Thumbnail Image

Realizing the right to adequate food to end hunger and malnutrition in all its forms

Year of publication 2023

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Synopsis (short abstract) Human rights are universal, including the right to adequate food, which is critical for the enjoyment of all human rights. States have the obligation to realize this right under international law. Measures to meet this right are being adopted, including its constitutional recognition in over 45 countries. Despite important advances, hunger and malnutrition persist and have even worsened in recent years. This impacts the poor and vulnerable most severely, reflecting widening inequalities across and within countries. Recent crises highlight the fragility of agrifood systems, with the world at a tipping point regarding climate change and biodiversity loss. Agrifood systems must be transformed, adopting measures that are people-centred to address the root causes of hunger and poverty. Investing in human rights across sectors is key for more inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems to ensure an adequate standard of living for all.

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (series)
    Legal developments and progressive realization of the right to adequate food
    Right to Food Thematic Study 3
    2014
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Legal developments in the progressive realization of the right to adequate food thematic study explores the significant legal advances of the right to food since the adoption of 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) in 2004. While not legally binding as such, the Right to Food Guidelines, particularly Guideline 7, provide guidance on strengthening legal frameworks for the p rogressive realization of the right to food. The study examines the explicit and implicit recognition of the right to food in national constitutions. While these are highly significant and can provide grounds for litigation, constitutional provisions alone do not provide precise instructions on the different issues that are relevant to the right to food. Adoption of framework laws or specific food security legislation can establish an institutional structure and develop further what action shou ld be taken and how decision-making processes are organized. Sectoral legislation is also necessary to regulate public and private actors in the different fields, as illustrated in the study. With the overview of the various developments at the legislative level, the study proceeds to examine judicial developments related to the right to food. Through the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights the right has become justiciable at the international level and as a matter of international law. There have also been notable jurisprudential developments on the right to food in recent years. The study cites court cases from a number of different countries with different legal systems, as well as cases from regional human rights instances. The cases cited illustrate how the right to food has been interpreted and how it can be enforced.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Article
    Post-2015 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals: Where Are We Now? Global Opportunities to Address Malnutrition in all Its Forms, Including Hidden Hunger 2018
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Combatting malnutrition in all its forms - undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight, and obesity - is one of the greatest challenges that countries are facing. Much has happened in less than 10 years to redefine the international nutrition landscape and place nutrition at the heart of global development efforts. The food crises of 2008 and the Lancet first series on maternal and child undernutrition helped galvanize world attention. The enormous health and economic consequences of malnutrition were recognized, and far more attention began to be paid to the multiple burdens of malnutrition. In 2014, the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) endorsed 2 outcome documents, committing world leaders to establishing national policies aimed at eliminating malnutrition in all its forms, including hidden hunger, and transforming food systems to make nutritious diets available to all. In 2015, 193 Member States of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global objectives to guide the actions of the international community over the next 15 years (2016-2030). Member States placed high priority on addressing malnutrition in all its forms by committing, under SDG 2, to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.” However, nutrition has also a role to play in achieving other goals of the 2030 Agenda, including goals related to poverty, health, education, social protection, gender, water, work, growth, inequality, and climate change. In 2016, the United Nations General Assembly endorsed the ICN2 outcome documents and proclaimed the years 2016-2025 as the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition. The Nutrition Decade reaffirmed the commitments under the ICN2 and the 2030 Agenda to end malnutrition in all its forms. Together, the ICN2, the 2030 Agenda, and the Nutrition Decade have placed nutrition firmly at the heart of the development agenda with the recognition that transformed food systems have a fundamental role to play in promoting healthy diets and improving nutrition. This paper reviews the major international nutrition system changes called for, and provides an analysis of recent governance initiatives to address malnutrition in all its forms, including hidden hunger problems. See also https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/484334
  • Thumbnail Image
    Document
    Institutional framework for the right to adequate food
    Right to Food Thematic Study 2
    2014
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    This study shows how an institutional framework can efficiently support the realization of the right to adequate food and – mainly with the guidance of Guidelines 5 and 18 –examines important advances that have taken place since the adoption of the Right to Food Guidelines through various structural dimensions of an institution. Executive and legislative bodies, human rights institutions as well as judicial and quasi-judicial bodies, at national, regional and global levels, have been established or strengthened over the past decade so as to further contribute to the realization of the right to adequate food of all. Progresses are seen in various regions and across societies with different historical, cultural, social and economic contexts. Still, at national, regional and global levels, there are various actions that can be taken to further increase the contribution of institutional frameworks to the eradication of hunger, malnutrition and the realization of the right to adequate food of all over the coming years. Some of these actions include: the entrustment of clear and broad mandates on the right to adequate food; the empowerment and funding of adequate human resources; and an active and effective participation of all relevant stakeholders in order to strengthen accountability and transparency.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.