The FAO Right to Food Team, in collaboration with the FAO Development Law Branch and Office in Nepal, is pleased to announce the launch of the Review of the legislative framework and jurisprudence concerning the right to adequate food in Nepal. The review discusses overarching aspects of Nepalese law and jurisprudence dealing with this human right. It provides a critical assessment of constitutional as well as legislative provisions and offers a thorough analysis of Supreme Court jurisprudence pertaining to the right to food. In addition to judicial remedy, the review also covers non-judicial means of remedy against the violation of food rights. Finally, the review also offers a set of concrete recommendations, touching upon a wide range of aspects of the human right to adequate food.

Drawing on the assessment, the review contains a comprehensive set of the recommendations that, among other, call for enacting framework legislation on the right to food, strengthening constitutional protection, including through explicitly guaranteeing freedom from hunger as an enforceable fundamental right, and also incorporating a fuller term of the right to an adequate standard of living. Similarly, the Government is called upon for the effective implementation of affirmative and protective provisions, strengthening judicial compliance, prompting legislative reform on various areas of laws impacting upon the enjoyment of the right to adequate food, exercising effectively the mandate of NHRIs in order to remedy food rights violations, ratifying the Optional Protocol to ICESCR, ensuring protection from forced eviction, and mainstreaming gender and social inclusion perspectives in law.

FAO believes that this review comes at an opportune moment as the Nepalese constitution making process is currently underway and a number of ongoing legislative and policy initiatives towards the protection and promotion of the right to food are being undertaken.

This publication is officially released at an important moment in time. 2014 marks ten years since the adoption by consensus of the “Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security” (Right to Food Guidelines) in 2004 and, for this reason, FAO is leading the 10 Year Retrospective of the Implementation of the Right to Food Guidelines. This process, which has lasted a whole year, will culminate at the 41st Session of the CFS taking place next week which will allow FAO Member countries to discuss and review the last 10 years of progress made in implementing the Right to Food Guidelines.