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Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- In setting out the mandate of the Special Rapporteur in resolution 6/2, the Human Rights Council encouraged close cooperation with all stakeholders, including non-State actors. Accordingly, during her first month in office, the Special Rapporteur held consultations on a preliminary and informal basis with representatives from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), academic experts and representatives of member States and civil society organizations based in Geneva. She also had occasion to meet with representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), including the Director-General, members of the senior management team and members of the team working on the right to food, as well as the Chair of the Committee on World Food Security and members of the Bureau and Advisory Group of the Committee. The Special Rapporteur wishes to express her gratitude to those with whom she met and appreciates their warm welcome. She is encouraged by the dedication of many States, organizations and individuals working towards the eradication of hunger and the realization of the right to adequate food and she looks forward to cooperating with all stakeholders on issues relevant to her mandate over the coming years.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Latin America has been leading the movement towards the adoption of framework laws in support of the realization of the right to food. Food and nutrition security laws grounded in the right to food have been adopted in rapid succession in Argentina (2003), Guatemala (2005), Ecuador (2006 and 2009), Brazil (2006), Venezuela (2008), Colombia (2009), Nicaragua (2009) and Honduras (2011). Most recently, following the launch in Mexico of the "Crusade against Hunger" - itself anchored in the right to food as inserted in the Constitution in 2011 - and after the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District of Mexico adopted a framework law in 2009, a decree adopted on 22 January 2013 by the Secretariat of Social Development established the National System for the Crusade against Hunger. The decree creates the Interministerial Commission for the Implementation of the Crusade against Hunger (composed of 19 ministerial departments/institutions); establishes a National Council of the Crusade against Hunger, an inclusive body allowing for a permanent dialogue with the private and social sectors, the academic community and international actors; and creates community committees composed of beneficiaries of social programmes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Despite the significant progress made in recent years, some dimensions of the right to food remain underdeveloped. This is especially the case as regards its extraterritorial dimensions. According to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the duties associated with the right to food extend to all situations, whether located on a State's national territory or abroad, over which a State may exercise influence without infringing on the sovereignty of the territorial State (see E/C.12/2000/4, para. 39, E/C.12/2002/11, para. 31 and E/C.12/2011/1). This is reaffirmed in the Maastricht Principles on the extraterritorial obligations of States in the area of economic, social and cultural rights, adopted by a group of international law experts on 28 September 2011, as well as in the Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, endorsed by the Human Rights Council on 27 September 2012 (see A/HRC/21/39, para. 61). Yet, the mechanisms allowing victims of violations of the right to food in extraterritorial situations are often non-existent or hardly accessible in practice. On the whole, however, the examples above show a remarkable progress of the right to food since the Right to Food Guidelines were adopted.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- This report focuses on the vertical dimension of scaling up agroecology, namely, the establishment of an enabling framework - although this is both a condition and a driver of horizontal scaling up. Governments have a key role to play in this regard, beyond supporting access to land, water and seeds for small-scale farmers. This section identifies a number of principles that could support the scaling up of agroecological practices. Encouraging a shift towards sustainable agriculture may be a delicate process associated with transition costs, since farmers must learn new techniques that move away from the current systems, which are more specialized, less adaptive, and have a lower innovation capacity. Therefore, the following principles should be applied with flexibility. The incentive structures which such policies create to encourage the shift towards sustainable farming should be regularly tested and re-evaluated with the participation of the beneficiaries, transforming policy into a mode of "social learning rather than an exercise of political authority." The move towards agroecology should be based on the farmers themselves - its main beneficiaries. Agroecological techniques are best spread from farmer to farmer, since they are often specific to an agroecological zone.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Ensuring the inclusion of minority issues in post- 2015 development agendas 2014, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations Development Group organized a set of eleven thematic consultations, on the themes of: conflict and fragility; education; environmental sustainability; governance; growth and employment; health; hunger, food and nutrition; inequalities; population dynamics; energy; and water. A report and preliminary findings were launched in March 2013. The following sections provide a brief discussion of minority issues in the context of each of these thematic areas.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on minority issues
