Search Tips
sorted by
20 shown of 20 entities
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 99l
- Paragraph text
- [With a view to respecting, protecting and fulfilling the right to adequate food and nutrition, the Special Rapporteur recommends that:] All States incorporate the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes in its entirety into their legal systems and ensure adequate monitoring to ensure implementation;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Second, States have an obligation to protect the right to food. They must ensure that enterprises or individuals do not deprive individuals of their access to adequate food. In the context of fisheries policies, this requires States, in particular, to protect the access rights of traditional fishing communities from industrial fishing and to control private actors that could affect the lands, territories and water on which these communities depend.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Joint ventures, however, are not a panacea. A number of studies indicate that this model does not necessarily deliver better livelihoods for small-scale farmers or improve rural development and the realization of the right to food. The firm frequently controls all business decisions, and the joint venture might manipulate accounts to avoid paying out dividends. Questions arose in South Africa, for instance, after the beneficiaries of the post-1994 land restitution and redistribution programmes were encouraged to establish joint ventures with agribusinesses or to conclude leaseback agreements granting the former landowners use of their lands in conditions sometimes deemed unfair, and in Malaysia, after the Government, under the "Konsep Baru" (New Concept) scheme, encouraged production of palm oil on land under native customary rights in Sabah and Sarawak, in the form of a three-way joint venture among a private plantation company (60 per cent of the shares), a local community (30 per cent) and a parastatal agency (10 per cent) in which the local communities in effect relinquished all day-to-day decision-making power within the joint venture.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Improving support to smallholders is therefore essential in achieving local food security. The Special Rapporteur explored different tools to achieve this. At the heart of his proposals lies the question of how to ensure that the freedom of choice of small-scale food producers is truly respected. This requires pursuing two reform programmes in parallel.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Many fish are also rich in micronutrients, especially the smaller fish that are accessible to people living in poverty. The consumption of fish therefore not only helps to combat hunger, but also can address hidden hunger, or micronutrient deficiency. In addition, the seasonal availability of fish in rural communities is often different from crops, meaning that fish can help to reduce seasonal vulnerability.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Global sales of breast milk substitutes total $44.8 billion and are expected to rise to $70.6 billion by 2019. The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes places restrictions on the sale of such substitutes, through prohibiting public advertising, provision of free samples or promotion in health-care facilities. It also requires all information on artificial feeding to explain the benefits of breastfeeding and the hazards associated with artificial feeding. Although some progress has been achieved, violations of the Code are widespread and only 39 countries have laws enacting all provisions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Other examples include a lawsuit brought by the Oceana Gold mining company against El Salvador through ICSID for US$301 million for failure to grant a mining permit. It was alleged that the project posed a risk to the country's livelihood. Having failed to change the domestic law to relax regulation, the company initiated arbitration measures to pressure El Salvador into paying for lost exploration costs and future profits. These cases demonstrate how intervention is necessary to prevent democratic rights from being undermined by global norms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Developing countries are increasingly subject to dispute procedures brought by private companies. For example, high water prices and poor water quality following the privatization of the water supply in the Bolivian town of Cochabamba, culminated in protests against Aguas de Tunari, a subsidiary of the United States firm Bechtel. The Government succumbed to public pressure and reversed the decision to privatize, which prompted the company to bring the Government before ICSID. The case posed the fundamental question of whether the property rights of the company could trump the rights to food and to access water and sanitation. In the end, civil society pressure led to a settlement and, as a result, Bolivian water laws were amended with the 2009 Constitution guaranteeing the right to access to water.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- In a 2013 decision, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador admitted a habeas corpus writ petition against the penitentiary administration in relation to a claimant in detention suffering from diabetes and hypertension. The applicant argued that the failure to provide him with adequate food and an appropriate diet violated his right to health and physical integrity. While the detainee's petition was rejected on the grounds that medical evidence did not support the claim, the case demonstrates the willingness of the court to consider the protection of economic, Social and cultural rights under habeas corpus procedures. The judgment handed down in this case is significant on two counts: firstly, it demonstrates that all human rights are interconnected and indivisible; and, secondly, even though medical evidence was insufficient, the court makes the connection between those suffering from diabetes and their need for adequate and healthy food, which creates an important precedent for future cases.