The Right to Food in Practice
Every person has the human right to food. But what does that mean in practice? With FoodFirst Action and Information Network (FIAN Netherlands), equalinrights organised a workshop in Utrecht, the Netherlands on how the Right to Food can be made more practical, with use of the Voluntary Guidelines as a tool for mobilisation. Flavio Valente, Secretary General of FIAN International and former National Rapporteur on the Right to Food in Brazil, shared his experiences on 7 June 2007.
Voluntary Guidelines
Twenty-five representatives of Dutch NGOs, civil society groups and academic institutes gathered on the 7th of June to listen to and talk with Flavio Valente on the meaning of the Voluntary Guidelines to the Right to Food. Mr. Valente explained that the human right to food has been recognised in international conventions since 1948, but still no real commitments have been made to adequately integrate this human right into national policies. To bring an end to this lack of implementation, the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) founded a Right to Food Unit to focus on the establishment of a guideline to help states implement the Right to Food more systematically. Two years later, the Voluntary Guidelines were established. At the time of writing, 198 states around the world have signed the Guidelines, making the commitment to invest in hunger issues and use the Guidelines to realise the Right to Food.
Mobilising for the Right to Food
“Even though the Guidelines to the Right to Food are voluntary, they do hold a strong moral power and give a new impulse to call for states’ obligations”, according to Flavio Valente. After his introduction to the Guidelines, he presented a number of cases in which FIAN helped landless movements and dwellers claim their Right to Food. He recalled a Brazilian case in which farmers from the Lagoa Nova region were chased off their land by sugar cane companies, leaving them without means to sustain and feed themselves. FIAN International helped this group of farmers bring their case to court. Moreover, people can mobilise for the Right to Food in a variety of ways: by organising discussions, awareness-raising activities and petitions, civil society movements can build common ground in their struggles against poverty and hunger.
Action!
This year’s World Food Day will be dedicated to the Right to Food. The FAO General Director made this decision, emphasising how the Right to Food has gained importance within the FAO. However, many important actors keep questioning and undermining this Human Right’s increased importance within the FAO, pressuring for this issue not to be the focus on World Food Day. During the workshop’s discussions on possibilities for social mobilisation, FIAN urged the participants to sign a letter to the Dutch Representation to the FAO requesting that the Right to Food be openly acknowledged as an essential issue. This petition was sent to the Dutch Representation, before its meeting at the FAO Council on 18 June 2007.
Are you curious about the effects of the FIAN petition? Send an email to Gudrun Mueller, fian.nederland@gmail.com
See also:
The voluntary guidelines on the right to food
The right to food: a resource manual for NGOs
FIAN Website
FAO Website
