The Right to Food around the Globe

  Maldives

The Constitution of the Republic of Maldives explicitly guarantees the right to adequate food.

The Republic of Maldives has become a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 2006 by way of accession. It has signed the Optional Protocol (OP-ICESCR) in 2011, but has not ratified it yet.

CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITIONS OF THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD

Explicit protection of the right to adequate food

Article 23: (Economic and social rights) - “Every citizen has the following rights pursuant to this Constitution, and the State undertakes to achieve the progressive realisation of these rights by reasonable measures within its ability and resources: 

(a) adequate and nutritious food and clean water.”

National status of international obligations

Article 68: (Interpretation)- "When interpreting and applying the rights and freedoms contained within this Chapter, a court or tribunal shall promote the values that underlie an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom, and shall consider international treaties to which the Maldives is a party."

INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – 1948

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

Status: Accession (2006)

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

Status: Accession (1993)

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

Status: Ratification (1991)

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

Status: Ratification (2010)

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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