More than 60 Members of Parliament proposed a draft Law on Food Sovereignty and Food and Nutrition Security, for the Right to Food in the Dominican Republic. The process began in the first half of 2011, when the Inter-institutional Committee for Food and Nutrition Security, composed of the Ministries of Agriculture and Health and the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger, and with the technical support of FAO, WFP, PAHO and UNDP, started the implementation of 8 Regional Forums...

On 5 February 2013, a milestone was reached when Uruguay became the tenth country to ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereafter the Protocol). In accordance with Article 18 of the Protocol, it enters into force three months after the tenth country has deposited its instrument of accession. In force since 1976, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will at last have an international monitoring mechanism, which will strengthen the efforts to increase accountability for the violations of all human rights.

What is the relationship between the right to food and investment in agriculture and rural development? How can human rights provide tools for investment plans and projects? These issues were discussed during a parallel session entitled “The Right to Food: How is it relevant to investment in agriculture and rural development?” organized within Investment Days on 18 December 2012. Investment Days are a yearly two-day retreat that bring together colleagues of the FAO’s Investment Centre (TCI), including employees of such related institutions as the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Bank to share knowledge and experiences.