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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
Paragraph
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
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
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
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
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
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
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Contracts should be put in the woman's name where it is expected that the woman would be the main person working on the farm, or, in the case of a couple, in the names of both parties. It should not automatically be in the name of the male head of household or the male holder of the title to the land cultivated
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
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
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
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
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- What is in the interest of the parties to certain contractual arrangements or business models may not be in the interest of the community as a whole, and the solutions may not be sustainable. For instance, contract farming may divert agricultural production towards cash crops that, while potentially increasing revenue for some producers, may also lead to local food price increases, as less food would be produced for local consumption, with the risk that food would become unaffordable for the poorest in some communities. This may be in violation of the requirement that "every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, have physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement" (see E/C.12/1999/5, para. 6). The specialization in cash crops frequently entails a loss of biodiversity and a shift away from diversity and towards mono-cropping in farming systems that may be detrimental to the biotic activity of the soil and may accelerate soil erosion. States have a duty to "protect ecological sustainability and the carrying capacity of ecosystems to ensure the possibility for increased, sustainable food production for present and future generations, prevent water pollution, protect the fertility of the soil, and promote the sustainable management of fisheries and forestry" (E/CN.4/2005/131, annex, para. 8.13).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Collective ownership models can give small-scale farmers more autonomy over their land and production than traditional contract farming arrangements and can also cut out middlemen that might take a large percentage of earnings. Collective farming can also empower women farmers, strengthen their claims to land and protect their right to work.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Sometimes, seemingly minor innovations can provide high returns. In Kenya, researchers and farmers developed the "push-pull" strategy to control parasitic weeds and insects that damage the crops. The strategy consists in "pushing" away pests from corn by inter-planting corn with insect-repellent crops like Desmodium, while "pulling" them towards small plots of Napier grass, a plant that excretes a sticky gum which both attracts and traps pests. The system not only controls pests but has other benefits as well, because Desmodium can be used as fodder for livestock. The push-pull strategy doubles maize yields and milk production while, at the same time, improves the soil. The system has already spread to more than 10,000 households in East Africa by means of town meetings, national radio broadcasts and farmer field schools. In Japan, farmers found that ducks and fish were as effective as pesticide for controlling insects in rice paddies, while providing additional protein for their families. The ducks eat weeds, weed seeds, insects, and other pests, thus reducing weeding labour, otherwise done by hand by women, and duck droppings provide plant nutrients. The system has been adopted in China, India, and the Philippines. In Bangladesh, the International Rice Research Institute reports 20 per cent higher crops yields, and net incomes on a cash cost basis have increased by 80 per cent.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- In addition to encouraging Governments to adopt national plans to scale up nutrition in their various sectoral policies, SUN includes the establishment of partnerships linking business, civil society and Government to foster scaling up nutrition through nutrition-sensitive interventions along the value chain at the country level. Private-sector interventions include the production of fortified food products, the promotion of nutritionally healthy behaviour, the shaping of work environments allowing women to ensure good nutrition for themselves and their children, ensuring that lower-income groups can access nutritionally valuable products, and building local capacity through the transfer of knowledge and technology. Some of these partnerships are supported by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). A public-private partnership, GAIN was launched at the 2002 special session of the General Assembly on children. It has since established links with 600 companies across 36 large projects in more than 25 countries to improve access to missing micronutrients in diets. According to GAIN promoters, it reaches nearly 400 million people with nutritionally enhanced food products.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2012
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
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
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
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
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 25a
- Paragraph text
- [Three concerns have emerged:] The approach adopted by CCT programmes may reinforce gender stereotyped roles as women are prioritized as "mothers" and "caregivers", rather than empowered as equal to men. Women are relied upon to ensure that the household invests in children, leading some authors to claim that child-centered policies such as those illustrated by CCT programmes tend to sideline "the equality claims of adult women and attention to their needs [...] in favor of those of children, including girls."
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- A human rights-based strategy to address gender discrimination against women includes four complementary requirements. It must relieve women of the burdens of household chores; it must be empowering and challenge the existing division of roles; it must systematically aim at taking into account gender in existing food security strategies; and, as regards governance, it must be part of a multisectoral and multi-year effort, including independent monitoring of progress towards certain targets.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph