1. The human right to adequate food is
recognized in several instruments under international law. The International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights deals more comprehensively than any other instrument
with this right. Pursuant to article
11.1 of the Covenant, States parties recognize “the right of everyone to an
adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate
food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living
conditions”, while pursuant to article 11.2 they recognize that more immediate
and urgent steps may be needed to ensure “the fundamental right to freedom from
hunger and malnutrition”. The human
right to adequate food is of crucial importance for the enjoyment of all
rights. It applies to everyone; thus
the reference in article 11.1 to “himself and his family” does not imply any
limitation upon the applicability of this right to individuals or to female‑headed
households.
2. The Committee has accumulated
significant information pertaining to the right to adequate food through
examination of State parties’ reports over the years since 1979. The Committee has noted that while reporting
guidelines are available relating to the right to adequate food, only a few
States parties have provided information sufficient and precise enough to
enable the Committee to determine the prevailing situation in the countries
concerned with respect to this right and to identify the obstacles to its
realization. This general comment aims
to identify some of the principal issues which the Committee considers to be
important in relation to the right to adequate food. Its preparation was triggered by the request of Member States
during the 1996 World Food Summit for a better definition of the rights
relating to food in article 11 of the Covenant, and by a special request
to the Committee to give particular attention to the Summit Plan of Action in
monitoring the implementation of the specific measures provided for in article
11 of the Covenant.
3. In response to these requests, the
Committee reviewed the relevant reports and documentation of the Commission on
Human Rights and of the Sub‑Commission on Prevention of Discrimination
and Protection of Minorities on the right to adequate food as a human right;
devoted a day of general discussion to this issue at its seventh session in
1997, taking into consideration the draft international code of conduct on the
human right to adequate food prepared by international non‑governmental
organizations; participated in two expert consultations on the right to
adequate food as a human right organized by the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in Geneva in December 1997, and in
Rome in November 1998 co‑hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO), and noted their final reports. In April 1999 the Committee participated in
a symposium on “The substance and politics of a human rights approach to food
and nutrition policies and programmes”, organized by the Administrative
Committee on Coordination/Sub‑Committee on Nutrition of the United
Nations at its twenty‑sixth session in Geneva and hosted by OHCHR.
4. The Committee affirms that the right to
adequate food is indivisibly linked to the inherent dignity of the human person
and is indispensable for the fulfilment of other human rights enshrined in the
International Bill of Human Rights. It
is also inseparable from social justice, requiring the adoption of appropriate
economic, environmental and social policies, at both the national and
international levels, oriented to the eradication of poverty and the fulfilment
of all human rights for all.
5. Despite the fact that the international
community has frequently reaffirmed the importance of full respect for the
right to adequate food, a disturbing gap still exists between the standards set
in article 11 of the Covenant and the situation prevailing in many parts of the
world. More than 840 million people
throughout the world, most of them in developing countries, are chronically
hungry; millions of people are suffering from famine as the result of natural
disasters, the increasing incidence of civil strife and wars in some regions
and the use of food as a political weapon.
The Committee observes that while the problems of hunger and
malnutrition are often particularly acute in developing countries, malnutrition,
under‑nutrition and other problems which relate to the right to adequate
food and the right to freedom from hunger also exist in some of the most
economically developed countries.
Fundamentally, the roots of the problem of hunger and malnutrition are
not lack of food but lack of access to available food, inter alia because of
poverty, by large segments of the world’s population.
6. The right to adequate food is realized
when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, have
physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its
procurement. The right to adequate
food shall therefore not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense
which equates it with a minimum package of calories, proteins and other
specific nutrients. The right to
adequate food will have to be realized progressively. However, States have a core obligation to
take the necessary action to mitigate and alleviate hunger as provided for in
paragraph 2 of article 11, even in times of natural or other disasters.
7. The concept of adequacy is
particularly significant in relation to the right to food since it serves to
underline a number of factors which must be taken into account in determining
whether particular foods or diets that are accessible can be considered the
most appropriate under given circumstances for the purposes of article 11 of
the Covenant. The notion of sustainability
is intrinsically linked to the notion of adequate food or food security,
implying food being accessible for both present and future generations. The precise meaning of “adequacy” is to a
large extent determined by prevailing social, economic, cultural, climatic,
ecological and other conditions, while “sustainability” incorporates the notion
of long‑term availability and accessibility.
8. The Committee considers that the core
content of the right to adequate food implies:
The availability of food in a quantity
and quality sufficient to satisfy the dietary needs of individuals, free from
adverse substances, and acceptable within a given culture;
The accessibility of such food in ways
that are sustainable and that do not interfere with the enjoyment of other human
rights.
