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Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food was established by the Commission on Human Rights in resolution 2000/10. In September 2007, the Human Rights Council, in resolution 6/2, reviewed and extended the mandate for three years. In resolution 6/2, the Council instructed the Special Rapporteur to: (a) promote the full realization of the right to food and the adoption of measures at the national, regional and international levels for the realization of the right to food; (b) examine ways and means of overcoming obstacles to the realization of the right to food; (c) continue mainstreaming a gender perspective and take into account an age dimension in the fulfilment of the mandate; (d) submit proposals that could help the realization of Millennium Development Goal 1; (e) present recommendations on possible steps towards achieving progressively the full realization of the right to food; (f) work in close cooperation with all States, intergovernmental and non governmental organizations, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other relevant actors to take fully into account the need to promote the effective realization of the right to food for all; and (g) continue participating in and contributing to relevant international conferences and events with the aim of promoting the realization of the right to food. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur was subsequently endorsed by the Council in resolutions 13/4 and 22/9, renewing the mandate for periods of three years.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- N.A.
- Année
- 2014
Paragraphe
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Leaders at the Conference also recognized the importance of integrating their political commitments with the post-2015 development agenda and of anchoring nutrition targets in the Sustainable Development Goals. The Goals have a universal character and cannot be achieved without special attention to nutrition. While Goal 2 explicitly refers to "nutrition" and Goal 3 to non-communicable diseases, nutrition is arguably interwoven within all 17 Goals, as well as 50 indicators.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personnes concernées
- All
- N.A.
- Année
- 2016
Paragraphe
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- As noted above, these developments have come at a high ecological cost. Due to the links between agriculture, diets and health, they also impose a considerable burden on health-care systems. They have led, finally, to the depopulation of rural areas. Yet, because these different components of the food systems shaped during the past half-century have strengthened one another, they have become lock-ins, seemingly blocking any real transformative possibilities.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2014
Paragraphe
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 74
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- In its general comment No. 12, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights views the right to adequate food to imply food "free from adverse substances" (para. 8), which "sets requirements for food safety and for a range of protective measures by both public and private means … at different stages throughout the food chain" (para. 10). Considering the adverse health impacts, "food safety" should be interpreted to include the nutritional value of food products.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2016
Paragraphe
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to respect requires that the State refrain from interfering with the existing levels of enjoyment of the right to food and that it guarantee existing entitlements, for instance, by ensuring that those who produce their own food be secure in their access to the resources, including land and water, on which they depend, or by ensuring that those who could have access to income-generating activities allowing them to purchase food are not denied such access.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2013
Paragraphe
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- The threat posed by climate change to fresh water supplies, combined with the overuse of water in agriculture, is having a detrimental impact on food security. The consequent effects on food production are significant, putting the livelihoods of rural communities and the food security of city dwellers at risk. With the global population expected to increase to 9.5 billion by 2050, the world's food calorie production will need to increase by 68 per cent in order to meet growing demand.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Water & Sanitation
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2014
Paragraphe
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Trade liberalization and foreign direct investment (FDI) by transnational corporations in the processed food industry have played a large role in increasing the availability of ultraprocessed foods on the global market. The removal of policies to protect domestic markets has strongly affected the increase in production of certain unhealthy foods, as well as their availability and cost. Countries that embrace market deregulation experience a faster increase in unhealthy food consumption.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- N.A.
- Année
- 2016
Paragraphe
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).
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2010
Paragraphe
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 19
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- 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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2010
Paragraphe
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 27
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- 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).
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2010
Paragraphe
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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- N.A.
- Année
- 2011
Paragraphe
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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2012
Paragraphe
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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2012
Paragraphe
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 53
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- 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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- N.A.
- Année
- 2012
Paragraphe
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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2012
Paragraphe
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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2012
Paragraphe
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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2013
Paragraphe
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 25
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- 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).
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2013
Paragraphe
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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2013
Paragraphe
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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2013
Paragraphe
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".
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- N.A.
- Année
- 2013
Paragraphe
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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Children
- Année
- 2014
Paragraphe
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Approximately 1.3 billion tons, representing almost one third of world total food production for human consumption, is wasted per year. That is equivalent to more than half of world annual cereal production. Food waste varies significantly by country and region. In developing countries, food waste and losses principally occur during the early stages of the food value chain and can be traced back to constraints on harvesting techniques and deficient storage facilities. In developed countries, however, food is mainly wasted or lost at a later stage in the supply chain, with the behaviour of consumers having a significant impact. In Europe and North America, for example, per capita food loss and waste amounts to 280-300 kg per year, whereas in sub-Saharan Africa and South and South-East Asia it amounts to 120-170 kg per year. Food waste has a considerable environmental impact, with the vast amount of food going to landfills adding to global warming.23
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- N.A.
- Année
- 2014
Paragraphe
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- These inefficiencies result in food production exerting a much higher pressure on natural resources than would otherwise occur. Various measures could be taken in response. They include improving storage and marketing facilities, especially in developing countries; helping farmers to organize themselves in ways that avoid systematic net overproduction, for example by compensating the losses of some with the surplus production of others; improving access to credit for farmers to reduce the need for premature harvesting in order to satisfy food needs or to obtain cash; avoiding reliance on high "appearance quality standards" which lead to fresh produce being rejected if it does not present the required qualities of shape, size or colour; and developing direct farmer-to-consumer marketing.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2014
Paragraphe
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.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2014
Paragraphe
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- The year 2014 is one of reflection for global food policymakers as they take stock of the progress made following the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security a decade ago. The Guidelines have provided a concrete tool with which to evaluate whether the principles set forth in human rights instruments and hortatory principles are having a practical impact on people's lives, especially the most vulnerable. The Special Rapporteur intends to work closely with FAO, the Committee on World Food Security and other relevant stakeholders to evaluate progress made to date, by taking into consideration examples of good practice as a means of promoting the Guidelines.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Personnes concernées
- All
- N.A.