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Unhealthy foods, non-communicable diseases and the right to health 2014, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Due to the increased prevalence of NCDs and their link to practices adopted by the food industry, access to remedies is necessary. Judicial remedies to hold TNCs accountable for the violations of the right to health are particularly hard to achieve. Investment treaties such as bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements, which facilitate the foray and entrenchment of TNCs into domestic economies, contain international dispute settlement mechanisms that allow private companies to sue States. However, these treaties impose unilateral obligations on host States, so that it becomes difficult to bring TNCs into their domestic legal system, including the judicial system. Moreover, the principles of limited liability and separate legal personalities are often relied upon by parent companies to absolve themselves of any liability of their subsidiaries operating in various jurisdictions. Even where remedies against domestic companies exist, their enforcement is often absent or lax, and companies are not penalized for non-compliance. Consumers should be able to seek remedies against food companies, irrespective of the country of origin of the parent company. States should therefore clarify under domestic law the liability of the parent company and its subsidiaries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 98
- Paragraph text
- Replacing highly hazardous pesticides with less hazardous pesticides is necessary and overdue but not a sustainable solution, as many pesticides initially considered relatively “benign” are later found to pose very serious health and environmental risks.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- Despite their widespread use, chemical pesticides have not achieved reduction in crop losses in the last 40 years. This has been attributed to their indiscriminate and non-selective use, killing not only pests but also their natural enemies and insect pollinators. Efficacy of chemical pesticides is also greatly reduced owing to pesticide resistance over time.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- Pesticide waste is also a major challenge. There are thousands of tonnes of obsolete pesticides around the world, some of which are nearly 30 years old, presenting a major health hazard, particularly in developing countries. Existing data indicate that more than 20 per cent of obsolete pesticide stockpiles consist of persistent organic pollutants, which are highly toxic and made up of organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- The repackaging of pesticides into smaller amounts for retail is also of grave concern. Pesticides are often transferred from labelled containers that meet safety standards into unlabelled, mislabelled or inappropriate containers, such as old water bottles, to be sold alongside foodstuffs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Warning labels on pesticides may also be ineffective owing to the small size of print used on container labels, failure to translate instructions into local languages and low literacy rates among pesticide users. While pictograms and other creative labelling tactics may try to address some of these problems, without training, agricultural workers may still have difficulty deciphering colour codes or warning symbols.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- Pesticide companies and Governments often argue that exposure risk to pesticides is generally low if personal protective equipment is properly used. Yet in reality, compliance with recommended personal protective equipment practices is generally low, for a number of reasons.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- All major pesticide companies are members of the United Nations Global Compact, reporting yearly to the United Nations through the Global Reporting Initiative. While it is somewhat encouraging that they are willing to join corporate social responsibility schemes, such arrangements lack any enforcement or accountability measures and allow companies substantial freedom in choosing what they wish to adhere to.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Conventions of the International Labour Organization on the protection of agricultural workers also provide some safeguards against dangerous pesticides. For example, article 12 of the Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention, 2001 (No. 184) is dedicated to the sound management of chemicals, while article 13 imposes regulatory obligations with regard to preventive and protective measures for the use of chemicals.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- The Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters is also relevant to the regulation of pesticides and derives many of its core obligations from human rights law. Article 1 sets out detailed obligations with respect to the matters covered by the Convention.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants provides for global prohibitions and restrictions for a certain set of hazardous pesticides. However, while the treaty has expanded from banning or restricting the use of an initial set of 12 largely obsolete industrial chemicals and pesticides, its coverage is still limited and many highly hazardous pesticides do not fall within its scope.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Given the severe, negative impact of the use of hazardous pesticides on people and the planet, an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations would be important to strengthen the international accountability framework.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- The right to adequate food embraces the notion that its realization must not interfere with the enjoyment of other human rights. Therefore, arguments suggesting that pesticides are needed to safeguard the right to food and food security clash with the right to health, in view of the myriad negative health impacts associated with certain pesticide practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Pesticides can persist in the environment for decades and pose a global threat to the entire ecological system upon which food production depends. Excessive use and misuse of pesticides result in contamination of surrounding soil and water sources, causing loss of biodiversity, destroying beneficial insect populations that act as natural enemies of pests and reducing the nutritional value of food.