The Right to Food around the Globe

  Greece

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

The Hellenic Republic has become a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in1985 by way of accession.

CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITIONS OF THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD

National status of international obligations

Article 28.1: “The generally recognised rules of international law, as well as international conventions as of the time they are ratified by statute and become operative according to their respective conditions, shall be an integral part of domestic Greek law and shall prevail over any contrary provision of the law. The rules of international law and of international conventions shall be applicable to aliens only under the condition of reciprocity.”

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

Article 21.3: "The State shall care for the health of citizens and shall adopt special measures for the protection of youth, old age, disability and for the relief of the needy.”

Article 22.1: “Work constitutes a right and shall enjoy the protection of the State, which shall care for the creation of conditions of employment for all citizens and shall pursue the moral and material advancement of the rural and urban working population.”

INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – 1948

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

Status: Accession (1985)

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

Status: Ratification (1983)

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

Status: Ratification (1993)

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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