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Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- In general, food and nutrition security policies continue to treat women primarily as mothers, focusing on the nutrition of infants and young children or pregnant women, rather than addressing constraints on women’s economic and social participation. Teenage mothers, women without children and women of post-reproductive age with specific nutritional needs are generally not considered within those policies, and this must change
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child also includes specific provisions to protect children from environmental contaminants and supports childhood development. Article 6 highlights the obligation of Governments, to the maximum extent possible, to ensure that children survive and develop in a healthy manner.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Pesticides may also bioaccumulate in farmed animals through contaminated feed. Insecticides are often used in poultry and eggs, while milk and other dairy products may contain a range of substances through bioaccumulation and storage in the fatty tissues of the animals. This is of particular concern as cow’s milk is often a staple component of human diets, especially for children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Women's property ownership is a significant indicator of poverty, and a key factor in securing increased participation in household decision making. Granting women the autonomy to make everyday choices has been proven to improve reproductive health, family nutrition, and child welfare. Land ownership also helps strengthen women's roles in community affairs and women's bargaining power.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Much remains to be done to end the inappropriate marketing of breast milk substitutes, and countries are encouraged to adopt, amend and strengthen legal measures in line with the International Code and relevant World Health Assembly resolutions. In particular, it is necessary to ensure that national legislation adequately covers substitute products aimed at children older than 12 months.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The protection and promotion of breastfeeding is also enshrined in the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1981. The Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding, adopted in 2002, sets out the obligations of States to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate comprehensive national policies addressing infant and young child feeding, accompanied by a detailed action plan.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- In 2010, the Scaling Up Nutrition movement, a new type of multi-stakeholder and multisectoral partnership, was launched by the Secretary-General together with donors, businesses, researchers, Governments and civil society to provide support to 57 Member States to improve food policies during the first 1,000 days of child feeding. While the movement's goals are welcomed and have seen success in reducing child malnutrition in several countries, especially in increased funding, capacity-building, advocacy and establishing a civil society network and coordinating with the United Nations, the initiative has also been subject to criticism. As a self-described "movement", it has no accountability to the United Nations or other intergovernmental body or process. While business partnerships are promoted, there is no careful management of corporate involvement to ensure that it is confined to implementation, without influencing public health and nutrition policymaking. Conflicts of interest have also been identified where businesses involved in the initiative were simultaneously marketing foods leading to obesity and non-communicable diseases. While efforts were recently made, for example by excluding infant formula manufacturers that violate the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, it remains unclear as to how the initiative prevents companies from gaining improper access to markets and policymaking, or how violations are detected and evaluated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- In 2011 the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non Communicable Diseases initiated action to tackle malnutrition comprehensively, including unbalanced nutrition and obesity. In 2012, the World Health Assembly endorsed six global nutrition targets to improve maternal, infant and young child nutrition by 2025. Commitment to reach those targets was reaffirmed at the Second International Conference on Nutrition, held in Rome in 2014.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- At the height of the food price crises in 2008, it was suggested that global governance of nutrition was dysfunctional. Since then, significant initiatives have been undertaken at the global level. Examples include the Scaling Up Nutrition movement and two major campaigns of the Secretary-General: "Every woman, every child" and the Zero Hunger Challenge.
- 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
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- There are also concerns that pesticides and additives in food may contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals. While this requires further research, it is suspected that such chemicals are associated with abnormal growth patterns and neurodevelopmental delays in children and may also increase susceptibility to non communicable diseases.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- There are significant differences in malnutrition rates between countries. In 2014 almost all wasted children lived in Asia and Africa, while stunting affected predominantly Asia, as well as Africa. In 2013, it was estimated that close to 31 million overweight children lived in developing countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- At the same time, there were 41 million overweight children under the age of 5. If this trend continues, 70 million infants and young children will be overweight or obese by 2025. Economic and cultural factors contribute to childhood obesity. Energy-dense foods are often more affordable and aggressively marketed towards children, while some cultures may associate higher weights in children with being healthy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- WHO has concluded that malnutrition is the underlying contributing factor in about 45 per cent of all child deaths. While the world has made progress in addressing undernutrition, for example by reducing stunting by more than a third since 1990, this progress is not fast enough. In 2014, there were 159 million stunted and 50 million wasted children in the world, and by 2030, stunting is expected to affect 129 million children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Calorie intake alone, moreover, says little about nutritional status. Lack of care or inadequate feeding practices for infants, as well as poor health care or water and sanitation, also play a major role. As detailed by the Special Rapporteur (see A/HRC/19/59), even when food intake is sufficient, inadequate diets can result in micronutrient deficiencies such as a lack of iodine, of vitamin A or of iron, to mention only the deficiencies that are the most common in large parts of the developing world. Globally, over 165 million children are stunted - so malnourished that they do not reach their full physical and cognitive potential - and 2 billion people globally lack vitamins and minerals essential for good health. Too little has been done to ensure adequate nutrition, despite the proven long-term impacts of adequate nutrition during pregnancy and before a child's second birthday, both in low-income countries where undernutrition is the major concern and in middle- and high-income countries. Moreover, inadequate diets are a major contributing factor to the increase of non-communicable diseases occurring now in all regions of the world. Worldwide, the prevalence of obesity doubled between 1980 and 2008. By 2008, 1.4 billion adults were overweight, including 400 million who were obese and therefore at heightened risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease or gastrointestinal cancers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- While the globalization of food chains has meant that a diversity of foods are available year-round to certain consumers, it has had negative impacts on local food systems and increased the ecological footprint of food systems. It has also led many consumers to shift towards an increased consumption of staple grains, meat and dairy products, vegetable oil, salt and sugar, and a lower intake of dietary fibre. For instance, the rapid increase in vegetable oil consumption (and thus of fats in diets) can be explained largely by the sudden availability of vegetable oil (particularly soybean oil) at low prices on the world market. Increased foreign direct investment in the processing industry and supermarket expansions have made processed foods, including in particular soft drinks, accessible to a larger range of consumers (albeit not to the poorest among them). For instance, following the entry into force of the North American Free Trade Agreement, United States companies massively increased investments in the Mexican food processing industry (from $210 million in 1987 to $5.3 billion in 1999) and sales of processed foods in Mexico soared at an annual rate of 5 to 10 per cent in the period from 1995 to 2003. The resulting rise in soft drink and snack consumption by Mexican children is at the source of the very high rates of child obesity in the country.