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Certain pesticides, such as organotins, accumulate and magnify through marine food web systems. As a result, people who depend on or consume greater amounts of seafood tend to have particularly high concentrations in their blood, causing significant health risks.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- While scientific research confirms the adverse effects of pesticides, proving a definitive link between exposure and human diseases or conditions, or harm to the ecosystem presents a considerable challenge. This challenge has been exacerbated by a systematic denial, fuelled by the pesticide and agroindustry, of the magnitude of the damage inflicted by these chemicals, and aggressive, unethical marketing tactics remain unchallenged.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- As a result of IPR laws, seeds that would have once been saved and shared are now the intellectual property of corporations. Recent litigation demonstrates that corporations are willing to appeal to the law to protect their property. Since 1997, Monsanto reports that it has filed 147 lawsuits against those farmers who failed to "honor this agreement," i.e. Monsanto's intellectual property rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Meanwhile, global agribusiness and biotechnology corporations have transformed the global commercial seed market into a multi-billion dollar industry and four companies alone account for 50% of this market. With such lucrative monopolies at stake, these international corporations have actively exercised the IPR regime to secure exclusive access to, and thus royalties from, patented seeds.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Taxation and human rightss 2014, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- A well-placed tax threshold (namely, the income below which an individual or household is exempted from income tax) is also crucial for ensuring that the taxation system does not jeopardize the ability of people living in poverty to enjoy minimum essential levels of economic, social and cultural rights. Unfortunately, in some countries, households are required to pay tax before they earn enough to even meet minimum food basket requirements.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The implementation of the right to social protection through the adoption of social protection floors 2014, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- However, the relationship between instrumentalist arguments of that sort and normative arguments that invoke treaty obligations is a matter of contention in the human rights literature. Human rights purists are reluctant to have much to do with instrumentalist arguments which seek to demonstrate that a pro-human rights policy can bring a pay-off, whether in terms of productivity, efficiency, or even social cohesion. The understandable fear is that in the absence of proof that there will be a pay-off, it might then seem justified and legitimate to reject the rights approach. If such a calculus is unacceptable in relation to torture, why should it be entertained in relation to the right to social protection? However, it is also important to acknowledge that instrumentalist arguments are almost always present, whether the debate is over torture, privacy, freedom of assembly, or the right to food. Politicians and the general public cannot be relied upon simply to do the right thing regardless of perceived costs and benefits and so it is entirely appropriate to reinforce moral or normative positions by arguing that they can also bring pay-offs in other respects. It is as well to remember that the classic arguments on behalf of social security invoked in radically different contexts by Bismarck, Franklin Roosevelt and Beveridge all had ulterior motives of one kind or another.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The private sector has significantly exerted its influence over nutrition governance through public-private partnerships, which may blur the line between public interest and financial gain. Involvement by the private sector may be driven by direct financial returns, such as tax breaks, market penetration and positive public relations, as well as increased corporate influence in nutritional policymaking.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- On 1 April 2016, following the recommendations of the Conference, the General Assembly proclaimed 2016-2025 the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition. The Decade presents a unique opportunity to centralize globally agreed targets, align actors around implementation and address the shortcomings identified in the current nutrition governance system.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Junk food companies tend to use tactics similar to those used by tobacco companies in the 1980s, when science began linking smoking to serious health problems. Some companies even fund scientific research, manipulating results in support of their products, or add minimal amounts of healthy ingredients to enable them to present their products as "healthy".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- The Guiding Principles underline that the responsibility of companies to respect human rights exists independently of the abilities and/or willingness of States to fulfil human rights obligations, and hence to prevent them from taking advantage of weak legislative environments. However, ensuring accountability and access to effective remedies for victims remains a major 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The legally binding nature of voluntary rules may also emerge with the help of national law. Voluntary standards can often be enforced in accordance with competition or consumer laws, where they include relevant representations to the consumer. Thus, a corporation's non-adherence to its own codes can be enforced before courts in the country of the corporation's headquarters.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph