Organized jointly by FAO and the University Complutense in light of the summer course Zero Hunger is possible, a Conference on the right to adequate food took place in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on 28 June. With Her Majesty Letizia in attendance, Juan Carlos Garcia y Cebolla (Team Leader of FAO’s Right to Food Team) emphasized the political nature of the hunger and food insecurity crisis and laid down some avenues to address and overcome those challenges.

Starting from the expanding premise of global initiatives and efforts to achieve the goal of Zero Hunger, García y Cebolla expanded on the need to use some of the already existing frameworks, such as the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals, to create positive synergies between the social, environmental and economic spheres in order to overcome some fundamental challenges of our time. Chief of those challenges, as reiterated by the Right to Food Team Leader, are hunger and malnutrition, as they represent an enormous burden that hamper the capacities and living quality of important segments of the population, with implications not only in current times but also for the future. What is more, with statistics and examples, the presenter stressed the long-term negative effects of a child suffering from malnutrition, both for itself and for the rest of society.

Anchoring its presentation on international instruments as well as the universal and interdependent nature of human rights, García y Cebolla detailed the importance of human rights principles to guide actions to address the challenges, among which the non-discriminatory and empowered participation of those most affected. Key in achieving real and tangible progress, he explained how the most vulnerable groups need to have an active role in all phases of policy processes for the realization of the right to adequate food, starting at the conceptual stage. With that in mind, he reiterated the fundamental importance of developing and strengthening strong national legislative and policy frameworks for the realization of the right to adequate food.

For further information, please refer to 
http://elpais.com/elpais/2016/06/28/planeta_futuro/1467136029_464880.html 
and http://www.ucm.es/cursosdeverano/noticias/la-reina-letizia-asiste-a-un-curso-sobre-la-erradicacion-del-hambre