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- A number of recent efforts have sought to address micronutrient deficiency, moving beyond the classic focus on low calorie intake. The World Food Programme and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) launched in 2006 the Ending Child Hunger and Undernutrition Initiative. In 2008, FAO, WHO and UNICEF launched the Renewed Efforts against Child Hunger and Undernutrition (REACH) initiative, which aims to scale up interventions addressing child undernutrition through the coordinated action of United Nations agencies, civil society, donors and the private sector, under country-led plans. The Secretary-General's 22-member High-Level Task Force on Food Security has now updated the Comprehensive Framework for Action so that it explicitly addresses food and nutrition security with a focus on links between agriculture, food systems and nutritional outcomes. Finally, the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) multi-stakeholder initiative, which was launched in 2009 and has gained momentum since the presentation of the SUN Framework in April 2010, seeks to promote targeted action and investment to improve nutrition for mothers and children in the 1,000-day period from pregnancy to age 2, when better nutrition can have a life-changing impact on a child's future.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 27a
- Paragraph text
- Women may choose not to participate in such programmes because of the heavy demands it would impose on them and the difficulties they may have in reconciling the work with their responsibilities in the "care" economy. A system of quotas may be ineffective to address this. The difficulties women may face to participate in public works programmes should therefore be taken into account: their responsibilities in the "care" economy should be recognized and accommodation measures should be adopted. Furthermore, work schedules should take into account the specific time constraints faced by women, and institutionalized child care should be implemented to attract more women. Where child care at the work site is under the responsibility of women who are labour-constrained, because of age or disability, this can further increase the opportunities the programme offers to women. Thus, the MGNREGA includes a provision that "in the event that there are at least five children under the age of six at the worksite, one of the female workers shall be deputed to look after them and paid the same wage as other NREGA workers." However, the implementation of this clause remains highly uneven as most women joining the programme are discouraged from bringing their children to work, and a social audit of the implementation of MGNREGA revealed that 70 per cent of the women interviewed had no access to child-care facilities on the worksite, while 65 per cent were not aware of this provision in the Act.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Examples of exposure owing to proximity to plantations include Costa Rica, where children living close to banana plantations were found to be exposed to high levels of insecticides. In India, inhabitants of the Padre village in the State of Kerala, located near cashew plantations, were found to suffer from high rates of illness and death that have been linked to the highly hazardous pesticide endosulfan; disability rates among inhabitants are reportedly 73 per cent higher than the overall rates for the entire state.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The exposure risk of children engaged in agricultural work is particularly alarming. Although little data are available, the International Labour Organization estimates that about 60 per cent of child labourers worldwide work in agriculture, and children often make up a substantial portion of the agricultural workforce in developing countries. Their increased sensitivity to the hazards of pesticides, the inadequacy of protective equipment and their lack of experience may leave them particularly exposed.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Worldwide data suggest that average sodium and sugar consumption is well above minimal physiological needs. Processed food consumers unknowingly consume three to five times more sodium than required, which is particularly troubling when such foods target children. For example, a global study conducted in 2015 reviewed 387 popular children's meals and found sodium levels to be dangerously high. Similarly, over the past 50 years, global sugar consumption has more than tripled, particularly in the form of sweetened beverages.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- In contrast to undernutrition, developed and middle-income countries, as well as the poorest countries of the world, are now faced with rising levels of chronic diseases related to obesity, including heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. Dietary changes associated with urbanization, such as increased consumption of sugars and fats and declining levels of physical activity, are largely to blame. Marketing campaigns employed by the food and beverage industry, targeting children and adolescents, also bear much of the responsibility.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Accessibility refers to both physical and economic access. Physical accessibility means that food should be accessible to all persons, including the physically vulnerable such as children, older persons and persons with a disability; economic accessibility means that food should be affordable without compromising other basic needs such as education, health care or housing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Despite global efforts to eradicate child deaths due to malnutrition, more than 2 million children under age five die every year as a result of poor nutrition, and many of those deaths are associated with inappropriate feeding practices. Undernutrition among pregnant women in developing countries causes one out of six infants to be born with low birth weight, which is not only a risk factor for neonatal deaths, but may also lead to disability and learning difficulties.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- In general, food and nutrition security policies continue to treat women primarily as mothers, focusing on the nutrition of infants and young children or pregnant women, rather than addressing constraints on women's economic and social participation. Teenage mothers, women without children and women of post-reproductive age with specific nutritional needs are generally not considered within those policies, and this must change.6
- 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
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- The second disconnect concerns the structural separation of nutrition from the human right to adequate food, which has focused on increasing food production and not on broad and equal food access. UN treaty law, whether ICESCR, CEDAW or the Rights of Child (CRC), does not develop nutrition as constitutive of a right to food for all women, but rather for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, thus focusing on women in their reproductive role as mothers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph