Right to Food Core Glossary

• Political accountability is a proactive process by which public officials inform about and justify their plans of action, their behaviour and results and are sanctioned accordingly. The election mechanism, in principle, ensures political accountability.
• Administrative accountability mechanisms include offices within agencies or ministries and practices within administrative processes designed to ensure that the decisions and actions of public officials account for the interest of the citizens.
• Legal accountability is the most unambiguous type of accountability, as the legal scrutiny will be based on detailed legal standards, stipulated by constitutions, legislative acts, decrees, rules, codes, and other legal instruments that proscribe actions that public officials can and cannot take and how citizens may take action against those officials whose conduct is considered unsatisfactory.
• Public or social accountability is an approach towards building accountability that relies on civic engagement, i.e. in which it is ordinary citizens and/or civil society organizations who participate directly or indirectly in exacting accountability. Social Accountability mechanisms refer to a broad range of actions (beyond voting) that citizens, communities and civil society organizations can use to hold government officials and bureaucrats accountable.

For more information:
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/PUBLICSECTORANDGOVERNANCE/
Resources/AccountabilityGovernance.pdf

the availability of food in a quantity and quality sufficient to satisfy the dietary needs of individuals, free from adverse substances, and acceptable within a given culture; [and] the accessibility of such food in ways that are sustainable and that do not interfere with the enjoyment of other human rights.

Moreover, the CESCR links the concept of adequacy to availability and accessibility.
The “precise meaning of "adequacy" is to a large extent determined by prevailing social, economic, cultural, climatic, ecological and other conditions, while "sustainability" incorporates the notion of long-term availability and accessibility.”

This definition of the right to food builds on the now commonly used definition of food security and its four main pillars (see also “food security”).

Source:
General Comment 12, The Right to Adequate Food (Article 11 of the Covenant), Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1999. UN Doc. E/C.12/1999/5

The State also bears the responsibility for protection of human rights at the level of domestic law. Thus, when incorporating human rights into domestic law it is up to the state to extend human rights duties also to non-state actors (individuals, corporations, etc.).

Source:
Guide on Legislating for the Right to Food, FAO 2008.

Individuals, households, or groups of people, who are permanently food-insecure, are also highly vulnerable to greater food insecurity when a shock occurs. While those who are food secure to start off with, and have very low levels of risk exposure, and have a high capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from any adverse risk effect, will remain food secure when a shock occurs. Thus, one can think of a vulnerability continuum, with positions at different points of this continuum representing different degrees of vulnerability to food insecurity, depending on actual exposure to risks and the capacity to withstand the impact of risk. Vulnerability is thus a relative concept, i.e. some people or households are more or less vulnerable to food insecurity than others.

For more information:  http://www.fivims.org

The concept of human dignity is also of particular importance for people needing special care, such as infants, persons with disabilities and the elderly.

Source:
Guide on Legislating for the Right to Food, FAO 2008.
Human Rights: Between Idealism and Realism, Christian Tomuschat, p. 3, 2003.

The “fundamental right to be free from hunger” is recognized in paragraph 2 of article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in addition to the right to adequate food in paragraph 1. The former is thus often referred to as a minimum content or minimum obligation of State Parties to the Covenant.

The concept of hunger is commonly used for situations of serious food deprivation as well as for different forms of undernutrition, including a shortfall in access to sufficient food or in essential components of nutritionally necessary food making an impact on the normal physical or mental capacity of the person, or group of persons. Independent of any formal definition, it is clear that hunger negatively affects people’s health, productivity and overall well-being and has detrimental effects on children leading to stunted growth, decreased physical and mental capacities, hindering foetal development and contributing to mental retardation.

Over an extended period, hunger is likely to lead to malnutrition and is usually the consequence of extreme food insecurity. People may be food insecure without being hungry, however. For example, food insecurity may refer to a continuous concern about acquiring sufficient food that not necessarily results in a sharp reduction in daily food intake. In developing countries, the reduction in food intake as a result of food insecurity among the poor normally means that people are hungry. Hunger has also been described in terms of degrees of severity, i.e. the extent to which people are forced to reduce their daily food intake.

Source:
Eide, A. A note on the content of ’freedom from hunger’ in ICESCR Article 11, working document 15.19.2007
Kennedy, E. Qualitative measures of food insecurity and hunger. In: Proceedings – Measurement and Assessment of Food Deprivation and Undernutrition. International Scientific Symposium, Rome June 2002. FAO, 2003 (pages 165-180).

    There are several types and categories of indicators: Outcomes, Process and Structural Indicators. The following explains each one in turn.

• Outcome Indicators

Outcome indicators provide summary information on the extent of realisation of a human right. These indicators assess the status of the population's enjoyment of a right, and thus measure the results achieved by means of policies, programmes, projects, community actions, and others. Indicators that measure the various components of the core content of the right to adequate food are outcome indicators. Outcome indicators measure the state's obligations of result.

As there may be a series of processes contributing to a single outcome, it becomes useful to make a distinction between process and outcome indicators. Example: if adequacy of dietary intake is used as an outcome indicator, it might be useful to look at process indicators on food safety, income generation, nutrition education, that are linked to producing this particular outcome.

• Process Indicators:

Process indicators provide information on the processes by which human rights are implemented, specifically through laws, policies, programmes, regulatory measures, etc. They are designed to assess how, and to what degree, activities necessary to attain objectives specific to certain rights are put into practice, and the progress of these activities over time. Process indicators capture: (i) the quality of a process in terms of its adherence to the key human rights principles (is the process non-discriminatory, accountable, participatory and empowering, and can duty bearers be held accountable?), and (ii) the type of policy instruments, and public resource allocations and expenditures invested to further the progressive realisation of a specific right. As with structural indicators, process indicators measure aspects of the state obligations of conduct.

