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Economic and Social Rights

The Human Right to Food: A Reference Primer

Documents published by Rights & Democracy

• New:  Case Study Reflection: Using Human Rights as a Practical Framework for Country-level Assessment and Programming to End Hunger (PDF)
  

• Seminar Report - Solutions for Hunger: A Policy Seminar on the Human Right to Food (PDF)

• The Human Right to Food in Haiti: Report of an International Fact-finding Mission. A report by Rights & Democracy and Groupe de Recherche et d’Appui au Milieu Rural (GRAMIR). This report documents the experience of an international team of human rights advocates who joined forces with their Haitian counterparts and visited communities across the country to talk about the challenges faced in accessing sufficient, nutritious and safe food. The report compiles its findings under the three levels of state obligation – respect, protect and fulfil – and it makes a series of recommendations to the Government of Haiti, the international community and civil society.

• The Human Right to Food in Nepal: An International Fact-Finding Mission (PDF) In collaboration with the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, FIAN-International and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rights & Democracy has organized an international fact-finding mission to Nepal from April 8 to 20, 2007 to assess hunger and food insecurity in Nepal from the perspective of the state's obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the human right to food. This report is also available in Nepalese (PDF)
  

• The Human Right to Food in Malawi: Report of an International Fact-Finding Mission. This report and the fact-finding mission on which it is based, summarize some of the obstacles faced by communities in Malawi as they seek to apply sustainable solutions to the problem of persistent hunger in their country.  
  
  
• Principles for international agricultural trade rules and joint demands for the Doha Agenda. Joint statement by Rights & Democracy and Canadian and international partners, May 2005
  
  
• International Trade and the Human Right to Adequate Food: Written statement submitted by Rights & Democracy to the 61st Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, March 30, 2005
  
  
• A Food Security Perspective on Canada's Internationala Trade and Development Assistance Policies: A Discussion Paper for the Government of Canada's International Policy Review submitted by the Canadian Food Security Policy Group, October 2004 (PDF Version, 615 KB)
  
  
• Statement - Negotiations on Agriculture: WTO Must Recognize the Human Right to Adequate Food, Cancún, September 12, 2003
  
  
• Four Steps to Make Trade Fair for Hungry Farmers Canadian Food Security Policy Group
  
  
• Unequal Harvest: Voices on International Trade and the Right to Food
  
  
• The Right to Adequate Food: A written statement by Rights & Democracy to the 59th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, submitted April, 2003
  
  
• Letter to Canadian Minister of Agriculture, Lyle Vanclief, on the occasion of The UN World Food Summit: Five Years Later

FAO Guidelines Process on the Progressive Realization of the Right to Food

• Rights & Democracy welcomes the adoption of Right to Food Guidelines: A positive step towards the elimination of hunger & malnutrition. News Release, September 24, 2004
  
  
• No Masterpiece of Political Will. Final Evaluation Report of the NGO Caucus (IGWG 3): Negotiations on the Voluntary Guidelines for the Implementation of the Right to Food failed to reach consensus on July 2004 at the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO)
  
  
• Implementing the Human Right to Food: Domestic Obligations and the International Trade in Agriculture. Report of an inter-sessional workshop held September 11, 2003 in Cancun, Mexico on the occasion of the 5th WTO Ministerial Meeting submitted to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Intergovernmental Working Group
  
  
• Inter-Governmental Working Group for the Elaboration of a Set of Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security
  
  
• Introduction and Agenda of the Roundtable "Implementing the Human Right to Food: Domestic Obligations and the International Trade in Agriculture" (WTO) - - En Español
  
  
• To join an e-mail discussion on the Guidelines process, please write to Guidelines@fian.org or visit http://fian.org/mailman/listinfo/guidelines

Key References on the Right to Food

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly Dec. 16, 1966
  
  
• General Comment 12 - The Right to Adequate Food - United Nations Commission on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UNCESCR)
  
  
• General Comment 9 - Domestic Application of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - UNCESCR
  
  
• General Comment 3 - The Nature of States Parties Obligations - UNCESCR

• The Cordoba Declaration on the Right to Food and the Governance of the Global Food and Agriculture System (PDF)
  October 2004
• Available in Spanish
  Una llamada del Grupo de Córdoba para la coherencia y acción en seguridad alimentaria y cambio climático (PDF)

• Right to Food and Nutrition Watch - First Issue (PDF)
  Who controls the governance of the world food system?
  October 2004

• Available in Spanish
  OBSERVATORIO DEL DERECHO A LA ALIMENTACIÓN Y NUTRICIÓN (PDF)
  

• The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch - Zero Issue
  Provides a systematic compilation of best practices for the realization of the right to food and documents where violations have been committed.