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Global financial crisis, volatile food prices, make agricultural focus urgent, UN human rights food expert saysSource: Office of
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. De Schutter,
who took up his functions as Special Rapporteur in 2008 when the world
was experiencing dramatic food price increases, said it was urgent that
governments make the connection between sustainable development and
a rights-based approach to food. "In responding to the global food
crisis, it is easy to move from the symptom – prices which have suddenly
peaked – to a possible cure – produce more, and remove as soon as possible
all supply-side constraints," he said. But if we think of food
as a human right "we must ask a very different set of questions."
Will the measures we adopt to boost production benefit those who are
food insecure? Or will they simply mean a return to low prices and only
further discourage small-scale farmers and marginalize them further?
"The right
to food framework can assist in guiding governments towards making the
right choices" by prioritizing the needs of the most vulnerable,
he said. It could also improve government accountability, by "ensuring
their policies remain constantly guided by the need to alleviate hunger
and malnutrition – and by building the resilience of the most vulnerable,
whether against policy changes or internal or external shocks."
The right to adequate
food is a human right stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and widely ratified human rights treaties. It is recognized in the constitutions
of at least 20 countries. "The rights-based approach clearly ought
to be an essential component of a sustainable development approach to
the issues of hunger and malnutrition," the Special Rapporteur
said. "Increasing
agricultural production must go hand in hand with increasing the incomes
of the poorest, particularly small-scale farmers, and switching to modes
of production which do not contribute to climate change," he told
the Commission. "CSD (the Commission on Sustainable Development)
has a unique contribution to make to the current discussions about the
future of agricultural development" and in addressing the issues
of access to food. "Increased
investments in agriculture, particularly in The Special Rapporteur
invited the Commission to "identify smallholders' access to land
as key to sustainable agriculture, and to reiterate the essential role
of agrarian reform (redistribution of land) in the progressive realization
of the right to food. I believe there is a need for the adoption of
international guidelines on large-scale offshore acquisitions of land,
an initiative that the Commission may wish to support", he said.
For the full text
of the Special Rapporteur's written submission to the Commission please
refer to: http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/resources/res_docucsd_17_othe.shtml
Olivier De Schutter
was appointed the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food in 2008
by the United Nations Human Rights Council. He is independent from any
government or organization and serves in his individual capacity. Mr.
De Schutter is currently Professor of International Human Rights Law
at the Catholic University of Louvain. He can be reached at srfood@ohchr.org
Press contact: Olivier
De Schutter Tel. +32.488.482004 – For further information,
see: www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/food/index.htm
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