The Right to Food around the Globe

  Guinea-Bissau

The Constitution of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau does not explicitly guarantee the right to adequate food. 

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau has become a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1992 by way of accession. It has signed the Optional Protocol (OP-ICESCR) in 2009, but has not ratified it yet.

CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITIONS OF THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD

National status of international obligations

Article 29.1: "Fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution do not negate other rights foreseen by the laws of the Republic and applicable rules of international law." ("Os direitos fundamentais consagrados na Constituição não excluem quaisquer outros constantes das demais leis da República e das regras aplicáveis de direito internacional.")

Other pertinent provisions for the realization of the right to adequate food

Article 11.1: "The economic and social organization of Guinea-Bissau is based on the principles of market economy, subordination of economic power to political power and the coexistence between public, cooperative and private property."

Article 11.2: "The economic and social organization of Guinea-Bissau has as objective the continuous promotion of its people’s well-being and the elimination of all forms of subjection of human beings to degrading interests, for the benefit of individuals, groups or classes."

INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – 1948

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

Status: Accession (1992)

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

Status: Ratification (1985)

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

Status: Ratification (1990)

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

Status: Ratification (2014)

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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