Turning legal commitments into action: access to justice for the right to food

The Hage, The Netherlands - Strengthening access to justice is essential to ensure that the right to adequate food moves beyond legal recognition and delivers tangible improvements in people’s lives. This was the focus of Realizing the right to food for lasting stability: Scaling and financing effective justice solutions, held on 9 December 2025, which brought together justice actors, multilateral organizations, human rights organizations and community-focused practitioners.  

Discussions highlighted that the right to food is a binding human right whose fulfilment also depends on justice systems capable of addressing violations when they occur and ensuring appropriateness of remedies to protect the right and prevent future violations.  

As Juan Echanove, Right to Food Team Lead at FAO, noted: “Despite this legal architecture, the right to food may remain recognized in theory but insufficiently protected in practice. There is sometimes a fundamental lack of understanding that the right to adequate food is a justiciable human right. It is too often confused with food security, which transforms binding obligations into voluntary aspirations. What is not understood cannot be implemented.” 

Despite strong international and domestic legal frameworks, participants noted that many communities continue to face persistent barriers when seeking justice for violations of the right to food. These obstacles include limited awareness of rights, systemic socioeconomic barriers, geographic distance from rural communities to formal justice courts, and difficulties in gathering and presenting evidence. Such barriers often prevent people from engaging with formal justice mechanisms. 

The dialogue explored practical approaches to legal empowerment, stressing the importance of supporting right holders to claim their right to food through accessible and responsive justice pathways. Particular attention was given to the role of land rights and to the engagement of customary and informal justice actors to expand access to justice at the community level. 

Another recurring theme concerned the protection of victims of right to food violations throughout judicial processes. Discussions underscored the centrality of care, alongside the need to address challenges related to the effective enforcement of rulings. 

The exchanges concluded with a reinforced commitment from the right to food and rule of law communities to deepen collaboration and advance people-centred justice approaches. Participants emphasized grounding justice processes in lived experience, creating spaces where people can speak for themselves and recognize social empowerment as essential for enhanced access to justice for the right to food.  

Enhancing knowledge and develop capacity of the judiciary and other justice actors to adjudicate on the right to food and effectively enforce decisions alongside   empowering right-holders were highlighted as essential to making the right to food a lived reality and supporting stability in food-insecure contexts.