypes. This may be done by adopting a phased approach. During a first phase, some work may be designated as "light" or "moderate" with priority for women, and some work as "heavy" and assigned to men; and certain tasks that are traditionally performed by women could be included in public works programmes, for instance preparing food in community kitchens or maintaining community vegetable gardens. At the same time, it should be ensured that women are paid the same wages as men. During a second phase, in order to reduce the risk that such an approach might reinforce gender stereotypes, women could gradually be encouraged to learn how to perform tasks traditionally assigned to men, so that in time "role-shifting" will occur.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 27c
- Paragraph text
- The assets created by the programme could serve to ease the situation of rural women in the areas concerned, consistent with the aim of reducing the burden that they shoulder. For instance, digging boreholes or planting trees can reduce the time women spend fetching water or fuelwood in the community where such work is performed. As illustrated by Ethiopia's cash-for-work Productive Safety Net Programme, public works programmes could serve to support agricultural work on the private land of female-headed households which generally suffer from chronic labour shortage. Public works could serve to improve physical infrastructure in rural areas and establish food-processing technologies, in order to reduce the drudgery of cooking and laundry. Public works programmes also could include health extension work, adult literacy or HIV/AIDS prevention, all of which could be immediately attractive for women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Due to prevalent societal norms and gender roles, their higher average levels of education, and the fact that they are less constrained, men are often better placed to seize opportunities arising from employment creation in the industry and services sectors. The result is that, with some exceptions (e.g. women migration for household work), men tend to migrate first from rural areas, for longer periods and to further destinations. Women stay behind in the village - especially relatively older women, beyond 35 years of age, who are poorly educated and less independent - to take care of the children and the elderly, and increasingly, also to tend the family plot of land. Data in this area are often imprecise and difficult to interpret, partly because of the lack of gender-disaggregated data, as much of women's contribution to "subsistence" agriculture goes unreported in official statistics, and because the share of women's employment in agriculture varies from crop to crop and from activity to activity - ploughing, for instance, remains predominantly a task performed by men. Nonetheless, overall, this feminization of agriculture is well documented.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Concerns have been expressed about the impact that the feminization of agriculture may have on local food security, given the obstacles women face which negatively affect their productivity. Indeed, women often have little legal protection or rights to property ownership, and they face cultural and social norms that hinder their ability to improve productivity. How can these challenges be met? In the longer term, improving education for women and expanding opportunities for them in off-farm employment are key. But for the large number of women who depend on agriculture, including, increasingly, urban and peri-urban agriculture (see A/HRC/19/59, para. 44), it is equally important - and urgent - to improve women's opportunities to thrive as producers. Gender-sensitive agricultural policies are required, consistent with guideline 8.6 of the Right to Food Guidelines concerning women's full and equal participation in the economy and the right of women to inherit and possess land and other property, and access to productive resources, including credit, land, water and appropriate technologies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Access to land is key in this regard. In an earlier report (A/65/281), the Special Rapporteur discussed the vital role of access to land for small-scale agricultural producers, and the importance of addressing the discrimination women face in that regard. The right of women to have equal access to land is explicitly addressed by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and in numerous Human Rights Council and General Assembly resolutions on the right to food. At the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals, Heads of State and Government also committed to promoting and protecting women's equal access to property and to land, as well as to productive resources. Indeed, land is more than an economic asset that women should be allowed to use productively. It is also a means of empowerment, as the greater economic independence that results from land ownership enhances the woman's role in decision-making and allows her to garner more social, family and community support.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Women face multiple forms of discrimination in accessing land. As regards land that is inherited, laws in many countries still discriminate against women, and even when the discriminatory elements are removed, the laws are often circumvented under the pressure of social and cultural norms. For instance, where a sister could inherit land on an equal basis with her brothers, she may accept a lump-sum payment in lieu of her portion of the land in order to maintain good relations with her brothers. As regards land that is acquired during marriage, in a number of regions, particularly in South Asia, a separation of property regime is applied, according to which assets brought into the marriage or acquired during marriage remain the individual property of the spouse who acquired said assets from his or her personal funds. But this leads to deeply inequitable outcomes, as it does not recognize the important non-monetary contribution that women make to the household by looking after the house, child-rearing, caring for the elderly, or various other chores.