9. Dietary needs implies that the
diet as a whole contains a mix of nutrients for physical and mental growth,
development and maintenance, and physical activity that are in compliance with
human physiological needs at all stages throughout the life cycle and according
to gender and occupation. Measures may
therefore need to be taken to maintain, adapt or strengthen dietary diversity
and appropriate consumption and feeding patterns, including breastfeeding,
while ensuring that changes in availability and access to food supply as a
minimum do not negatively affect dietary composition and intake.
10. Free from adverse substances sets
requirements for food safety and for a range of protective measures by both
public and private means to prevent contamination of foodstuffs through
adulteration and/or through bad environmental hygiene or inappropriate handling
at different stages throughout the food chain; care must also be taken to
identify and avoid or destroy naturally occurring toxins.
11. Cultural or consumer acceptability
implies the need also to take into account, as far as possible, perceived non‑nutrient‑based
values attached to food and food consumption and informed consumer
concerns regarding the nature of accessible food supplies.
12. Availability refers to the
possibilities either for feeding oneself directly from productive land or other
natural resources, or for well‑functioning distribution, processing and
market systems that can move food from the site of production to where it is needed
in accordance with demand.
13. Accessibility encompasses both
economic and physical accessibility:
Economic
accessibility implies that personal or household financial costs associated
with the acquisition of food for an adequate diet should be at a level such
that the attainment and satisfaction of other basic needs are not threatened or
compromised. Economic accessibility
applies to any acquisition pattern or entitlement through which people procure
their food and is a measure of the extent to which it is satisfactory for the
enjoyment of the right to adequate food.
Socially vulnerable groups such as landless persons and other
particularly impoverished segments of the population may need attention through
special programmes.
Physical
accessibility implies that adequate food must be accessible to everyone,
including physically vulnerable individuals, such as infants and young
children, elderly people, the physically disabled, the terminally ill and
persons with persistent medical problems, including the mentally ill. Victims of natural disasters, people living
in disaster‑prone areas and other specially disadvantaged groups may need
special attention and sometimes priority consideration with respect to
accessibility of food. A particular
vulnerability is that of many indigenous population groups whose access to
their ancestral lands may be threatened.
14. The nature of the legal obligations of
States parties is set out in article 2 of the Covenant and has been dealt with
in the Committee’s general comment No. 3 (1990). The principal obligation is to take steps to achieve progressively
the full realization of the right to adequate food. This imposes an obligation to move as expeditiously as possible
towards that goal. Every State is
obliged to ensure for everyone under its jurisdiction access to the minimum
essential food which is sufficient, nutritionally adequate and safe, to ensure
their freedom from hunger.
15. The right to adequate food, like any
other human right, imposes three types or levels of obligations on States
parties: the obligations to respect,
to protect and to fulfil.
In turn, the obligation to fulfil incorporates both an obligation
to facilitate and an obligation to provide.* The obligation to respect existing
access to adequate food requires States parties not to take any measures that
result in preventing such access. The
obligation to protect requires measures by the State to ensure that enterprises
or individuals do not deprive individuals of their access to adequate
food. The obligation to fulfil (facilitate)
means the State must proactively engage in activities intended to strengthen
people’s access to and utilization of resources and means to ensure their
livelihood, including food security.
Finally, whenever an individual or group is unable, for reasons beyond
their control, to enjoy the right to adequate food by the means at their
disposal, States have the obligation to fulfil (provide) that
right directly. This obligation also
applies for persons who are victims of natural or other disasters.
16. Some measures at these different levels
of obligations of States parties are of a more immediate nature, while other
measures are more of a long‑term character, to achieve progressively the
full realization of the right to food.
17. Violations of the Covenant occur when a
State fails to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, the minimum
essential level required to be free from hunger. In determining which actions or omissions amount to a violation
of the right to food, it is important to distinguish the inability from the
unwillingness of a State party to comply.
Should a State party argue that resource constraints make it impossible
to provide access to food for those who are unable by themselves to secure such
access, the State has to demonstrate that every effort has been made to use all
the resources at its disposal in an effort to satisfy, as a matter of priority,
those minimum obligations. This follows
from article 2.1 of the Covenant, which obliges a State party to take the
necessary steps to the maximum of its available resources, as previously
pointed out by the Committee in its general comment No. 3, paragraph 10. A State claiming that it is unable to carry
out its obligation for reasons beyond its control therefore has the burden of
proving that this is the case and that it has unsuccessfully sought to obtain
international support to ensure the availability and accessibility of the
necessary food.
