A Primer to the Right to Adequate Food

A Primer to the Right to Adequate Food

Lesson: History of the Right to Adequate Food

Table of contents

Learning objectives

Introduction

Articulation and Adoption

Ratification and broadening of scope and content

Promotion and realization

Summary

If you want to know more

Annex I. Other International Treaties and UN Conventions

Learning objectives

At the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• identify the stages of the historical development of the right to adequate food.

Introduction

This lesson describes the history of the development of the right to adequate food.

As you will see, much effort was required before the right to adequate food could be understood in all its importance and consequences for individuals and states.

The lesson will show the collaboration needed to elaborate the concept of right to adequate food by many different institutions, governmental and non-governmental, and professionals working in the field of human rights and for the right to adequate food in particular.

Many steps have been taken from the birth of the right to adequate food concept at international level towards its progressive realization at national and individual level.

This process can be seen as divided into three main phases:

1)The articulation of ideals of the right to adequate food (idealization) through their adoption in international and national law (formalization) – from 1940s to 1960s.

2)The broadening of the scope and of the content of the right to adequate food – from 1970s to 1980s.

3)The promotion of the recognition and implementation of the right to adequate food worldwide – from 1990s.

Articulation and Adoption

1. The Four Freedoms Speech

In January 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, gave his State of the Union Address to Congress.

He articulated in his speech humanity’s four basic freedoms:

• the freedom of speech;

• the freedom of faith;

• the freedom from want; and

• the freedom from fear.

President Roosevelt explained that freedom from want “translated into world terms, means economic understanding which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants- everywhere in the world”.

At a subsequent State of the Union Address in 1944, President Roosevelt argued that “we have come to the clear realization of the fact that the true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. Necessitous men are not free men”.

2. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

After the Second World War many free countries embraced these four freedoms, which were included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Declaration was adopted on 10 December 1948by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), which proclaimed it “a common standard of achievement for all people and nations”.

Article 2 of the Declaration states that “everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration”.

Article 25relates to the freedom from want, stating that:

“everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food...”.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

It was adopted on 10 December 1948by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), which proclaimed it “a common standard of achievement for all people and nations”.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights marked the first time that the rights and freedoms of individuals were set forth in such detail. It also represented the first international recognition that human rights and fundamental freedoms are applicable to every person, everywhere. In this sense, the Universal Declaration was a landmark achievement in world history. The human rights covered by the Universal Declaration include civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights on an equal footing.

In 1948, the then 58 Member States of the United Nations represented a range of ideologies, political systems and religious and cultural backgrounds, as well as different stages of economic development. The authors of the Declaration, themselves from different regions of the world, sought to ensure that the draft text would reflect these different cultural traditions and

incorporate common values inherent in the world's principal legal systems and religious and philosophical traditions. Most important, the Universal Declaration was to be a common statement of mutual aspirations - a shared vision of a more equitable and just world.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is today widely considered - in whole or in part - as customary international law.

Article 25, in particular, states that:

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

The formulation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in combination with the UN Charter, was the first step in articulating the ideals.

From a juridical standpoint, declarations of principles are considered ‘soft law’ and are not legally binding[1].

The next step was the formulation and adoption of legally binding (‘hard law’) international treaties.

These were:

• the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

• the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, that was adopted in 1966; and

• various other Conventions that have been adopted by the UN and regional organizations.

Why have human rights been divided into two Covenants?

The division of human rights into two main Covenants (ICCPR and ICESCR) resulted from a controversial and contested decision made by the UN General Assembly in 1951.

The arguments, at the time, centered around the issue of the different obligations arising from the two sets of rights. Underlying the final decision to have two separate sets of human rights were several assumption:

• civil and political rights were considered to be “absolute” and “immediate”, whereas economic, social and cultural rights where held to be programmatic, to be realized progressively;

• civil and political rights were “justiciable”, i.e. could be easily applied by courts, while economic, social and cultural rights were more of political nature;

• civil and political rights were “free”, they would not cost much to the state, whereas the implementation of the economic, social and cultural rights were held costly obliging the state to provide welfare to the individual.

Not all of these assumption were well-founded, some were overstated or even mistaken, since the state obligations for both sets of rights are very similar in regard to the three levels of obligations to ‘respect’ to ‘protect’ and to ‘fulfill’. It must be recalled in this context, however, that the decision at the Assembly was also made in front of the political backdrop of the Cold War with its confronting different political, economic and social positions.

Today, these arguments are considered somewhat outdated. However, the division on the two covenants prevails.

Ratification and broadening of scope and content

1. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:

Subsequently, a certain number of states were neededto have the ICESCR ratified through a national process. This occurred ten years later, in 1976.

With the ratification, a state is called a “State Party with legally binding obligations” to:

• take steps towards the progressive realization of the rights in the ICESCR; and

• report periodically to the UN about progress made.

As of June 2006, there are 153 States which have ratified the Covenant.

2. Other International Treaties and UN Conventions[2]:

As time moved on, other international treaties and UN Conventions were ratified, which incorporate aspects related to the right to adequate food. These were fundamental for the development of a legally binding right, based on international law:

• Human Rights Treaties
  The right to adequate food becomes, in the context of these Conventions, a civil and political right, in addition to being foremost an economic, social and cultural right.
• International Humanitarian Law
  These conventions do not proclaim specifically the right to adequate food, but they set out rules to protect access to food and prohibit denial of food under armed conflicts and war.
• Regional International Law
  Also important, regional Charters and Conventions articulate the right to adequate food.

There were important additional contributions made during the 1980s which went towards the promotion and the progressive realization of the right to adequate food.

In 1984, the United Nations University's book on “The right to food” was published.

Various academic and promotional work was undertaken in the 1990s by international non-governmental organizations, especially by the FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN), the Institute Jacques Maritain International and the World Alliance of Nutrition and Human Rights (WANAHR).

An important contribution came from Asbjorn Eide, Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. His study on the content of Article 11of the ICESCR was published in 1987.

Mr. Eide’s intellectual work on human rights was the first UN effort to give meaning and understanding to the content of Article 11 on the right to adequate food.Mr. Eide’s work provided in particular understanding about the meaning of the obligations of states having ratified the ICESCR. He explained the three levels of obligations, i.e. to respect, to protect and to fulfill. His work included understanding about the roles of the individual, the public and the private sector in contributing to fulfilling the obligations related to the right to adequate food by the state.

This basis provided the intellectual grounds where other professionals of academic or private institutions could advance the work on this human right at the international level.

Promotion and realization

1. The World Food Summit in 1996

In 1996, the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights adopted a resolution on the need for a human rights focus by the imminent FAO World Food Summit, held in the same year.

From that event, FAO became very actively involved in promoting the right to adequate food.

Objective 7.4 of the World Food Summit Plan of Action invited the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to better define the rights related to food in Article 11 of the ICESCR and to propose ways to realize these rights, taking into account the possibility of formulating voluntary guidelines for food security for all[3].

2. General Comment 12

A series of events that took place after the World Food Summit[4] led ultimately to the authoritative UN interpretation of Article 11 of the ICESCR: General Comment 12 on the right to adequate food, in 1999.In the year 2000 the UN Commission on human rights appointed a Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, which accelerated the promotion and protection of the right to adequate food worldwide. Between 2000 and 2002 a number of meetings were held on the right to food, in preparation for the “World Food Summit: five years later”. These meetings served to strengthen understanding and support for national implementation.

3. The “World Food Summit: five years later”

The “World Food Summit: five years later”was held in Rome in 2002.

At that time, the promotion and implementation of the right to adequate food were fully recognized.

Negotiations before and during the Summit resulted in an agreement that voluntary guidelines for the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security should be elaborated.

4. The Intergovernmental Working Group

At its 2002 Session, the FAO Council formally established an Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) to elaborate a Set of Voluntary Guidelines on the Progressive Realization of the Right to Food in the Context of National Food Security as a subsidiary body of the Committee on World Food Security and instructed the FAO Secretariat on further modalities for its operation.

The establishment and work of the group was a major new development in the field of socio-economic rights.

This was the first time that the right to adequate food was discussed in substance among governments and in detail within an FAO body. It was also the first time that States agreed on the meaning on the right to adequate food.

Members of the Intergovernmental Working Group included member governments of FAO and of the UN interested in participating. Observers included the Office of the High Commissioner on human rights and the Office of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food.

Stakeholders participated actively in the discussions, in particular relevant international organizations, regional institutions, NGOs and academic institutions, using the information papers prepared by FAO[5].

The Group held four sessions, and an intersessional meeting, during its two year mandate. The first session was held in March 2003 and the work was completed in September 2004 when the voluntary guidelines were adopted.

5. The Voluntary Guidelines

The Voluntary Guidelines were approved by the FAO Council in November 2004. They are a human rights tool addressed to all States.

They are voluntary and non-legally binding although they build on international law and provide guidance on the implementation of already existing obligations. They are addressed to all States, Parties and Non-Parties to the ICESCR, including developing and developed countries.

The adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines was an impressive success in achieving consensus among virtually all countries on issues, some of which were controversial and which needed, therefore, to be discussed thoroughly.The controversial issues included primarily:

• discussions about whether guidelines as a tool for realizing the right to adequate food can be voluntary when states actually have legal obligations towards human rights;

• the strength of terms used, such as “states may wish” or the more stronger wording “should”;

• the weight to be given to the issue of an enabling environment;

• the issues concerning the legal framework and the justiciability of the right to adequate food;

• the right to adequate food in human made disasters; and

• the diverging positions of country groups whether to include (primarily developing countries) or not to include (primarily industrialized countries) guidelines on the international dimensions of the right to adequate food, i.e. issues related to international trade, development aid, debt relief and the institutions: World Trade Organisation, International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Content of the Voluntary Guidelines

The Voluntary Guidelines are structured into three main sections:

•Section I contains the Preface and Introduction, including the text of major international legal instruments and definitions of food security, the right to food and human rights based approaches.

•Section II is entitled Enabling Environment, Assistance and Accountability, and contains Guidelines 1-19.

•Section III is devoted to International Measures, Actions and Commitments.

The Guidelines stress that individuals have a right to an enabling environment in which they can provide for their own needs and those of their families, including food. The availability and access to safe and nutritious food can be assured through self production or through the market. Well-informed consumers can make the right choices for optimum nutrition.

The Guidelines also recognize that vulnerable persons and victims of emergencies and conflict need special assistance. They address the legal system, the monitoring of the realization of the right to adequate food and the role of independent human rights bodies. The Guidelines were drafted in the “context of national food security”. Section III, nevertheless, reflects agreement on aspects of the international environment to be considered when addressing the right to adequate food at national level, i.e. in the context of national food security.

The successful work by the Intergovernmental Working Group showed that human rights have been accepted to be important for policies on issues such as economy, trade, education, food and nutrition. The outcome also proved that human rights can be successfully discussed and dealt with outside the human rights bodies in Geneva.

The Voluntary Guidelines also contain some weaknesses: e.g, the three levels of state obligations and the human rights principles could have been further elaborated, or some general statements better specified.

Nevertheless, they are a first important tool for use by all states committed to the progressive realization of the right to adequate food as well as for non-governmental organizations.

Summary

Much effort was required before the right to adequate food could be understood in all its importance and consequences for individuals and states.

The following are the milestones of the history of the right to adequate food:

•1941: Four Freedoms Speech

• 1948: Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• 1966: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

• 1976: Entry into force of the ICESCR

• 1987: Eide’s study on the content of Article 11 on the Right to adequate food

• 1996: FAO World Food Summit

• 1999: General Comment 12 on the right to adequate food

• 2000: Appointment of the Special Rapporteur on Right to Food

• 2002: FAO World Food Summit: five years later

• 2002: Intergovernmental Working Group on Right to Food Guidelines