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Women also face discrimination in accessing extension services. First, women are underrepresented among extension services agents. Yet, in some contexts, social or cultural rules may prohibit contacts between a woman farmer and a male agricultural agent, especially when the woman is single, widowed or abandoned. Moreover, male agents may have less understanding for the specific constraints faced by women. Second, extension services tend to presume that any knowledge transmitted to the men will automatically trickle down to the women and so that they benefit equally, and meetings may be organized without taking into account the specific time and mobility constraints of women. This reinforces the pre-existing imbalances in decision-making within the household and neglects the fact that the needs of women may be different from those of men.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The third area is finance. Microcredit schemes often target rural women specifically, who, even more than men, face obstacles in accessing credit. However, far more could be done. First, improved access to loans for rural women does not necessarily imply that women will control the use of the loans. Some microfinance programmes directed at women have been assessed to be successful in increasing the participation of women in decision-making within the household, particularly as regards family planning and the children's education, and other members of the household have sometimes assumed a greater share of the housework since women who benefit from a microcredit programme tend to spend more time on their businesses and contribute more to the household income. The Small Farmers Development Program (SFDP) launched by the Indonesian government in the early 1990s is one example. But, overall evidence is mixed. Because the creditworthiness of women (as measured by loan repayment rates) is higher than that of men, women in practice may be used as convenient "middlemen" by the lending institutions' field workers and by the male members of households. This runs the risk of creating increased tensions within the household when the husband or other male relative does not give the woman the money to allow her to repay the loan on time or when the woman cannot access the loans she has obtained. Women benefiting from microcredit in rural Bangladesh, for instance through the Grameen Bank, only seldom use the loans to run their own businesses, Instead of becoming entrepreneurs themselves, they often use the loans to support the capital of existing businesses that are usually managed by male members in the household or to support their husbands in launching micro-enterprises. Similar results were found in Andra Pradesh, India.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Second, there is an inherent tension between the hope that microfinance programmes can function as a financially self-sustaining means of addressing rural poverty, and the objective of supporting the poorest women and single women with a low capacity to improve their productivity levels - because they may be poorly qualified or illiterate, or cannot move beyond home-based activities due to their household responsibilities. The result is that while microfinance programmes increasingly target rural women, they mainly benefit the women who already have most assets or who have male relatives to work with them, and often do not reach the poorest, who operate in a "mini-economy" of very small transactions, so small in fact that the transaction costs of dealing with them are too high even for microcredit institutions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Finally, in order to make a stronger contribution to poverty alleviation and to women's empowerment, agricultural research and development could take into account the specific constraints faced by women and their preferences. For instance, women may prefer crop varieties that can be more easily prepared for the family or that are easier to cultivate, for instance, those that are less threatened by weeds or can be easily husked. Because of the obstacles women face in accessing credit, they may prefer to grow crops following agro-ecological, low-external-input techniques, which also avoid the need to transport bags of fertilizers, which could be difficult in the absence of adequate means of transportation. Rural women possess traditional farming knowledge and skills that, in many cases, represent a huge, largely untapped potential.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The recognition that women may have different priorities to those of men leads to fundamental questions about the type of support they should be provided. For instance, titling schemes as a means to increase security of tenure may be considered with scepticism if the schemes are captured by men or elites or if it implies encouraging the development of a market for land rights, when land is more than an economic asset for many rural households, particularly women who depend on land for a non-cash type of production to feed their families. Similarly, if microcredit schemes crowd out other forms of support provided to small-scale food producers, it may result in forcing beneficiaries, women in particular, to move towards production for the market, rather than for self-consumption, something which may not correspond to the priorities of women in specific contexts. Developing agricultural research in ways that are more responsive to women's needs may result in greater attention being paid to the preservation of the resource base on which they rely, not only for agricultural production but also for domestic needs (medicinal plants, fuelwood, wild fruit). It may also result in more attention being paid to the more nutritious food crops, rather than to only staple crops, particularly cereals; and in choices in agricultural research that focus more on the post-harvesting phase - not simply on the prospects of selling the produce in high-value markets, but also on the possibility of preserving food from losses, the nutritional value of the food that is produced for consumption within the household, or the impact a particular variety may have on the time constraints of women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Involving women in the design, implementation and assessment of all these policies, could therefore have deeply transformative effects on how we conceive of the role of small-scale farming itself. This is why participation matters: it is to ensure that