Right to Food Thematic Study 7, 2014.

The Right to Food Guidelines provide practical tools for the implementation of the right to adequate food primarily in the context of national food security. However, in recognition of the actual and potential national-level effects of international economic transactions and development and humanitarian cooperation, they further lay down a human rights-based framework for relevant international measures, actions and commitments. A review of the implementation of the Right to Food Guidelines should therefore have a component on its international dimensions.

In order to support the ten-year retrospective on the Right to Food Guidelines within the Committee on World Food Security in 2014, the Right to Food Team conducted a series of seven thematic studies on the implementation of the Guidelines. The present study reviews the progress made and the challenges faced over the ten years in the areas of international trade and investment, development and humanitarian cooperation policies, and international development loans and debts from the perspectives of the right to adequate food. It looks at relevant practical developments in the context of international cooperation and global governance on the basis of human rights-based frameworks for the different policy areas. The study can be of use to FAO staff and its national and international partners working on food security in general and the right to food in particular.