18. Furthermore, any discrimination in access
to food, as well as to means and entitlements for its procurement, on the
grounds of race, colour, sex, language, age, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status with the
purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the equal enjoyment or exercise of
economic, social and cultural rights constitutes a violation of the Covenant.
19. Violations of the right to food can occur
through the direct action of States or other entities insufficiently regulated
by States. These include: the formal repeal or suspension of
legislation necessary for the continued enjoyment of the right to food; denial
of access to food to particular individuals or groups, whether the
discrimination is based on legislation or is proactive; the prevention of
access to humanitarian food aid in internal conflicts or other emergency
situations; adoption of legislation or policies which are manifestly
incompatible with pre‑existing legal obligations relating to the right to
food; and failure to regulate activities of individuals or groups so as to
prevent them from violating the right to food of others, or the failure of a
State to take into account its international legal obligations regarding the
right to food when entering into agreements with other States or with
international organizations.
20. While only States are parties to the
Covenant and are thus ultimately accountable for compliance with it, all
members of society ‑ individuals, families, local communities, non‑governmental
organizations, civil society organizations, as well as the private business
sector ‑ have responsibilities in the realization of the right to
adequate food. The State should provide
an environment that facilitates implementation of these responsibilities. The private business sector ‑ national
and transnational ‑ should pursue its activities within the framework of
a code of conduct conducive to respect of the right to adequate food, agreed
upon jointly with the Government and civil society.
21. The most appropriate ways and means of
implementing the right to adequate food will inevitably vary significantly from
one State party to another. Every State
will have a margin of discretion in choosing its own approaches, but the
Covenant clearly requires that each State party take whatever steps are
necessary to ensure that everyone is free from hunger and as soon as possible
can enjoy the right to adequate food.
This will require the adoption of a national strategy to ensure food and
nutrition security for all, based on human rights principles that define the
objectives, and the formulation of policies and corresponding benchmarks. It should also identify the resources available
to meet the objectives and the most cost‑effective way of
using them.
22. The strategy should be based on a
systematic identification of policy measures and activities relevant to the
situation and context, as derived from the normative content of the right to
adequate food and spelled out in relation to the levels and nature of State
parties’ obligations referred to in paragraph 15 of the present general
comment. This will facilitate
coordination between ministries and regional and local authorities and ensure
that related policies and administrative decisions are in compliance with the
obligations under article 11 of the Covenant.
23. The formulation and implementation of
national strategies for the right to food requires full compliance with the
principles of accountability, transparency, people’s participation,
decentralization, legislative capacity and the independence of the
judiciary. Good governance is essential
to the realization of all human rights, including the elimination of poverty and
ensuring a satisfactory livelihood for all.
24. Appropriate institutional mechanisms
should be devised to secure a representative process towards the formulation of
a strategy, drawing on all available domestic expertise relevant to food and
nutrition. The strategy should set out
the responsibilities and time frame for the implementation of the necessary
measures.
25. The strategy should address critical
issues and measures in regard to all aspects of the food system, including the
production, processing, distribution, marketing and consumption of safe food,
as well as parallel measures in the fields of health, education, employment and
social security. Care should be taken
to ensure the most sustainable management and use of natural and other resources
for food at the national, regional, local and household levels.
26. The strategy should give particular
attention to the need to prevent discrimination in access to food or resources
for food. This should include: guarantees of full and equal access to
economic resources, particularly for women, including the right to inheritance
and the ownership of land and other property, credit, natural resources and
appropriate technology; measures to respect and protect self‑employment
and work which provides a remuneration ensuring a decent living for wage
earners and their families (as stipulated in article 7 (a) (ii) of the
Covenant); maintaining registries on rights in land (including forests).
27. As part of their obligations to protect
people’s resource base for food, States parties should take appropriate steps
to ensure that activities of the private business sector and civil society are
in conformity with the right to food.
28. Even where a State faces severe resource
constraints, whether caused by a process of economic adjustment, economic recession,
climatic conditions or other factors, measures should be undertaken to ensure
that the right to adequate food is especially fulfilled for vulnerable
population groups and individuals.
29. In implementing the country‑specific
strategies referred to above, States should set verifiable benchmarks for
subsequent national and international monitoring. In this connection, States should consider the adoption of a framework
law as a major instrument in the implementation of the national strategy
concerning the right to food. The
framework law should include provisions on its purpose; the targets or goals to
be achieved and the time frame to be set for the achievement of those targets;
the means by which the purpose could be achieved described in broad terms, in
particular the intended collaboration with civil society and the private sector
and with international organizations; institutional responsibility for the
process; and the national mechanisms for its monitoring, as well as possible
recourse procedures. In developing the
benchmarks and framework legislation, States parties should actively involve
civil society organizations.
