Food Security Within The Framework Of Human Rights Development At International Level (original) (raw)
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FIn the past three decades, the right to food has evolved, multiplied and diversified in such a way that it has led to an innovative definition of food security, also in the light of global health emergencies. This has also revealed the multisectorial and multidi- mensional aspects of the rights related to food, whose implementation requires the appropriate use of new technologies and scientific innovations and the benefits of which should be available for the whole society, including future generations. In this chapter, the author focuses on the attention of the essential features of the international human right to food, its evolution and its impact on regional and national legal systems. This enhances the role of the framework laws regulating the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms of the right to food and food security which, on the other hand, explains the function of the judiciary and the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights. That implies the right to equal access to adequate food and the right to live in an inclusive, safe, non-polluted environment.
The Human Right to Food , 2019
Abstract This dissertation examines the state of the human right to food and the post-1991 [Ethiopian] state’s compliance with its human right to food obligations as envisaged by the relevant international human rights instruments, i.e. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Convention on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The study was undertaken in varying socio-economic contexts of Ethiopia, among the communities living in the rural Simada Woreda in the Amhara National Regional State and urban Gulele Sub-city of the Addis Ababa City. Deriving from the right to existence, the human right to food guarantees every human being the entitlement to be free from hunger and to have unrestricted access to food that is adequate in both quantity and quality that in turn would enable the right holder to live a healthy and active life. In this respect, in its very essence, the human right to food entitles right holders to have access to the means to feed themselves in dignity. Despite the affirmation of the right by the UDHR and the ICESCR since the second quarter of the 20th century, the right to food remains to be one of the most violated human rights around the world. As per the recent estimates of the FAO (2017), about 1 billion people around the world and about 40 million people in Ethiopia have been victims of hunger and undernutrition. The central aim of this study is, therefore, to investigate the state of the realization of the human right to food in varying socioeconomic contexts of Ethiopia, in the rural Simada woreda of the Amhara National Regional State and Gulele Sub-city of Addis Ababa City Administration. For this purpose, the study has adopted a qualitative multidisciplinary case study approach. Accordingly, information was gathered through document analysis, interviews, and focus group discussion. The state of the realization of the human right to food has been analyzed based on the human right to food constituting elements; availability, accessibility, and adequacy and correspondingly, the compliance of the state to the right to food obligations has been investigated on the basis of state obligation normative standards; recognition, respect, protection and fulfilment of the right, respectively. The finding of the study reveals that the human right to food is currently a mass violated right in the case study areas. The existing national legislation and policies of the state are not adequately addressing the demands of the realization of the human right to food. Often, as discussed in chapter four and following chapters, the national legislation and policies of the state and their implementation rather than providing the required respect and protection, they themselves contravene with the right. Though the Constitution of Ethiopia has paid tribute to the ICESCR by giving it access to the local legal system (Article 9(4) and Article 13(2)) and the human right to food can also be presumed as a guaranteed right within the purview of right to life, Article 15, an overt and express provision protecting the human right to food is lacking. At the level of practice, apart from foreign-funded food aid and the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) of the government which is currently under implementation only in selected rural Woredas, there has been no alternative or available social security scheme to the most and the chronically food-insecure people in Ethiopia. Particularly, to the dismay of the urban poor, PSNP and other safety net program are not yet functionally available. On top of this, the government is not opting to put the right to food among its policy priority list, in both rural and urban contexts. This thesis, therefore, argues, there is a compelling need to recognize the human right to food expressly and unequivocally under the human rights chapter of the FDRE constitution. For such a recognition would be a major milestone, though not a panacea, to address the problem. It would facilitate the realization of the right to food, and help the state and its agencies to comply with their constitutional obligations to the right and to hold them accountable accordingly. Apart from this, a human right to food legal framework would support the effort to better realize the right by providing the details on the right and its means of enforcement. Moreover, it is argued here that there is a need for a paradigmatic shift in policy approach from ‘food security’ to ‘food sovereignty’. For food security is a technical term, not a legal one, and does not put a duty on the state for the realization of the same. On the other hand, food sovereignty, both as a policy alternative and a grass-root social movement, underscores food as a fundamental human right. Therefore, as discussed in chapter seven, it would be instrumental to the realization of the right. Finally, yet importantly, this study has suggested that through more democratic governance that ensures participation, accountability, non-discrimination, transparency, human dignity, empowerment, and rule of law the human right to food can be better realized. Key Terms: Freedom, Hunger, Malnutrition, Poverty, Right to Food, State Obligation
Right to Food: An Emerging Human Rights Jurisprudence?
Revista Juridica
Objective: To demonstrate that the effectiveness of the right to food is strictly dependent on the adoption of appropriate public policies, capable of guaranteeing conditions of transparency and information, and granting individuals and groups the possibility to participate in the taking of decisions. Next, the focus is on the role played by the courts to address the issue of legal consideration of this right. Methodology: The study methodology included the analysis of jurisprudence on the right to food, as well as the constitutional recognition of the right to food. Likewise, the position of the courts and the political aspect of the right to food were challenged. Results: It has often been discovered that people are not even aware of the possibility of using litigation as a tool to promote the realization of the right to food. As well as the lack of knowledge on the part of politicians to implement public policies to realize this essential right to food. Contributions: The main co...
Ensuring Food Security Through the Human Right to Adequate Food
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No. 48 Food Security, the Right to Food and the Human Development Report 1994
The paper addresses the evolution of the concept of " food security " after the publication of the 1994 Human Development Report. This Report stressed the relevance of the access to food, a major achievement with regard to previous definitions, moving the concept out of from a purely production concern into a broader approach involving poverty and development. Later, worries with other factors such as food safety, nutritional balance and food preferences, lead to a re-appraisal of the 1994 definition. Parallel to the development of the concept of food security, there was also an elaboration of a human rights perspective on issues related to the alleviation of hunger and the promotion of access to adequate food and good nutrition, i.e. the right to food. The paper argues that the 1994 Human Development Report constituted an important step in the efforts to understand and cope with hunger and poverty
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