women have real choices. The strengthening of women's cooperatives or encouraging group farming by women's collectives are also important for that reason. Not only should women be able to overcome the obstacles that obstruct their ability to be as productive as men, they should also be able to redefine the priorities of the small-scale farming system, of which they are becoming the main actors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- A first requirement is breaking the cycle of discrimination against women. This does not mean simply removing discriminatory provisions in the law, particularly as regards access to land or other productive resources, but it also requires that the structural causes of de facto discrimination be addressed. In particular, measures should be taken to relieve women of the burden imposed on them by the duties they assume in the "care" economy, and to improve their economic opportunities by better access to education and employment. Older women are particularly at risk of food insecurity as the cumulative effect of discrimination in accessing employment tends to leave older women with disproportionately lower (or no) incomes and pensions in later life; yet older women are expected to take care of other, more dependent members of the household.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Certain investments can significantly reduce the burden that household chores impose on women. In rural areas, such measures include the provision of water services and afforestation projects to reduce the time spent fetching water and fuelwood. In both rural and urban areas, measures would include the establishment or strengthening of child-care services and care for the elderly or persons with illness/disability. By reducing the time poverty of women, their economic opportunities would expand, since it would be easier for them to seek employment outside the household; access incomes and increase their economic independence, which, in turn, would strengthen their bargaining position within the household. In order for such opportunities to be seized, access to education for girls and life-long training must be improved and societal perceptions of gender roles which discriminate against women must be changed. Improved education and employment prospects are mutually reinforcing, as the demand for education (investment in human capital) will increase in proportion to increase in the demand for a qualified female workforce.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- A second requirement is achieving the right combination of measures that recognize the specific obstacles women face (particularly time poverty and restricted mobility resulting from their role in the "care" economy), and measures that seek to transform the existing gender division of roles by redistributing tasks both within the household and in other spheres. As long as we simply recognize the role of women in the "care" economy by accommodating their specific needs, the existing division of roles within the household and associated gender stereotypes will remain in place, and could even be reinforced. Redistributing roles and challenging the associated gender stereotypes require a transformative approach, whereby the support provided to women not only recognizes their specific needs, but seen provides the opportunity to question existing social and cultural norms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Such transformative approach is clearly required under human rights law. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women affirms that "a change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of women in society and in the family is needed to achieve full equality between men and women" (preamble, 14th para). Accordingly, States Parties shall seek, inter alia, to "modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women", and to promote the "recognition of the common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of their children" (art. 5 (a). In reference to this provision, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has urged States to combat patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes regarding the roles and responsibilities of women and men within the family and society at large (women being considered as having the primary responsibility for child-rearing and domestic tasks, and men being considered the main breadwinners) and to reject the concept that assigns the role of "head of the household" to men.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- The transformative approach implies that as policies seek to accommodate the specific needs of women, they should also seek to subvert traditional gendered divisions of roles. The two objectives are not necessarily easy to reconcile, but they should be prioritized in the design and implementation of programmes and given careful, context-sensitive consideration. In public works programmes for instance, where a gender-blind approach may lead to the de facto exclusion of women, the specific contributions and needs of women should be acknowledged, such as access to nurseries or adapted schedules, in order to enable them to effectively benefit from the programmes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- For this reason also, interventions aimed at improving the situation of women should be empowering. Social protection programmes should define the beneficiaries as rights-holders who can make claims against the administrations in charge of delivery, and beneficiaries should be informed of their rights and access to claims mechanisms should eb ensured. In addition to ensuring decentralized monitoring of the implementation of social programmes and providing a safeguard against corruption or discrimination, this will contribute to empowering beneficiaries, in particular women, who are generally treated as passive recipients of programmes that are intended to help them without including them as active participants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Social audits can also be an effective means of empowering women within the local communities, if their views are sought expressly and if the community audit exercise is only considered valid if women are adequately represented. Social audits can take different forms: a public report to the village assembly by government officials on the use of funds allocated to certain programmes and on the allocations to the beneficiaries (whether they are individuals employed in cash-for-work schemes or schools supported in school-feeding schemes); publication of revenues and disbursements on the Internet, which would enable non-governmental organizations to track instances of misuse or diversion of funds; citizens' report cards, as in India or the Philippines; community score cards, as in Kenya and the Gambia; or budgetary audits as those conducted by Javanese farmers in Indonesia.