Substantial progress has been made towards the achievement of the right to adequate food and nutrition since the 1996 World Food Summit. These achievements include the elaboration of General Comment 12 on the right to adequate food by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1999, as well as the adoption in 2004 by the FAO of the Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security (hereinafter “Right to Food Guidelines”).
Despite the progress made, the right to food remains one of the most frequently violated of all human rights. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS), on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Right to Food Guidelines, called for a review of the progress made towards achieving the right to adequate food during its 41st session, scheduled to be held in October 2014.
As such, the 41st session is an opportunity for taking stock with regard to the Right to Food Guidelines specifically, as well as the process towards the progressive realization of the right to adequate food more generally. Further, it is an opportunity to generate a renewed political commitment towards advancing the implementation of the right to adequate food, as well as towards addressing the most important challenges in that regard, including: ensuring the primacy of human rights, human rights accountability, and human rights coherence at all levels.
The outcome of this online-consultation will feed into both the UN and civil society contributions to the CFS discussions in October. In addition, this consultation also links up to other global processes in 2014, including:
- How the Right to Food Guidelines will contribute to highlighting the human rights dimension of nutrition, in view of the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN 2);
- How the right to adequate food and human rights accountability will be included into the Post-2015 Framework and its monitoring mechanism;
- How the right to adequate food will be further strengthened by UN, regional and national human rights bodies;
- How the right to adequate food will be included into the CFS monitoring work, particularly the creation of a innovative monitoring mechanism as mandated by the CFS Reform Document.
Online Consultation: the next three weeks
Over the next three weeks, the FAO Right to Food Team and FIAN International will facilitate this online-consultation in order to draw upon the widest possible group of stakeholders and interested parties with regard to the right to food and nutrition.
We also invite you to submit papers, findings, or on-going work on the topic of hunger, right to food and nutrition, food security, food sovereignty and other relevant topics.
We seek your input on the following three themes:
Theme 1: Right to Adequate Food – Past and Present
What have been some of the most important achievements and some of the major shortcomings in the struggle for the right to adequate food during the past decades on the global, regional and local level?
Theme 2: The Right to Food Guidelines
How have the Right to Food Guidelines contributed to the promotion and protection of the right to adequate food over the last ten years? What are some of the key achievements and the main limitations of the Guidelines and their implementation?
Theme 3: The Future
What are the major challenges and ways ahead for the full realization of the right to adequate food at the local, national, regional and global levels?
