What do you mean by the right to food?

Definition of the right to food

For the Special Rapporteur the right to food is the right to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensure a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life free of fear.

This definition is in line with the core elements of the right to food as defined by General Comment No. 12 of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the body in charge of monitoring the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in those states which are party to it). The Committee declared that “ the right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement. The right to adequate food shall therefore not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with a minimum package of calories, proteins and other specific nutrients. The right to adequate food will have to be realized progressively. However, States have a core obligation to take the necessary action to mitigate and alleviate hunger even in times of natural or other disasters.

Obligations of States

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in General Comment No. 12 also defined the obligations that States parties have to fulfill in order to implement the right to adequate food at the national level. These are as follows:

The obligation to respect existing access to adequate food requires States parties not to take any measures that result in preventing such access;

The obligation to protect requires measures by the State to ensure that enterprises or individuals do not deprive individuals of their access to adequate food;

The obligation to fulfil (facilitate) means the State must pro-actively engage in activities intended to strengthen people's access to and utilization of resources and means to ensure their livelihood, including food security;

Whenever an individual or group is unable, for reasons beyond their control, to enjoy the right to adequate food by the means at their disposal, States have the obligation to fulfil (provide) that right directly. This obligation also applies for persons who are victims of natural or other disasters.

At its fifty-sixth session, the Commission on Human Rights adopted resolution 2000/10 of 17 April 2000, in which it decided, in order to respond fully to the necessity for an integrated and coordinated approach in the promotion and protection of the right to food, to appoint, for a period of three years, a special rapporteur on the right to food. It defined the Special Rapporteur’s mandate as follows:

“(a) To seek, receive and respond to information on all aspects of the realization of the right to food, including the urgent necessity of eradicating hunger;

(b) To establish cooperation with Governments, intergovernmental organizations, in particular the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations, on the promotion and effective implementation of the right to food, and to make appropriate recommendations on the realization thereof, taking into consideration the work
already done in this field throughout the United Nations system;

(c) To identify emerging issues related to the right to food worldwide.”

In addition the Commission in its Resolution 2001/25 requested the Special Rapporteur to pay attention to the issue of drinking water, taking into account the interdependence of this issue and the right to food.

In Resolution 2005/18 the Commission on Human Rights:

Requested all States and private actors, as well as international organizations within their respective mandates, to take fully into account the need to promote the effective realization of the right to food for all, including in the ongoing negotiations in different fields;

Called upon all Governments to cooperate with and assist the Special Rapporteur in his task, to supply all necessary information requested by him and to give serious consideration to responding favourably to the Special Rapporteur’s requests to visit their countries, so as to enable him to fulfil his mandate even more effectively;

Invited all Governments, relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, treaty bodies, civil society actors, including non-governmental organizations, as well as the private sector, to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur in the fulfilment of his mandate, inter alia through the submission of comments and suggestions on ways and means of realizing the right to food;

Decided to continue its consideration of this matter at its sixty-second session, under the same agenda item.

In the discharge of his mandate the Special Rapporteur:

-Presents annual reports to the Commission and the General Assembly on the activities and studies undertaken under his mandate (See Annual reports);
-Undertakes Country Visits (See Country visits);
-Transmits communications to States with regard to alleged violations of the right to food (See Individual complaints).
Special Rapporteur :

Mr. Jean Ziegler (Switzerland), since 2000