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- A successful strategy for strengthening the rights of women in support of the realization of the right to food requires a whole-of-government approach, coordinated across various ministries, including those responsible for health, education, employment, social affairs and agriculture. For instance, for the multiplier effects of school-feeding programmes to be maximized, coordinated action between departments responsible for agriculture, education and employment is required. Such a strategy should include targets, defined through a participatory process, and independent monitoring of their achievement within specified time frames. The outcomes to be achieved should be defined through indicators based on the normative components of the right to food, and disaggregated by ethnicity, age and gender in order to ensure that a gender-sensitive approach will be adopted in all sectors, and that multiple forms of discrimination, such as that experienced by older women and indigenous women, is tracked and addressed effectively. The systematic collection of gender-disaggregated data is key to this objective.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- International human rights law requires States to guarantee gender equality and the empowerment of women. While essential to the women's right to food, this would also contribute to the realization of the right to food for other members of society. The advancement of women's rights translates into improved physical and mental development of children, whose ability to learn and to lead healthy and productive lives will gain; it translates into better health and nutritional outcomes for the household, as the decision-making power within the family is rebalanced in favour of women; and it results in higher productivity for women as small-scale food producers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- On 8 May 2014, Hilal Elver (Turkey) was appointed by the Human Rights Council as Special Rapporteur on the right to food. She officially assumed her responsibilities as mandate holder on 2 June 2014. The Special Rapporteur wishes to take this opportunity to express her appreciation for the exceptional contribution of her predecessors, Olivier De Schutter (2008-2014) and Jean Ziegler (2000-2008), in advancing the mandate and promoting the realization of the right to adequate food. The Special Rapporteur intends to build on the work of her predecessors and further develop the important networks already established by them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Since the establishment of the mandate in 2000, a number of important issues have been addressed by the Special Rapporteur's predecessors, including the impact of trade agreements, agroecology and alternative farming methods as a means of maintaining access to land. Legal, policy and institutional frameworks related to the right to food have also been analysed, with examples of best practice providing the basis of many of the recommendations made to States in relation to their obligation to protect the right to an adequate diet. The right of vulnerable groups to access adequate food has also been addressed by previous mandate holders, as has the impact of agriculture on climate change.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- While there have been significant developments in a number of countries in response to the crisis, concerns about price volatility remain, with the world economy showing little sign of stabilizing. Indeed there has been a worrisome rise in local food prices in recent years. Additional steps must be taken at the global level to reduce the risk of future food crises resulting from rapid price increases. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur will continue to monitor the situation and urges States, both individually and collectively, to fulfil their legal obligation under human rights law to do their part in ensuring sustainable access to food for people.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- In its general comment No. 12 (1999) on the right to adequate food, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights defined the necessary elements required for the right to food (i.e., the possibility either to feed oneself directly from productive land or other natural resources, or to purchase food) as follows: (a) availability; (b) accessibility; and (c) adequacy. Availability relates to the presence of sufficient food on the market to meet population needs. Accessibility refers to both physical and economic access: physical accessibility means that food should be accessible to all persons, including the physically vulnerable, such as children, older persons and persons with a disability; economic accessibility means that food should be affordable without compromising other basic needs, such as education, health care or housing. Adequacy requires that food satisfy dietary needs (factoring in a person's age, living conditions, health, occupation, sex and so on), be safe for human consumption, free of adverse substances, culturally acceptable and nutritious.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- At the international level, the right to food is recognized as a distinct and fundamental right in a number of international instruments. It was recognized in article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and reaffirmed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (article 11) and, through the right to life, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is also conferred in article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is further recognized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (articles 3, 24, para. 2 (c), and 27), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (articles 12, para. 2, and 14) the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (article 5 (e)) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (articles 25 (f) and 28, para. 1).