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Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, articles 11 and 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women address women’s right to protection of health and safety, including the safeguarding of the function of reproduction, and call for special protections to be accorded to mothers before and after childbirth. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women also calls on States to take appropriate measures to provide special protection to women during pregnancy. Such obligations clearly extend to minimizing the risks of maternal exposure to pesticides.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Exposure to pesticides can have severe impacts on the enjoyment of human rights, in particular the right to adequate food, as well as the right to health. The right to food obligates States to implement protective measures and food safety requirements to ensure that food is safe, free from pesticides and qualitatively adequate. Furthermore, human rights standards require States to protect vulnerable groups, such as farm workers and agricultural communities, children and pregnant women from the impacts of pesticides.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Pregnant women who are exposed to pesticides are at higher risk of miscarriage, pre-term delivery and birth defects. Studies have regularly found a cocktail of pesticides in umbilical cords and first faeces of newborns, proving prenatal exposure. Exposure to pesticides can be transferred from either parent. The most critical period for exposure for the father is three months prior to conception, while maternal exposure is most dangerous from the month before conception through the first trimester of pregnancy. Recent evidence suggests that pesticide exposure by pregnant mothers leads to higher risk of childhood leukaemia and other cancers, autism and respiratory illnesses. For example, neurotoxic pesticides can cross the placental barrier and affect the developing nervous system of the fetus, while other toxic chemicals can adversely impact its undeveloped immune system.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Girls and women suffer from discrimination in relation to their right to food at all stages in life. In many countries, females receive less food than their male partners, due to a lower social status. In extreme cases, a preference for male children may lead to female infanticide, including by deprivation of food. Some mothers stop breastfeeding girls prematurely in order to try and get pregnant with a male, which could increase risks of infection and other risks if impure water is used with formula. Similar discrimination applies to older women who tend to be less literate than older men, in many parts of the world; this limits women's employability, participation and voice in community development activities and makes them less likely to be able to provide for themselves.
- 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
- Girls
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Furthermore, girls and adolescent women induced by tradition or forced into child marriage and adolescent pregnancy, suffer the consequences of a high work burden and deprivation of their child rights, including their right to adequate nutrition and education. They are required to perform heavy amounts of domestic work, and are responsible for raising children while still children themselves. Adolescent pregnancy is a typical outcome of child marriage and complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the second cause of death for 15-19 year-old girls globally.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- A gendered approach to climate change adaptation and mitigation is necessary to combat the vulnerabilities women face because of existing social, economic and political inequalities. Mitigation activities aim to decrease greenhouse gas emissions through support for technology development and capacity building. These activities also provide important opportunities to improve women's health and livelihoods by creating new opportunities for women particularly in the renewable energy sector. Development programs that support the distribution of clean cook-stoves have had a significant impact on reducing emissions and limiting premature deaths and illness linked to indoor air pollution, particularly benefiting women and children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- One area of concern is disaster management because climate change is likely to impact the number and severity of extreme weather events. Researches show that in societies where men and women should be impacted indiscriminately in disasters women and girls, as a result of gender based inequalities, are up to 14 times more likely to die in the event of a disaster. This is especially true of elderly women, those with disabilities, pregnant and nursing women, and those with small children, who may have lack of, or limited mobility and resources, and therefore remain most at risk in cases of emergency.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Women remain more vulnerable than men in post-disaster situations, as their household responsibilities increase while access to resources decreases. The daily work involved in providing food, water, and fuel for households after a disaster requires intensive labour, the bulk of which is borne by women. Moreover, marketing interference with breastfeeding initiation and long-term prolongation jeopardizes women's ability to safely feed their infants and young children due to unreliable quality and quantity of safe drinking water, particularly in post-disaster situations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Notwithstanding the legal framework designed to protect them, women experience poverty and hunger at disproportionate levels. Institutionalized gender discrimination and violence still impose barriers that prevent women from enjoying their economic, social and cultural rights and specifically the right to adequate food and nutrition, and the status of women and girls has not substantially improved, despite recurrent calls for the inclusion of a gender perspective to development programs and to social policies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Children and pregnant and lactating women enjoy even further protections. The Convention on the Rights of the Child confirms that, to ensure the full implementation of a child's right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health, States must take appropriate measures to combat disease and malnutrition through, inter alia, the provision of "adequate nutritious foods" (art. 24 (2) (c)) and that in case of need they must provide material assistance and support programmes, including with regard to nutrition (art. 27 (3)). The Convention also calls for the protection and promotion of exclusive breastfeeding for infants up to 6 months of age, and for breastfeeding to continue alongside appropriate complementary foods preferably until 2 years of age.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Raising tariffs on imported foods and drinks classified as "unhealthy" are another tool, used for example by the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Nauru and Samoa. Others have lowered import tariffs on "healthy" foods that are not procured locally. Targeted subsidies or price discounts can also enable people on low incomes to afford healthier food options. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, for example, low-income pregnant women and families receive vouchers to buy dairy and vegetables, and in the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program gives incentives to spend on fruits and vegetables.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Impacts of decreased water quality as a result of climate change are also gender differentiated. Children and pregnant women are more physically vulnerable to waterborne diseases and their role in supplying household water and performing domestic chores makes them more vulnerable to developing diseases, such as diarrhea and cholera, which thrive in degraded water. Decreased water resources may also cause women's health to suffer as a result of the increased work burden and reduced nutritional status. For instance, in Peru following the 1997-98 El Niño events, malnutrition among women was a major cause of peripartum illness.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Women account for 70% of the world's hungry and are disproportionately affected by malnutrition and food insecurity. This ratio is overwhelming in some developing and Least Developed Countries, for example, more than one third of women in several South-Asian countries being underweight. Poor nutrition, lack of healthcare, social protection, limited economic opportunities and general neglect has excluded more women from global society than the number of men killed in 20th century wars, combined.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Structural violence is an under-examined barrier to women's right to adequate food and nutrition. Gender-based violence, which is a primary form of discrimination, impedes women from engaging in their own right to adequate food and nutrition, and efforts to overcome hunger and malnutrition. Some men control women's behavior and monitor women's food work in households. A woman's perceived failure to adequately prepare food and meals is a common justification for "disciplinary" action.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Women are responsible for much of the food cultivation and preparation of family meals, but they disproportionately lack access to adequate food and are more vulnerable to malnutrition. In its general recommendation No. 34, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women noted that rural women were among those most exposed to malnutrition and hunger. Patriarchal norms contribute to gender inequality, with women facing systemic discrimination in accessing land and natural resources, decision-making, education and health-care services and experiencing increased vulnerability to violations of their sexual and reproductive rights. Such factors impede their ability to provide adequately nutritious foods for themselves and their families, leading to intergenerational cycles of malnutrition.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Women who are lactating and pregnant require an even more nutrient-rich diet. To ensure the health of the fetus, a diet consisting of at least 20 per cent protein and higher levels of iron, folate and calcium is essential. Malnourished mothers are more likely to give birth to underweight babies, who in turn are 20 per cent more likely to die before the age of 5. Diets that consist of less than 6 per cent protein in utero have been linked with many deficits, including decreased brain weight, obesity and impaired brain communication.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Gender analysis is important for understanding the causes of hunger and malnutrition, due to women's special role in the food systems. The central role of women in food production, household food management and the important consequences of gender relations for food security have been widely documented. Yet, women cannot easily access productive assets including land, water, seed, machinery and livestock, credit and other financial services. Women also face discrimination to access to food as an individual consumer.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Finally, legal barriers may force women to choose between domestic responsibilities and outside employment. As primary caretakers for children and households, women are not always permitted to engage in paid employment, and family and personal laws may prevent a woman from making employment decisions without her husband's permission. Meanwhile, some countries featured highly discriminatory family laws that gave husbands authority over their wives in marriage including rights over property, and divorce filings. Women also often struggle with maternity protection and child care as those carrying the primary responsibility for domestic work.