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- The reluctance of a number of States to recognize that economic, social and cultural rights are justiciable has done much to propagate unfounded misconceptions thereon. Those countries opposed to the justiciability of those rights argue that such a notion may interfere with State sovereignty claiming that it is inappropriate for courts to adjudicate on social and economic policy. There is also a perception that social and economic rights set forth political objectives and are too vague to be enforceable. The suggestion that these rights are resource-dependent and cannot be satisfied where there is a lack of capital, and the idea that these rights only impose positive obligations on States and civil and political rights give rise to negative ones, has also led to resistance from some States.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Secondly, just as multiple food systems must be combined to improve resilience through enhanced diversity, different forms of farming can coexist, each fulfilling a different function. The example of Brazil suggests that family farms can be supported even in the vicinity of highly competitive, large-scale agricultural producers and that such coexistence can be viable, provided the government is aware of the different functions that different agricultural models serve to fulfil, and adopts a balanced approach towards them (A/HRC/13/33/Add.6, paras. 43 and 44). In many countries, however, this coexistence has failed, and the balance has shifted almost entirely in favour of the large-scale export-led agricultural sector. The lesson that emerges is that the transition to agrifood policies that support the realization of the right to food requires major political efforts to restructure support around agroecological, labour-intensive, poverty-reducing forms of agriculture.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- National human rights institutions established in conformity with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles; see General Assembly resolution 48/134, annex) can play a crucial role in monitoring compliance with the right to adequate food and, where they have such competence, to examine complaints filed by aggrieved individuals. In India, investigations by the National Human Rights Commission facilitated the work of the Supreme Court and that of the Commissioners of the Court by inquiring into the implementation of schemes securing livelihoods. In Colombia, the Office of the Public Defender presented a report on the implementation of the 2008 National Food and Nutrition Security Policy, recommending improvements to the legal framework and to mechanisms ensuring coordination. In Guatemala, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman has a specific mandate to monitor the implementation of the national food and nutrition security policy. Its 2011 report regretted persistent coordination failures despite the establishment of the National Council on Food and Nutrition Security, and its 2012 report encouraged improved funding for food and nutrition security programmes, which remain highly dependent on foreign aid. In El Salvador, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman has prepared three national reports since 2007 proposing the development of an appropriate legal and political food and nutrition security framework to guarantee the right to food. National human rights institutions in a range of other countries, including Cameroon, Honduras, Malawi, Slovenia, South Africa and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), monitor violations of the right to food. In Norway, an important function of the Parliamentary Ombudsman is to investigate complaints concerning social security benefits.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Courts are generally well-equipped to enforce this obligation. In the case of Kenneth George and Others v. Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the High Court of South Africa ordered a revision of the Marine Living Resources Act, requiring the development of a new framework taking into account "international and national legal obligations and policy directives to accommodate the socioeconomic rights of [small-scale] fishers and to ensure equitable access to marine resources for those fishers". This resulted in the adoption of a new Small-Scale Fisheries Policy in May 2012, which recognizes the importance of small-scale fisheries in contributing to food security and as serving as a critical safety net against poverty. In Honduras, the Sectional Court of Appeal in San Pedro Sula granted a constitutional remedy in the Brisas del Bejuco case in order to prevent the eviction of a group of small-scale farmers, referring to the obligation of the State to protect the right to food under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has protected the resources on which the Ogoni people depend for their livelihoods against the damage caused by oil companies operating on their territories, a position reaffirmed in 2012 by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States. In all these cases, courts or quasi-judicial bodies have protected the right to food by prohibiting actions that would undermine the ability of individuals and communities to produce their own food.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- States should discharge their duties to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food in the fisheries sector by moving towards sustainable resource use while ensuring that the rights and livelihoods of small-scale fishers and coastal communities are respected and that the food security of all groups depending on fish is improved. This is a difficult balance to strike, but, without swift and bold action by States, the contribution made by fisheries to securing the right to food will diminish, with considerable consequences, in particular for poorer rural communities that depend on fisheries for both their nutritional needs and their income. Both coastal and flag States should accept their duties in this regard and should actively involve the fishing communities themselves, both in fisheries management and in the design and implementation of policies in adjacent sectors that could affect fishing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Individual transferable quotas systems may lead to rent capture by some actors in a privileged position, which is difficult to reconcile with poverty-reduction objectives. An alternative might be to allow operators to rent quotas from the Government so that quotas are periodically redistributed on equity grounds. Transferability of quotas (conceived as property rights) will inevitably lead to monopolization, unless limited to transferability between the deceased holder and his/her descendants (if they also fish). Indeed, the Human Rights Committee noted that a system in which the quotas originally held could be sold or leased at market prices instead of reverting to the State for allocation to new quota holders in accordance with fair and equitable criteria might result in discrimination in violation of article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (see CCPR/C/91/D/1306/2004). Other systems can be explored that combine sustainability requirements (limiting overfishing) and redistributive aims based on human rights norms and standards.