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security is observed in 2014. The Voluntary Guidelines were developed as a practical tool for States to assist them in implementing their obligations under article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. They build on international law and complement the objectives set out in the Plan of Action of the 1996 World Food Summit. They also provide an additional instrument to accelerate attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and the post-2015 sustainable development goals. While the Voluntary Guidelines do not establish legally binding obligations for States or international organizations, Guideline 7 does, however, provide guidance on strengthening legal frameworks at the domestic level.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- While there has been considerable legislative and judicial progress in many countries throughout the world since the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines a decade ago, many challenges remain. In order to ensure the progressive realization of the right to food at the domestic level, it is imperative that constitutional principles and framework laws are established as a means of providing an appropriate institutional structure. The adoption of sectoral legislation will ensure that States adequately address various sectors that impact significantly on levels of food security.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- It is in this context that the Special Rapporteur believes the international community should look to the future and establish what more can be done to ensure an enabling environment for people to access food in a dignified manner and to establish applicable remedies for those who are unable to do so. In his final report to the Human Rights Council in March 2014, the previous Special Rapporteur highlighted framework laws and national strategies in support of the realization of the right to food, highlighting a number of countries where examples of good practice exist. The Special Rapporteur intends to assess the experience of those countries and will examine the implementation of such laws at the national level, as a means of identifying possible models for other countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur believes that a key focus should now be placed on the implementation of those legal frameworks and policies to promote the right to adequate food for all. The Guidelines illustrate the significant impact of sectoral legislation through three examples: school feeding programmes, subsidies and transfers in cash or in kind for food security, food safety and consumer protection. The Special Rapporteur supports the implementation of such policies and believes that regional, as well as North-South and South-South cooperation is essential for sharing best practices among States.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- While in Rome in July 2014, the Special Rapporteur participated in an event organized by FAO to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Voluntary Guidelines. The event provided her with the opportunity to participate in an interactive dialogue with government representatives, United Nations agencies and civil society in relation to the challenges facing all stakeholders in advancing the human rights approach to the progressive realization of the right to food. Despite institutional and normative developments over the last decade, eradicating hunger and ensuring access to adequate food has not been universally achieved. Frustration and disappointment were articulated by the representatives of both States and civil society at the event in Rome. The Committee on World Food Security will review the first decade of the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines in October 2014 and States will be invited to comment on progress made, along with remaining challenges. The Special Rapporteur intends to contribute to that process.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- International human rights treaties and customary law principles oblige all States to protect persons living within their national territory, as well as people who are not the subject of any State sovereignty. The interdependence of international and national obligations in relation to human rights is enshrined in articles 22 and 23 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and specifically expressed in article 11, paragraph 2, on the right to food. Moreover, the Human Rights Council, in resolution 7/14, considered that States should make every effort to ensure that their international policies of a political and economic nature, including international trade agreements, do not have a negative impact on the right to food in other countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur will examine the impact of climate change and environmental degradation as a growing source of food shortages and food insecurity, particularly in countries that are faced with imminent risks due to economic, geographic and climatic conditions. In this context, she will also address the need to review international food systems, as a means of improving sustainable consumption and reducing food waste. In so doing, the Special Rapporteur will engage with the specific policy recommendations of the post-2015 sustainable development goals concerning the eradication of poverty and hunger, food security and the empowerment of women. The adoption of those goals is currently being negotiated by the United Nations, civil society and the relevant organizations with respect to their precise language.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- 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).