30. Appropriate United Nations programmes and
agencies should assist, upon request, in drafting the framework legislation and
in reviewing the sectoral legislation.
FAO, for example, has considerable expertise and accumulated knowledge
concerning legislation in the field of food and agriculture. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has
equivalent expertise concerning legislation with regard to the right to
adequate food for infants and young children through maternal and child
protection including legislation to enable breastfeeding, and with regard to
the regulation of marketing of breast milk substitutes.
31. States parties shall develop and maintain
mechanisms to monitor progress towards the realization of the right to adequate
food for all, to identify the factors and difficulties affecting the degree of
implementation of their obligations, and to facilitate the adoption of
corrective legislation and administrative measures, including measures to
implement their obligations under articles 2.1 and 23 of the Covenant.
32. Any person or group who is a victim of a
violation of the right to adequate food should have access to effective
judicial or other appropriate remedies at both national and international
levels. All victims of such violations
are entitled to adequate reparation, which may take the form of restitution,
compensation, satisfaction or guarantees of non‑repetition. National Ombudsmen and human rights
commissions should address violations of the right to food.
33. The incorporation in the domestic legal
order of international instruments recognizing the right to food, or
recognition of their applicability, can significantly enhance the scope and
effectiveness of remedial measures and should be encouraged in all cases. Courts would then be empowered to adjudicate
violations of the core content of the right to food by direct reference to
obligations under the Covenant.
34. Judges and other members of the legal
profession are invited to pay greater attention to violations of the right to
food in the exercise of their functions.
35. States parties should respect and protect
the work of human rights advocates and other members of civil society who
assist vulnerable groups in the realization of their right to
adequate food.
36. In the spirit of Article 56 of the
Charter of the United Nations, the specific provisions contained in articles
11, 2.1, and 23 of the Covenant and the Rome Declaration of the World Food
Summit, States parties should recognize the essential role of international
cooperation and comply with their commitment to take joint and separate action
to achieve the full realization of the right to adequate food. In implementing this commitment, States
parties should take steps to respect the enjoyment of the right to food in
other countries, to protect that right, to facilitate access to food and to
provide the necessary aid when required.
States parties should, in international agreements whenever relevant,
ensure that the right to adequate food is given due attention and consider the
development of further international legal instruments to that end.
37. States parties should refrain at all
times from food embargoes or similar measures which endanger conditions for
food production and access to food in other countries. Food should never be used as an instrument
of political and economic pressure. In
this regard, the Committee recalls its position, stated in its general comment
No. 8, on the relationship between economic sanctions and respect for economic,
social and cultural rights.
38. States have a joint and individual
responsibility, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, to
cooperate in providing disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in times of
emergency, including assistance to refugees and internally displaced
persons. Each State should contribute
to this task in accordance with its ability.
The role of the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and increasingly that of UNICEF
and FAO is of particular importance in this respect and should be
strengthened. Priority in food aid
should be given to the most vulnerable populations.
39. Food aid should, as far as possible, be
provided in ways which do not adversely affect local producers and local
markets, and should be organized in ways that facilitate the return to food
self‑reliance of the beneficiaries.
Such aid should be based on the needs of the intended
beneficiaries. Products included in
international food trade or aid programmes must be safe and culturally
acceptable to the recipient population.
40. The role of the United Nations agencies,
including through the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF)
at the country level, in promoting the realization of the right to food is of
special importance. Coordinated efforts
for the realization of the right to food should be maintained to enhance
coherence and interaction among all the actors concerned, including the various
components of civil society. The food
organizations, FAO, WFP and the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD), in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
UNICEF, the World Bank and the regional development banks, should cooperate
more effectively, building on their respective expertise, on the implementation
of the right to food at the national level, with due respect to their
individual mandates.
41. The international financial institutions,
notably the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, should pay
greater attention to the protection of the right to food in their lending
policies and credit agreements and in international measures to deal with the
debt crisis. Care should be taken, in
line with the Committee’s general comment No. 2, paragraph 9, in any structural
adjustment programme to ensure that the right to food is protected.
*
Contained in document E/C.12/1999/5.
* Originally three levels of obligations were
proposed: to respect, protect and
assist/fulfil. (See Right to
adequate food as a human right, Study Series No. 1, New York, 1989
(United Nations publication, Sales No. E.89.XIV.2)). The intermediate level of “to facilitate”
has been proposed as a Committee category, but the Committee decided to
maintain the three levels of obligation.