Examples within the context of the right to adequate food include: land and environmental laws conducive to efficient food production by smallholder farmers, food safety and consumer protection laws and regulations, food and nutrition programmes targeted at vulnerable population groups, rural infrastructure programmes, targeted food prices subsidies, and improving access to food among the resource-poor by means of income generation programmes.

• Structural Indicators:

Structural indicators measure whether or not appropriate legal, regulatory and institutional structures, which that are considered necessary or useful for the realisation of a human right, are in place,. They refer to national law, constitutions, regulations and legal, policy frameworks and institutional organisation and mandates. Examples include: the legal status of the right to food, and of related rights such as to health and to education, mandates of institutions with responsibilities for the core content of the right to adequate food, food security and nutrition policies and strategies, etc. Most structural indicators are qualitative in nature, and a number of structural indicators may be evaluated by a simple "yes" or "no" answer, e.g. if a particular law or policy is in place or not. However, sometimes these yes/no answers need follow-up questions and additional clarification, to capture qualitative dimensions of the law or policy. An example of this is whether the food security and nutrition policy specifically targets food insecure and vulnerable groups, and if policy measures are adequate to address the underlying causes of food insecurity and vulnerability in those groups. Structural indicators monitor the state obligations of conduct, i.e. the effort the government has expanded towards the realisation of a human right.  (see also Obligations).

Source:
Methods to Monitor the Human Right to Adequate Food, FAO, 2008

Nutrition insecurity can be either chronic (at all or at most times), seasonal or transitory. Persons can be nutritionally insecure due to food insecurity, or due to non-food causes, such as poor health and sanitation conditions that result in certain diseases that affect the absorption of food by the body. Ensuring nutrition security means ensuring the enjoyment of the right to adequate food and of the right to health.

Obligations with regard to human rights are spelt out in international human rights treaties: under the terms of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, States Parties have to take concrete steps to progressively achieve full realization of rights established therein, without discrimination of any kind.

The precise obligations of states vary from treaty to treaty but in general, States obligations to implement human rights are said to be of three main categories:

• to respect: not to interfere with the exercise of a right;
• to protect: ensuring others do not interfere with the right, primarily through effective regulation and remedies for established infringements;
• to fulfil: facilitating access to rights, promoting rights and providing for those who are unable to provide for themselves.

In the context of human right to food, the obligation to provide is seen as a last resort, usually in emergency situations, when the right to life is in jeopardy, as well as for individuals suffering from disability, ill health or old age.

International law generally distinguishes between obligations of result and obligations of conduct. Obligations of conduct require specific actions to be undertaken or omitted, whereas obligations of result focus on the final outcome. In the context of the right to food, the obligations of conduct are to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food. The obligation of result refers to the right to food being realized.

Source:
General Comment 3, The Nature of States Parties Obligations (Art. 2, par.1), Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 14/12/90
General Comment 12, The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11), Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, UN Doc. E/C.12/1999/5

Participation should be active, free and meaningful whether it is exercised directly or through intermediary organizations representing specific interests.

A human rights-based approach requires both, the participatory formulation of the needed policy and legislative framework, and ensuring that participatory and democratic processes are institutionalized locally and nationally (including through capacity-building among families, communities and civil society to actively participate in relevant forums).

Although the term ‘progressive achievement’ is used, the obligation to guarantee some rights in the ICESCR is immediate. The obligations not to discriminate and to ensure the fundamental right to be free from hunger for everyone are not subject to the standard of progressive realization: they take immediate effect.

Source:

In case of an alleged violation of a human right, an individual can seek its protection at the national and the international level. At the national level, an optimum system of protection of the right to food (or any other human right) would involve a combination of administrative, judicial and quasi-judicial system of protection and enforcement. At the international level, rights can be upheld through international human rights complaint mechanisms when such mechanism exists. Before addressing an international human rights complaint mechanism (e.g. European Court of Human Rights, Inter-American Commission of Human Rights), it is necessary first to exhaust all legal remedies available at the country level.

The rule of law also means that no person or body can breach the law with impunity. Therefore, access to justice for the enforcement of the right to food must be ensured at the national level. Access to justice includes the right to an “effective remedy” for anyone whose rights are violated as well as the guarantee of due process in all legal proceedings.

Human rights are seen as a component of the rule of law, and vice versa.

Source:
FAO. 2002. Measurement and Assessment of Food Deprivation and Undernutrition, International Scientific Symposium, Rome, 26-28 June 2002, Glossary, available at
http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/Y4249E/y4249e0m.htm#bm22..3.5

The term undernutrition covers a range of problems from being dangerously thin (underweight) or too short for one's age (stunting) to being deficient in vitamins and minerals. Each form of malnutrition depends on what nutrients are missing in the diet, for how long and at what age. The most basic kind of undernutrition is called protein energy deficiency. It results from a diet lacking in energy and protein because of a deficit in all major macronutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Protein-energy deficiency is by far the most lethal form of malnutrition and the one referred to when world hunger is referred to. Children are its most visible victims.

Other forms of undernutrition are less visible but no less deadly. They are usually the result of deficiencies in the nutritional quality of food being consumed. Quite a few micronutrients are important for health, perhaps the most important being iron, vitamin A and zinc. Deficiencies in these are ranked by WHO among top 10 leading causes of death from disease in developing countries. Outcomes of micronutrient deficiencies include impaired growth and cognitive development, poor birth outcomes, anaemia and blindness.

Sources:
http://www.fivims.net/glossary.jspx?show_result=true?lang=en http://www.wfp.org/aboutwfp/introduction/hunger_what.asp?section=1&sub_section=1
http://www.unicef.org/progressforchildren/2006n4/
http://www.worldhunger.org