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- 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 and 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 International 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Despite the scepticism that persists in a number of States, courts in several countries have been proactive in stepping in to prevent situations in which survival was threatened due to government inaction or inefficiency in realizing the right to food. The majority of cases relate to failures by authorities to provide minimum levels of subsistence for affected individuals or communities. The right to food is now enshrined in the constitutions of more than 20 countries, together with legal provisions that allow for judicial protection by invoking the right to life, respect for human dignity, the right to health, the right to land, respect for ethnic and cultural rights, the right to housing and consumer rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in May 2013, provided an additional remedial mechanism. It reinforces the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights and places them on an equal footing with civil and political rights. The Optional Protocol is intended to complement rather than replace national legal systems and should not be considered as the principal means of seeking justice. It grants individuals, or groups of individuals under the jurisdiction of a State party, the right to submit communications about alleged violations of any economic, social or cultural right to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Complaint procedures remind Governments of their responsibility to respect, protect and fulfil the right to adequate food.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur commends those States that have ratified the Optional Protocol and encourages others to do so as a matter of priority. The Special Rapporteur intends to work closely with civil society to promote ratification and use of the Optional Protocol and bring violations to the attention of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as a means of eradicating hunger and promoting the right to adequate food. The Optional Protocol has the potential to contextualize and operationalize the right to food at international and national levels.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Although traditionally the role of women has been a part of the agenda on the right to food, the Special Rapporteur believes that the empowerment of women and the protection of their rights should be placed at the centre of the policymaking process on the right to food. Specific programmes and policies should be developed to empower women as agents of change. That means ensuring that they are granted equal access to resources, such as land ownership or tenure, water and seeds, and financial and technological assistance. The empowerment of women should not be limited to rural areas, but should also be extended to urban women, women from indigenous communities, those living in refugee camps and undocumented migrants. In the agricultural sector, policies tend to be "gender blind or gender sensitive in mild ways", failing to address some of the main obstacles women face. Moving towards gender transformative policies will require major additional efforts on the part of States.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Patriarchal norms often control the distribution of household resources, including food and income. As such, women and girls are often the last to receive food within the family setting. Such blatant discrimination can have a devastating effect on women's nutrition, which in turn leads to a reduction in learning potential and productivity and increases reproductive and maternal health risks. As a consequence, children are also severely affected. It is increasingly recognized that malnourished women are more likely to give birth to underweight children, resulting in stunting and other nutritional disorders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- As farm labourers, vendors and unpaid care workers, women are responsible for food preparation and production in many countries and regions throughout the world and play a vital role in food security and nutrition. However, women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty and malnutrition. Women in rural areas are particularly affected, as female-headed households continue to grow, exceeding 30 per cent in some developing countries, with women owning only 2 per cent of agricultural land and with limited access to productive resources. In many low-income countries, women are the backbone of the rural economy and 79 per cent of economically active women in the least developed countries consider agriculture as their primary source of income. Agrarian land reform legislation often discriminates against women by entitling only men over a certain age to land ownership while women's entitlement only applies in cases where they are household heads. Such discriminatory practices prevent women in many countries from asserting their economic independence and being able to feed themselves and their families.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Investing in rural women has been shown to increase productivity significantly and reduce hunger and malnutrition.8 According to FAO, women are responsible for 50 per cent of world food production, mainly for family consumption. The majority of rural women are "invisible" field workers on family plots. As a result, they have no recognized independent status as farmers and their work is considered as secondary both in the family and in society. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 15 per cent of landholders are women and they account for less than 10 per cent of credit and 7 per cent of extension services. According to estimates, policies that address gender inequalities could, conservatively, increase yields on women's farms by 2.5 to 4 per cent. Those statistics emphasize women's key role in agriculture, not only in ensuring the well-being of individuals, families and rural communities, but also in relation to overall economic productivity and sustainable development.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Article 14 of the Convention on the All Forms of Elimination of Discrimination against Women should be used as a guiding tool by States. In the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security in May 2012, it is noted that gender equality is at the core of all reform efforts. The Voluntary Tenure Guidelines also contain special provisions for improving gender equality in both formal and customary systems, for instance through amending discriminatory inheritance and property laws. The Special Rapporteur will review State policies with reference to the Guidelines, highlighting examples of good practices that encourage access to land for women and other vulnerable groups.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Women in many parts of the world are confronted with other discriminatory policies and societal norms that prevent them from accessing their fundamental right to adequate food and nutrition. Limited access to education and adequate public health care, as well as early marriage and pregnancy, domestic violence and unequal employment opportunities impose restrictions on women's mobility, decision-making power and control over the family income. Migration as a result of natural disasters, climate change and conflict has also had a disproportionate effect on women, particularly those living in rural areas and among the urban poor.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Movement