- Année
- 2014
Paragraphe
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Globally, livestock production employs 1.3 billion people and sustains livelihoods for about 900 million of the world's poor. As a major source of protein intake, meat and dairy production is a potential component in tackling undernourishment, and there are sustainable modes of meat production. But in high-income countries, the net health impacts of meat consumption are turning negative: at current levels, it is contributing to chronic diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Moreover, the industrial model of cereal-fed livestock production as well as the apparently limitless expansion of pastures is creating problems that must be addressed urgently. In 2006, FAO estimated that grazing occupied an area equivalent to 26 per cent of the ice-free terrestrial surface of the planet, while 33 per cent of total arable land was dedicated to feedcrop production - maize and soybean in particular. Thus, livestock production accounted for 70 per cent of all agricultural land and 30 per cent of the land surface of the planet, and the expansion of pastures and feed crops is a major source of deforestation, especially in Latin America. The FAO study estimated that the livestock sector was responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2 equivalent - a larger share than transport. Once livestock respiration and the loss of greenhouse gas reductions from photosynthesis that are foregone by using large areas of land for grazing or feedcrops are taken into account, livestock is found to be responsible for 51 per cent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, so that a 25 per cent reduction in livestock products worldwide between 2009 and 2017 could result in a 12.5 per cent reduction in global atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions. The precise figures remain debated, but there is no doubt in the scientific community that the impacts of livestock production are massive.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2014
Paragraphe
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Finally, because global food systems have been shaped to maximize efficiency gains and produce large volumes of commodities, they have failed to take distributional concerns into account. The increases in production far outstripped population growth during the period from 1960 to 2000. But these increases went hand in hand with regional specialization in a relatively narrow range of products, a process encouraged by the growth of international trade in agricultural products. The associated technological and policy choices concentrated benefits in the hands of large production units and landholders at the expense of smaller-scale producers and landless workers, resulting in the growth of inequality in rural areas and a failure to address the root causes of poverty. Of course, there were important evolutions throughout the period. The 1960s and 1970s were characterized by a State-led type of agricultural development, under which governments, eager to provide urban populations with affordable food or to export raw commodities in order to finance import substitution policies, either paid farmers very low prices for the crops produced or supported only the largest producers who could be competitive on global markets, thus accelerating rural migration. In the 1980s, the introduction in most low-income countries of structural adjustment policies resulted in a retreat of the State from agricultural development. It was anticipated that trade liberalization and the removal of price controls would encourage private investment, making up for the reduction of State support. Overproduction in the highly subsidized farming sectors of rich countries put downward pressure on agricultural prices, however, discouraging the entry of private investors into agriculture in developing countries. If there was private investment at all, it went to a narrow range of cash crops grown for export markets.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2014
Paragraphe
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- This is the interdependence of reforms. While the rebuilding of local food systems in developing countries is vital to expand opportunities to small-scale food producers and, at the same time, to improve access to fresh and nutritious food for all, it depends fundamentally on the reform of food systems in rich countries. Such reform faces significant obstacles, however. The various elements of the food systems have co-evolved over the years, shaped by the productivist paradigm that has dominated the design of food and agricultural policies for decades. The farming sector has become highly dependent on agricultural subsidies that have favoured the production of commodities for the livestock or food processing industry - corn, soybean and wheat, in particular - rather than food, and it has come to rely on cheap fuel for its highly mechanized and input-intensive mode of production, replacing farmers' knowledge. Even without taking into account the subsidies for the consumption of fossil fuels by agricultural producers, countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development subsidized their farming sector to the amount of $259 billion in 2012. This has encouraged the expansion of the food processing industry, thanks to the availability of cheap inputs and the deployment of infrastructure - in the form of silos and processing plants - that has been shaped by and for agro-industry. Large agribusiness corporations have come to dominate increasingly globalized markets thanks to their ability to achieve economies of scale and because of various network effects. In the process, smaller-sized food producers have been marginalized because, although they can be highly productive per hectare of land and highly resource-efficient if provided with adequate support, they are less competitive under prevalent market conditions. The dominant position of the larger agribusiness corporations is such that these actors have acquired, in effect, a veto power in the political system. Finally, the habits of consumers themselves have changed: in high-income countries, the consumption of highly processed, high-energy (though nutrient-poor) foods has increased year on year, becoming an accepted, unquestioned part of modern life.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2014
Paragraphe
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- States must also endeavour to support policies that limit and overcome negative effects on the right to food. A human rights framework requires all States to seek to reduce harmful emissions into the global atmosphere, with a view to reducing their negative effect on the enjoyment of human rights. In addition, in its statement on the world food crisis (E/C.12/2008/1), the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights pressed States parties to adopt "strategies to combat global climate change that do not negatively affect the right to adequate food and freedom from hunger, but rather promote sustainable agriculture". This statement is in harmony with article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Unfortunately, while it does mention the strategies that States should employ to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies, the United Nations Framework Convention refers to the use of "appropriate methods" to minimize "adverse effects on the economy, on public health and on the quality of the environment" (art. 4 (1) (f), rather than referencing human rights.
- Status juridique
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Organe
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Type de document
- Special Procedures' report
- Thèmes
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Personnes concernées
- All
- Année
- 2015
Paragraphe