On behalf of FAO I wish to thank the organizers for the excellent
initiative to hold this Symposium. For our Organization, whose basic
purpose is, as is stated in our Constitution, to ensure
humanity’s freedom from hunger, the rights related to food are
of special concern and have great importance in our work.
The World Food Summit Plan of Action provides the blueprint for
creating conditions in which everyone can enjoy the right to food.
The right to food implies that people should be able to provide for
their own food and nutrition needs in full dignity and in a
sustainable manner. However, in the short term, many of the over 800
million undernourished people can only enjoy the right to food
through direct food assistance, local, national and international.
Therefore, work must be done at all levels if the goals of the WFS
are to be achieved.
FAO is very pleased to have established very good working
relations with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
We were pleased to have the opportunity to co-host her Second Expert
Consultation on the Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right, the
report of which was recently submitted to the Commission on Human
Rights. The consultation was a welcome opportunity to focus on the
specific role of international organizations, the Rome-based food
organizations in particular, regarding the right to food.
The co-hosting of the Consultations was also part of FAO’s
commemoration activities for the 50th Anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In addition, FAO published a
book entitled "The Right to Food in Theory and Practice", which
contains contributions from human rights experts, NGOs, WFP, IFAD and
FAO itself and has been distributed here today.
FAO also produced a leaflet called "What is the right to food".
This leaflet was distributed to all FAO staff on the day of the
Anniversary, 10th December last year, and is still being
distributed in various fora. On the same day, new WebPages were
launched on the right to food. The site provides links to relevant
documentation that is available electronically, as well as on-line
access to FAO’s publications.
Finally, a legal study has been prepared containing extracts from
international and regional instruments and declarations as well as
some other authoritative texts relevant to the right to food. The
English version is already available on the Right to Food WebPages,
and we expect very soon to have the printed copies in English, French
and Spanish. In summary, FAO is undertaking a deliberate effort in a
number of areas to promote a human rights approach in seeking
solutions to food and nutrition problems.
FAO, as a technical agency with the right to food at the heart of
its mandate, stresses its role in assisting states in reaching their
objectives in a practical way. There are several specific activities
of the Organization which aim to do this and are of special relevance
to the right to food.
I refer firstly to FAO’s field programme with its
comprehensive programmes related to nutrition. More specifically, the
Special Programme for Food Security which was initiated in 1994 is
set up to help developing countries to improve their national food
security - through rapid increases in productivity and food
production, reducing year-to-year variability in production and
through improving people’s access to adequate nutritious food -
on an economically and environmentally sustainable basis. The Special
Programme is founded on the concepts of national ownership, a
participatory approach, environmental awareness and sensitivity, and
regard for the role of women, all of which are principles consistent
with a rights approach.
The Special Programme for Food Security is operational in nearly
40 countries, covering practically all regions. In over 30 Low Income
Food Deficit Countries, the SPFS is currently in various stages of
formulation.
A second area of great relevance to the right to food is work on
Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information Mapping Systems
as introduced by the Plan of Action of the WFS. The indicators
will be of direct use for those involved in targeting policies and
support measures on the food insecure people and for those involved
in monitoring success in reducing the number of hungry and
malnourished, at both the national and international levels. For this
purpose, FIVIMS can also generate quantitative as well as qualitative
indicators of performance in respecting, protecting and fulfilling
the right to food. It can thus serve as an information bridge between
different bodies, such as FAO’s Committee on World Food Security
and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Information at the national and global levels, about who is food
insecure and why, should be seen as a tool for action, rather than an
end in itself. This action needs to be taken primarily at the
national and local levels, but international organizations should be
ready to lend their assistance in a coordinated way.
A third area is policy advice. FAO has the opportunity of
integrating the right to food in its policy advice to states,
advocate for the right to food, and provide information thereon, in
accordance with its Constitution and the Charter of the United
Nations. This will include the difficult but most important task of
drawing the attention of governments to the need for primacy to
agriculture and rural development in development and investment
policies as a precondition for sustainable progress in reducing
hunger and malnutrition.
Fourthly, normative work on emergency situations, reaching
from preparedness to rehabilitation is an important area. This year
marks the 50th Anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. The
right to food in emergency situations, including in armed conflict,
needs to be brought into the limelight in connection with the
commemoration of this anniversary. Conflict brings with it many
serious violations of the right to food, for instance food blockades
and the deliberate starvation of civilians. These should be addressed
along with other violations, by reporting and advocacy. Humanitarian
access should be seen in the context of the victims’ right to
food and other basic necessities, and insisted upon as a legal
obligation of the state, in cases where it is unable or unwilling to
provide such assistance itself.
Inherent in a rights approach to food aid in emergencies is
devising the delivery in full respect for human dignity, taking
cultural aspects into account, avoiding creation of dependency, and
working towards return to self-reliance. With the cooperation of
other UN bodies, in particular WFP, UNHCR and UNICEF as well as the
ICRC, FAO could examine these questions from a normative point of
view and produce practical tools for those involved in emergencies,
including the UN system, NGOs and bilateral donors.
A fifth area of work to be undertaken in support of the right to
food is legislation. In "The Right to Food in Theory and
Practice", the so-called Blue Book, a map shows which countries have
incorporated the right to food in their constitutions. However, none
of these over 20 countries have enacted a specific legislation to
give effect to the constitutional provisions. As the main
responsibility for implementing the right to food lies with States,
FAO believes that a practical measure for so doing could include the
adoption of framework legislation, which would contain certain
principles regarding the respect for the right to food, and set the
framework for a review of the relevant sectoral legislation for the
protection, facilitation and gradual fulfillment of the right to
food. This process should be guided by the express principles of
accountability, predictability, transparency, non-discrimination,
participation and empowerment and set up the institutional framework
of action in the context of each country.
Such national legislation should also contain the specific
monitorable targets and timeframes that the state sets for itself in
line with global targets set by not only the World Food Summit
[Plan of Action], but by other international conferences of
this decade, including the International Conference on Nutrition, the
World Summit for Children, the Rio Conference on Environment and
Development, the Vienna Conference on Human Rights, the Cairo
Conference on Population and Development, the Copenhagen Conference
on Social Development, the Beijing Conference on Women and the
Istanbul Conference on Human Settlements. It should also provide for
the monitoring of progress in achieving those targets, by appropriate
Government and independent bodies.
It is worth noting that the Second Expert Consultation of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights recommended, in paragraphs 45 and 46 of
the report, that states should consider the adoption of framework law
as part of their national strategy, and that FAO should offer its
assistance upon request.
In this connection, we are pleased that country cases from South Africa, Brazil and South East Asia will be presented this afternoon. International organizations should indeed lend their support to more such initiatives. FAO is in the preliminary stages of helping to organize workshops on the right to food in the national context of specific countries, bringing together the relevant government actors as well as civil society. This would be done in cooperation with other agencies and bilateral donors.
There have already been discussions held at the working levels
between WFP, IFAD and FAO on how they might collaborate better on
issues related to the right to food, both for long term goals and for
more short term interventions, especially for the establishment of
food safety nets to help states ensure, as a minimum, freedom from
hunger.
To conclude, FAO attaches great importance to the right to food. The Organization is ready to co-operate closely with sister agencies and other partners in efforts to clarify what is really meant by development strategies that are based on the right to food and that can ensure that this right will be fulfilled for all human beings within the shortest delay possible.