The Right to Food around the Globe

  Estonia

The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia does not explicitly guarantee the right to adequate food.

The Republic of Estonia has become a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1991 by way of accession.

CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITIONS OF THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD

National status of international obligations

Article 3: “The state authority shall be exercised solely pursuant to the Constitution and laws which are in conformity therewith. Generally recognised principles and rules of international law are an inseparable part of the Estonian legal system.”

Article 123: “[...] When laws or other legislation of Estonia are in conflict with an international treaty ratified by the Riigikogu, provisions of the international treaty apply.”

INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – 1948

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) – 1966

Status: Accession (1991)

Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) – 1979

Status: Accession (1991)

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) – 1989

Status: Accession (1991)

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) – 2006

Status: Ratification (2012)

Legislation and policies recognizing the right to adequate food

Guidance on how to progressively realise the human right to adequate food in contexts of national food security has been provided by the Right to Food Guidelines, adopted by the FAO Council and endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security.

Considering that the human right to adequate food can be implemented through a variety of legal and policy actions, we invite you to visit the FAOLEX Country Profile database for a wide-ranging collection of measures that have been taken at national level. Some of the documents you may find are legislation and policies that touch on a number of relevant Guidelines, such as those on Access to resources and assets (Guideline 8), Food safety and consumer protection (Guideline 9), Support for vulnerable groups (Guideline 13) and Natural and human-made disasters (Guideline 16).

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