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- For instance, Divine Chocolate Company Ltd. (formerly the Day Chocolate Company) was established in 1998 by Kuapa Kokoo Farmers' Union (KKFU), representing 68,000 cocoa-producing farmers in Ghana, and TWIN Trading, a membership organization based in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland comprising 24 farmer cooperatives from eight countries dedicated to developing the fair-trade supply chain for the coffee, nuts, cocoa, sugar and fruit produced by 163,000 farmer families. Christian Aid, Comic Relief and Oikocredit, a microfinance institution, also supported the joint venture by taking shares, as did the Body Shop, which later donated its shares to KKFU. The Department for International Development of the United Kingdom guaranteed a bank credit line from a major commercial bank, which gave Divine Chocolate better access to finance and enabled it to grant a larger quantity of shares of the company to KKFU, resulting in greater decision-making power in the operations. KKFU now owns 45 per cent of the shares of Divine Chocolate as well as 33 per cent of the shares of the United States branch of Divine created in 2007. Divine Chocolate sold more than $71.5 million worth of chocolate in its first nine years of operation. In 2001, dividends were paid for the first time, after offsetting set-up costs. They remain symbolic (a direct payment of $1 per member), but come on top of the fixed prices by KKFU, the fair-trade premium and the benefits of the farmer support and development programme, to which Divine contributed more than $1.22 million in its first 10 years of operation. The arrangement facilitated income-generating activities and supported community projects (including boreholes, schools, sanitary facilities and mills), as well as the training of farmers and participatory decision-making.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Contracts should facilitate communication between parties through appropriate management structures and should identify ways of resolving disputes. It should be acknowledged that in the vast majority of cases where one of the parties fails to comply with the requirements of the contract, there is no resort to courts because the sums involved are too small and because, in many developing countries, courts are in practice inaccessible to the rural poor. Buyers, on the other hand, are reluctant to use formal legal procedures, not only because it is impractical to do so, but also because of the risk that the relationships with the farming communities will turn sour. The real sanctioning mechanism is the breakdown of the contractual relationship. The farmer will refuse to continue to supply the buyer if he or she feels that the relationship is imbalanced, and the firm will cease buying from the farmer if it considers that he or she is not complying with the expectations set. Therefore, while the legal system is one of the main accountability mechanisms available, other mechanisms should be established. Among them are negotiation spaces, independent arbitration mechanisms, forums in which farmers can raise concerns and conflict mediation by non-governmental organizations or third parties. Regular meetings should be organized between the parties to ensure a consistent flow of communication so as to identify problems early on. Specific quotas to ensure the equitable representation of women on committees representing contracting farmers could be established.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 41b
- Paragraph text
- [In order to protect the right to food, States should:] Adopt tenancy laws, and effectively implement existing laws against the pressure to free land for private investors. The adoption of tenancy laws can protect tenants from eviction and from excessive levels of rent. Such laws can also allow a tenant's heirs to occupy the land if the tenant dies, and provide the tenant with the right to pre-emption if the landowner wishes to sell (ideally, at a below-market price); they can provide for the joint titling of husband and wife as tenants, in order to protect widows from the risk of eviction; and they can ensure that the tenant will be allowed to remain on the land if the property changes hands;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 40b
- Paragraph text
- [In order to respect the right to food, States should:] Refrain from criminalizing legitimate social protest. Where insufficient progress has been made on the implementation of the commitments set out in the Final Declaration of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, and where deep land inequalities remain, the non-violent occupation of land by landless movements should not be criminalized. Human rights defenders who protest evictions and defend or promote land rights should be protected;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Agrarian reform leading to owner-operated family farms is desirable for a number of reasons. As land is transferred to family farms, idle lands of large estates are brought into production, thus increasing productivity levels. A 2003 World Bank analysis of land policies in 73 countries between 1960 and 2000 shows that countries in which the distribution of land was initially more equitable achieved growth rates two to three times higher than those in which land distribution was initially less equitable. Figure I highlights the correlation between the Gini coefficient for land and average per capita growth in gross domestic product (GDP), illustrating the link between unequal initial land distribution and slower economic growth.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
20 shown of 20 entities