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- Researchers and breeders often work in isolation from women and men farmers and are sometimes unaware of their needs and priorities beyond yield and resistance to pests and diseases. Moreover, extension agents and research organizations tend to consider many local varieties and breeds to be low-performing and inferior. As a result, national policies that provide incentives such as loans and direct payments for the use of modern varieties and breeds contribute to the loss of genetic diversity and affect traditional gender roles.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Disadvantages for women in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors undermine their right to food. Women's income possibilities are more constrained than men's; the women's participation in the labour force is lower than men on a global scale - 70 percent of working age men are in the labour force compared to only 40 percent of working age women and the labour force participation rates have stagnated around the world in the past two decades.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Globally, women have bred more than 7,000 species of crops. In India alone, seed saving has enabled women to breed 200,000 varieties of rice. Biodiversity offers the genetic variation necessary to protect against diseases, pests, and weather events that threaten to wipe out food supplies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Improving this situation for women would lead to important advantages for society as a whole. It is estimated that closing the gender gap in agricultural yields would increase agricultural output in developing countries by between 2.5 and 4 percent. This in turn, could reduce the number of undernourished people in the world in the order of 12-17 percent, or as much as 150 million people.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Article 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women obliges States to ensure appropriate services during pregnancy and lactation. Unfortunately, it fails to protect a woman's individual right to adequate food and nutrition beyond the parameters of pregnancy and breastfeeding. Considering their increased sensitivity to malnutrition, it is vitally important to ensure this right.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Women are more vulnerable to malnutrition than men because of different physiological requirements. Although women require 35 per cent less dietary energy per day than men, they need at least the same amount of nutrients. Consequently, a woman's ideal diet contains significantly more nutrients than those of a male counterpart.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- For example, indigenous women living in rural areas are more likely to be particularly disadvantaged in terms of the fulfillment of their rights, a trend seen in Sub-Saharan Africa where indigenous women lack access the same level of rights to land, health, and education as non-indigenous women of this country.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Furthermore, the IPR regime does not readily acknowledge the value of women's traditional knowledge, which may cover a broad range of agricultural practices, technologies and techniques. In addition, women are faced with the threat of bio-piracy: the practice of co-opting and patenting traditional knowledge, without awarding appropriate compensation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- In the absence of additional support for care work at home, women dependents - children and the elderly - may be further disadvantaged by women working outside the home to earn an income. Daughters, for example, may dropped off from school to fill the care gap. Clearly, this speaks to the discrimination of women in participation in the labour market, if care work remains the main or sole responsibility of women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, agricultural labour is one of the most dangerous sectors in which to work, particularly for women. It is physically demanding and safety standards are often low or non-existent, and protective equipment and clothing are often designed with men in mind. Women are also most often engaged on a piecework basis, which motivates them to put their health at risk to complete as much work as possible. In Guatemala, allegations of serious breaches of this kind were received by the UN Country Office in 2014, referring to the widespread practice of tying wages to productivity goals, which in turn affected women proportionally more, as they were often forced to work in an unrecognized manner, helping the men reach those goals. Women agricultural workers also face rights violations related to their reproductive roles. Exposure to certain chemicals used in agriculture can cause spontaneous abortions, premature births and affect child and infant development through exposure to toxic chemicals in utero and also by way of breastmilk. As a result of discriminatory hiring practices, women often hide their pregnancies and employers often hire women on short-term contracts in order to avoid paying maternity benefits.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- As suggested, the root causes of malnutrition go beyond a lack of sufficient and adequate food, and to combat them requires actions similar to those embedded in a variety of interrelated development goals, including those pertaining to health, access to resources, environmental degradation, climate change and women's empowerment. The Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved without special attention to nutrition, and vice versa.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Climate change itself intensifies psychological stress associated with disasters, increasing women's risks of situations of violence, sexual harassment and trafficking. Some women are forced into prostitution and research has shown increased HIV prevalence in drought-ridden areas of rural Africa.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph