The Right to Food is a fundamental human right recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, entrenched in the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, and further supported by United Nations summits and initiatives. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has a mandate to promote and provide guidance to member states on how to implement the right to food and therefore make policies and legal frameworks more responsive to human rights principles, but also to the social and human dimensions of food security. 

The purpose of this study was to identify potential entry-points for development of activities on the human right to adequate food in Cambodia through a gender approach. To this end, the analysis focused on gender policy processes currently on going in the country, considered as a viable opportunity to initiate or strengthen the implementation of the Right to Food Guidelines at country level.

The Case Study has taken into account the Cambodian legal framework in relation to food security, national policies in matters related to food security, and social protection and gender policies to promote the advancement and empowerment of women. It has also considered the intersection between national gender policies and the ongoing process of Decentralization and Deconcentration.  The study has been supported by primary data obtained from various stakeholders, including institutional representatives, and representatives of development organizations and civil society. Brief field work was conducted to gather firsthand information from rural women and subnational authorities in charge of gender and food security.

The Case Study has identified some possible entry points for a Gender and Right to Food approach, and opportunities for building initiatives that move in this direction. In the same time it acknowledges also some problematic aspects in particular in the assertion of rights by those entitled and in the institutionalization of such demands.