from Right to Food , 11-12-2008

  The Cordoba Declaration launched on Human Rights Day

The Cordoba Declaration on the Right to food and the Governance of the Global Food and Agricultural Systems has been launched yesterday, on Human Rights Day, through different networks related to the right to food movement.

The launching comes timely, at a moment when the world is facing persistently high and dramatically increasing number of persons who suffer from chronic hunger, due among others to the high food prices. The Declaration has been developed during the past twelve months by a group of experts from different backgrounds – academia, civil society organizations, UN organizations, government – in the context of the so-called “Cordoba process”.

The Cordoba Declaration is an advocacy tool and a contribution to the present debate regarding measures to be taken to reduce the plight of hunger. It presents an analysis of the food security crisis, which is a structural crisis, and of the response given to it from the human rights perspective. The Declaration offers recommendations on how the traditional, technical, approach to tackle hunger can be complemented by measures that focus on the right to food and governance issues, taking as a basis the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security (Right to Food Guidelines) adopted by FAO’s Council in 2004.

It underlines that the current hunger crisis is not a temporary food insecurity problem, but the sudden worsening of a chronic problem that has affected hundreds of million o people for decades. Accordingly, the response must address structural, longer-term causes of hunger. The Declaration demonstrates how the right to food can contribute to this by giving voice to the hungry people, strengthening institutions, and by promoting accountability, participation, empowerment, non-discrimination and the rule of law.

On the occasion of today’s celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights, the Cordoba Declaration reminds us that human rights and good governance are essential to end hunger and to achieve development and peace. “Yes, we can” make hunger history and the right to food a reality for all.

Please share this information and use the Cordoba Declaration for interaction with stakeholders.

The Cordoba Declaration on the Right to Food and the Governance of the Global Food and Agricultural Systems