The right to adequate food is about ensuring everyone has access every day to nutritious, sufficient, safe and affordable food. This is a human right, not a privilege.

Browse this selection of publications demonstrating FAO’s long-term commitment to promoting inclusivity, access to natural and financial resources and services, gender equality, responsible investment in agriculture, decent work, social protection, food loss and waste, and a sustainable and food-secure world that leaves no one behind.   

Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of the national food security
The Right to Food Guidelines provide practical guidance on how to implement the right to adequate food in a wide range of policy and programmes areas through a human rights-based approach. They were endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and adopted by FAO Council in 2004.

Fifteen years implementing the Right to Food Guidelines
These guidelines show the efforts of countries, organizations and groups in taking legislative action, designing policies and strategies, and setting up accountable institutions and bodies to respect, protect and fulfil the human right to adequate food.

Consumer organizations and the right to adequate food – Making the connection
This report is aimed at increasing the visibility of consumer organizations and highlighting their importance to food security, healthy diets and agrifood system transformation.

FAO´s work on the right to food
The right to feed oneself in dignity and to be free from hunger is anchored in international law. In order to fulfil this obligation, many countries and international organizations have taken concrete actions to influence policies and laws for the realization of the right to food. FAO has supported Member Countries committed to this important goal throughout the years.

Guide on legislating for the right to food
This guide describes how to protect the right to food in the constitution, provides guidance on drafting a framework law and presents a methodology for reviewing the compatibility of sectoral laws with the right to food. It is part of the Right to Food Methodological Toolbox.

Further reading

• Food loss and waste and the right to adequate food: Making the connection. Right to Food Discussion Paper
• Parliamentary fronts against hunger, and legislative initiatives for the right to adequate food and nutrition
• The right to food and responsible investment in agriculture and food systems
• Small-scale fisheries and the human right to adequate food – Making the connection: exploring synergies in the implementation of the SSF Guidelines and the Right to Food Guidelines
• Women and the Right to Food
• The right to adequate food and indigenous people
• The Right to Food and Access to Natural Resources
• The Right to Adequate Food and the Right to Decent Work: Joint work in rural areas
• The right to adequate food in emergency programmes

Additional resources

• FAO Right to Food website
• The Right to Food Timeline
• The Right to Food around the Globe

• Leveraging human rights to improve the life of family farmers