Right to food

[2] States that sign the covenant agree to take steps to the maximum of their available resources to achieve progressively the full realization of the right to adequate food, both nationally and internationally.

However, the number has increased over the past years, reaching an infamous record in 2009 of more than 1 billion undernourished people worldwide.

[4] Furthermore, the number who suffer from hidden hunger – micronutrient deficiences that may cause stunted bodily and intellectual growth in children – amounts to over 2 billion people worldwide.

For example, "freedom from hunger" (which General Comment 12 designates as more pressing and immediate[14]) could be measured by the number of people suffering from malnutrition and at the extreme, dying of starvation.

Inspired by the above definition, the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food in 2002 defined it as follows:[15] 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.

The negative right to food was recognised as early as in England's 1215 Magna Carta which reads that: "no one shall be 'amerced' (fined) to the extent that they are deprived of their means of living.

"[18] This section provides an overview of international developments relevant to the establishment and implementation of the right to food from the mid-20th century onwards.

""Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control" (Article 25).

[5] Finally, the preamble to the 1945 Constitution of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization provides that:[26] the Nations accepting this Constitution, being determined to promote the common welfare by furthering separate and collective action on their part for the purpose of: raising levels of nutrition and standards of living ... and thus ... ensuring humanity's freedom from hunger....

[28] In 1998, a Conference on Consensus Strategy on the Right To Food was held in Santa Barbara, California, US with anti-hunger experts from five continents.

[29] In 2010, a group of national and international organisations created a proposal to replace the European Union Common Agricultural Policy, which was due for change in 2013.

[4] The ICESCR recognises that the right to freedom from hunger requires international cooperation, and relates to matters of production, the agriculture and global supply.

Article 11 states that: The States Parties to the present Covenant... shall take, individually and through international co-operation, the measures, including specific programmes, which are needed: (a) To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources; (b) Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need.

[5] Under article 2(2) of the ICESCR, governments agreed that the right to food will be exercised without discrimination on grounds of sex, colour, race, age, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

[35] However, provisions for obligations and remedies in existing framework law is not always very thorough, and it is neither always clear what they add to the justiciability of the right to food.

Provisions regarding the right to food of children are present in the constitutions of: Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, and South Africa.

[40] Secondly, the following 31 countries implicitly recognise the right to food in broader human rights:[37] Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bolivia, Burundi, Cambodia, Czech Rep., Congo, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Netherlands, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela.

[41] Thirdly, the following thirteen countries explicitly recognise the right to food within the constitution as a directive principle or goal:[37] Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Malawi, Nigeria, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Uganda.

[42] Parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have to do everything to guarantee adequate nutrition, including legislating to that effect.

[47] The committee can "examine",[48] works towards "friendly settlement",[49] in the case of grave or systematic violations of the Covenant, it can "invite that State Party to cooperate" and, finally, could "include a summary account of the results of the proceedings in its annual report".

[50] The following seven countries have ratified the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mongolia, Slovakia, and Spain.

He also advised to support smallholder agriculture in the face of mega-development projects, and to stop soil and water degradation through massive shifts to agroecological practices.

[14] The Article acknowledges that the most appropriate ways and means of implementing the right to adequate food will inevitably vary significantly from one State to another.

The Article emphasizes that the right to food requires full compliance with the principles of accountability, transparency, people's participation, decentralization, legislative capacity and the independence of the judiciary.

The Article notes that whenever a State faces severe resource constraints, whether caused by a process of economic adjustment, economic recession, climatic conditions or other factors, measures should be undertaken to ensure that the right to adequate food is especially fulfilled for vulnerable population groups and individuals.

This was recognised in the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action which reads "all human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated."

Access to sustainable water resources for agriculture needs to be ensured to realise the right to food.

Right to food around the world (as of 2011–2012): [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
Adopted or drafting a framework law (19)
Constitutional, explicit as a right (23)
Constitutional, implicit in broader rights or as directive principle (41)
Direct applicability via international treaties (103)
Committed by ratifying the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (160)
No known right to food
Note: The same country can fall in multiple categories; the colour given to a country corresponds to the highest listed category in which a country falls.
Countries that are developing or have adopted framework laws on the right to food (19): [ 1 ]
Adopted a framework law (10)
Drafting a framework law (9)
Countries with the explicit constitutional right to food (23): [ 1 ]
As a separate and stand-alone right (9)
Of a specific segment of the population (10)
As part of a human right to an adequate standard of living, quality of life, development, or right to work (7)
Note: Brazil has all three and South Africa has the former two; they are included in each category, but counted once for the total.
Countries in which the constitutional right to food is implicit in broader rights, or in which it is explicit in directive principles (41): [ 1 ]
Implicit in broader constitutional rights (31)
Explicit constitutional directive principle (13)
Note: Ethiopia, Malawi and Pakistan occur in both categories; they are included in each category, but counted once for the total.
Countries which have ratified international law in which the right to food is recognised, and in which at the same time international law is primary or equal to national law (103): [ 1 ]
Direct applicability: ICESCR , CEDAW and CRC (95)
Direct applicability: ICESCR and CRC (2)
Direct applicability: CEDAW and CRC (5)
Countries that committed to the right to food by ratifying the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (160): [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
Ratified the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR (8)
Ratified the ICESCR (160)
Note: All parties to the optional protocol are also member to the covenant.