No Solutions for Food Crisis without Human Rights

By : Norman Jiwan

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/NoSolutionsFoodCrisis.aspx

No Solutions for Food Crisis without Human Rights

A human rights strategy with concerted efforts from the international and
national levels is required to address the global food crisis caused by
soaring food prices, Oliver De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on the Right to
Food, told the ninth session of the Human Rights Council.

"The poor are hungry and malnourished not because there is no food but
because they cannot buy the food that is available", the Special Rapporteur
said, adding that "what matters in human rights terms is not that more food
is produced, but who will produce it and for the benefit of whom."

Before the current food crisis, 854 million were already hungry and over two
billion were malnourished. The World Bank estimates that over 100 million
additional people may have been driven into poverty as a result of the food
price crisis.

The Special Rapporteur's report is a follow-up to the 22 May special session
of the Human Rights Council on the impact of the world food crisis, which
urged measures be taken to "ensure the realization of the right to food as
an essential human rights objective."

"Solutions to the food crisis will only be sustainable if our strategies are
grounded on human rights," De Schutter said, and urged all actors to take
human rights into account in their efforts to tackle the impact of the
increase in food prices.

"If we seek to protect food security only in terms of supply and demand or
against climate change, without focusing on those whose right to food is
denied, we will fail to address the human suffering caused by growing food
prices," he said.

The report, entitled "Building Resilience: A Human Rights Framework for
World Food and Nutrition Security", recommends a range of national and
international measures to redress the negative effects of the food crisis on
the enjoyment of the right to food.

At the national level, the report suggests that States develop strategies to
ensure that particular attention is given to the needs and rights of the
most vulnerable sectors of the population when addressing food issues.

It further says that States have human rights obligations to take a number
of actions to realize the right to food, such as putting in place adequate
monitoring mechanisms to identify the emerging threats to the right to food,
protecting land users from the risk of eviction, and addressing the equal
rights of rural women to enjoy access to land and other productive
resources.

At the international level, the Special Rapporteur emphasizes that
international human rights law requires international assistance and
cooperation to achieve the enjoyment of the right to food for all. This
includes providing an enabling environment for national efforts to improve
adequate access to food particularly through international agreements
concerning trade and intellectual property rights.

The report also touches on the impact of agrofuels on the right to food,
stating that "an urgent consensus that is firmly anchored in human rights
considerations" is required on the issue.

"The Human Rights Council must make it clear that there is no clash of
priorities between the need to combat climate change and protect the
environment and that to increase food production and protect human rights,"
said the Special Rapporteur.

He urged the Human Rights Council to call for prompt adoption of
international agreements and guidelines that would ensure investment in, and
development of, agrofuels is closely scrutinized.

"This is essential to ensure national and international policies on
agrofuels do not have a negative impact on food availability and on human
rights, as is too often the case today," De Schutter said.

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Norman Jiwan
Research staff, Sawit Watch, Indonesia
Jl. Sempur Kaler No. 28
Bogor 16129
Phone: +62-251-352171
Fax: +62-251-352047
Mobile: +6281315613536
Email: info@sawitwatch.or.id

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Sawit Watch is an Indonesian Non-Government Organisation concerned with
adverse negative social and environmental impacts of oil palm plantation
developments in Indonesia. Sawit Watch seeks to promote sustainable social
justice mandates through human rights based approaches in its activities and
interventions in the issues. It has been active in 17 provinces and networks
in related districts where oil palm plantations are now being developed in
Indonesia.

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Sabtu, 20 September 2008