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The fact that women are also considered as the primary caregivers, in both rural and urban settings, adds an extra dimension to their responsibilities within the household. While rural women often shoulder the burden of a heavy workload in addition to their care duties, urban poor woman face different challenges relating to assuring adequate food and nutrition for their family. For a range of economic reasons, poor urban women are increasingly relying on less nutritious processed foods. The Special Rapporteur intends to work with relevant stakeholders to address concerns related to the food issues facing different countries as a result of a dietary transition from traditional diets to processed foods high in fat and sugar, including the concerns addressed by her predecessor (see A/HRC/19/59).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- States must recognize the need to accommodate the specific time and mobility constraints on women, given their role in the "care" economy, while at the same time reconstituting gender roles by adopting a transformative approach to employment and social protection (see A/HRC/22/50). The Special Rapporteur will endeavour to promote greater awareness of the guidance provided by general comments No. 16 (2005) on the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights and No. 20 (2009) on non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights of the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, which relate to discriminatory practices against women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- The first five years of life are the most important period of human development, with the first 1,000 days requiring special attention. Ensuring that a child receives adequate nutrition during that window of 1,000 days can have a profound impact on his or her ability to grow. It can also shape the long-term health, stability and prosperity of a society. Stunting, caused by chronic undernutrition early in a child's life, affects some 165 million children around the world. It was estimated that in 2011 more than one in every four children under five years of age in the developing world was stunted. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are the two regions where stunting continues to be highly prevalent, with low-income countries experiencing the highest levels. Undernutrition magnifies the effects of every disease, including measles and malaria, while malnutrition can also be caused by certain illnesses which reduce the ability of the body to convert food into usable nutrients.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Although issues of undernutrition are often framed in terms of disability prevention, good nutrition is also vital for those who already live with a disability. Infants and children with disabilities suffer the same ill-effects of undernutrition as those without: poorer health outcomes; missing or delayed developmental milestones; avoidable secondary impairments; and, in extreme circumstances, premature death. The exclusion of children and adults with disabilities from nutritional outreach efforts on the basis of the incorrect belief that preserving the life of a child or adult with a disability is of lower priority than preserving the life of someone who is not disabled must be addressed by tackling such discriminatory social and cultural norms which advocate this.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Maintaining breast-feeding programmes, especially in countries experiencing the HIV epidemic poses a major challenge. The Special Rapporteur intends to coordinate with the United Nations Children's Fund the World Health Organization and other relevant stakeholders to help develop policies for strengthening specific programmes for young children. She also encourages States to fully implement the Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding, to position breastfeeding as the norm and to respect and promote community-based food sovereignty approaches to complementary feeding. The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, adopted by the World Health Assembly at its thirty-fourth session in 1981 as a minimum requirement to protect and promote appropriate infant and young child feeding, should also be supplemented by further monitoring and regulation to ensure that companies responsible for the production of baby food follow similar quality control regulations for domestic use to those for export products.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- A right-to-food approach requires that States fulfil their obligation to ensure that safe, nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable food is available; they must also respect and protect consumers and promote good nutrition for all. The Voluntary Guidelines, in particular Guidelines 9, on food safety and consumer protection, and 10, on nutrition, can guide States in the establishment and maintenance of effective food and nutrition policies, thereby increasing the protection of the most vulnerable from unsafe food and inadequate diets, while helping to combat overweight and obesity. The Convention on the Rights of the Child indicates that access to adequate nutrition, including family support for optimal feeding practices, is a right that should be supported for every child. The Special Rapporteur believes that increased focus must be placed on mother and child nutrition as the core of a healthy start in life, with the correlation between infant and young child feeding and food security being treated as a priority in all global food and nutrition security programmes and with formal recognition at the international and national level, including in legal frameworks.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Climate change, sustainable resource management and food security are now widely considered among the most complex, interdependent and urgent global policy challenges. With average temperatures predicted by the world scientific community to rise by 2-4° C by the end of the century, the ability of entire regions to maintain current levels of agricultural production is being threatened and many of the adverse effects of climate change are now acutely felt. Individuals and communities already in vulnerable situations and at risk of discrimination due to geography, poverty, gender, age, indigenous or minority status and disability are often disproportionately affected.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Climate change is already having a significant impact on approximately 1 billion of the world's poor. In achieving the target set out in Millennium Development Goal 1, poverty rates have been halved, with 700 million fewer people living in extreme poverty in 2010 than in 1990. In the Human Development Report 2013, however, the United Nations Development Programme warns that if environmental degradation continues at the current rate, the gains in poverty reduction will be reversed, plunging over 3 billion people into extreme poverty and hunger. Without the implementation of serious measures to combat climate change, the number of people at risk of hunger is projected to increase by 10-20 per cent by 2050.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- The most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change16 suggests that climate change will "more likely than not" depress crop yields by more than 5 per cent by 2050. In addition, there is increased certainty about the effects of climate volatility on agricultural production and practices, with climate change shocks principally affecting smallholder agriculture, where the absence of crop insurance translates into adversity to risk. The report further acknowledges that climate change will have significant impacts on non-farm rural livelihoods, as well as tending to increase the risk of violent conflict when the availability of food and water is threatened. FAO has noted that climate change affects the four dimensions of food security: availability, accessibility, utilization and food system stability. It will have an impact on human health, livelihood assets, food production and distribution channels, as well as influencing purchasing power and market flows.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Climate change is not only impacting on food security but rising carbon dioxide emissions are causing harm to staple food crops, reducing their nutrient content for the 280 million malnourished people in the world. A study by the Harvard School of Public Health estimates that 2 billion people suffer from zinc and iron deficiencies, resulting in a loss of 63 million lives annually from malnutrition. Africa today has more children with stunted growth than it did 20 years ago, with up to 82 per cent of cases improperly treated. That poses a huge threat to the future of the continent and access to food rich in nutrients has become imperative.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Children
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- The principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities", as specified in article 3 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is one of the innovative principles of international law that allows countries to participate in the responsibilities set out in the Convention to different degrees, depending on their developmental level. That principle should be used to inform future negotiations, especially in relation to countries facing severe threats to food security, while not directly responsible for climate change themselves.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- In 2008, the Human Rights Council adopted its first resolution on human rights and climate change (resolution 7/23). As a result, OHCHR was requested to conduct an analytical study on the relationship between climate change and human rights (A/HRC/10/61). Subsequently, resolutions 10/4 and 18/22 were adopted in 2009 and 2011, in which the Council emphasized that climate change had a range of negative impacts on the human rights to life, adequate food, the highest attainable standard of health, adequate housing, self-determination, development and safe drinking water and sanitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- International human rights law complements the Convention on Climate Change by emphasizing that international cooperation is a human rights obligation and that its central objective is safeguarding those rights. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights notes that the right to adequate food requires the adoption of appropriate economic, environmental and social policies, and that the right to health extends to its underlying determinants, including a healthy environment. Similarly, the OHCHR report on climate change and human rights mentioned above focuses on the direct relationship between the right to adequate food and climate change (paras. 25-30). Previous reports of the mandate holders have documented how extreme climate events are increasingly threatening livelihoods and food security (see, for example, A/HRC/7/5).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- While it is beyond the scope of the present preliminary report to enter into the current debate on climate change policy, the Special Rapporteur wishes to note that she will focus on the adverse effects of climate change on the effective enjoyment of human rights (and particularly the right to food) as a cross-cutting theme in her mandate, consistent with Human Rights Council resolution 26/27 on human rights and climate change. In particular, the Special Rapporteur will focus on the impact of climate change on the right to food as it affects the most vulnerable groups in society and will analyse the gender dimensions of food security and nutrition in the context of climate change.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph