FAO Remarks on the Right to Food (Third Committee, Item 68b)

 

FAO Remarks on the Right to Food (Third Committee, Item 68b)

Ms. Lauren Flejzor, FAO Liaison Officer, on behalf of

Ms. Sharon Brennen-Haylock, Director of the FAO Liaison Office to the UN (as delivered)

 

October 30, 2014; United Nations Headquarters

 

Madame Chair,

 

Today I would like to speak specifically on the Right to Food and take this opportunity to acknowledge the helpful contribution of the newly appointed Special Rapporteur, Ms. Hilal Elver, who recently worked with FAO to explore the progress, obstacles, threats and opportunities in achieving the right to food. We look forward to continuing our fruitful relationship with the Special Rapporteur, by fully supporting her mandate as well as countries’ efforts to implement the Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food.

 

Madame Chair,

 

At its 39th Session in October 2012, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) agreed to conduct a ten-year retrospective on the progress made in implementing the Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food. The Ten-Year Retrospective took place two weeks ago at the 41^st Session of CFS and revealed experiences, lessons learned and best practices that show an increasing readiness of states to advocate for the right to food at the global level and use diverse tools for the advancement of this right. Food security and nutrition (FSN) policy design in the period after the Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food were approved (2004) shows more right to food content than in the period prior to the Voluntary Guidelines’ approval.

 

The CFS’ consideration of the Voluntary Guidelines resulted in a consensus decision, which reaffirms a commitment to implement the Right to Food Guidelines and paves the way for the realization of the right to adequate food.

 

Late last week, members of the Third Committee requested more information on best practices in implementing the Right to Food Guidelines, and I would like to take this opportunity to mention a few examples of such practices:

 

• CARICOM’s Regional Food and Nutrition Security Policy and Action Plan, which has strong right to food content, and which FAO assisted in developing;
• the Latin American and Caribbean States’ (CELAC) and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries’ (CPLP) efforts to enhance good governance and mainstream the right to food in their FSN policies and programmes, which FAO has supported through its important and strategic ties with these regional entities;
• FAO’s recent analyses show that at least 28 states explicitly reference  the right to food in their constitutions, and around 40 countries could be said to implicitly recognize the right to food (e.g. within a broader provision, such as protection of an adequate standard of living). A number of countries have adopted new constitutions or amended existing ones in the last decade.

 

But of course there is still much work to be done to promote and facilitate implementation of constitutional improvements, particularly where the constitutional protection of the right to food is much more indirect.

 

Achieving the right to food requires action from different sectors and actors in all areas as outlined by the Voluntary Guidelines. To promote this coordinated action, FAO has, for example, in recent years:

 

• carried out work to strengthen national inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms for FSN;
• facilitated the increase of innovative regional institutional arrangements to coordinate national strategies and actions for the realization of the right to adequate food, such as the Zero Hunger Initiative of 2014 in the Economic Community of West African States;
• facilitated the creation of sound multiparty platforms for the establishment of parliamentary fronts conducive to the exchange of experiences, challenges and recommendations among various countries.

 

Lastly, FAO supports national institutions such as National Human Rights Commissions (NHRCs) and Ombudsmen, which are key to protecting, monitoring and promoting the right to food as is the case in Nepal and in El Salvador.

 

FAO will continue contributing to a better understanding of the linkages between critical issues such as climate-smart agricultural policies, food waste and the right to food. We will continue to support initiatives such as the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement and the UN Social Protection Floor. Work on the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests will also continue at the national level. At the same time, we will be ever mindful of the critical role of smallholders and women in the realization of the right to food.

 

Moveover, FAO and WHO are jointly convening the Second International Conference on Nutrition, or ICN2, in Rome, Italy, from 19-21 November 2014, with the goal of improving diets and raising nutrition levels through national policies and effective international cooperation. Since the global economy, food systems and the nutritional states of populations have substantially changed, a new policy framework and more appropriate responses are needed.

 

To implement forthcoming actions from these and other international platforms, FAO will continue working with a multitude of partners to provide technical expertise and offer a multi-stakeholder platform for sharing experiences and building consensus. In addition, a key priority for FAO will be to build ownership for the right to food agenda and mainstream the right to food more systematically into its technical work.

 

Madame Chair, Distinguished Delegates,

 

The review of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is quickly approaching, and the global community will soon consider how to move forward its efforts to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture in a post-2015 agenda. Eradicating world hunger is at the core of FAO’s mandate and a central objective of international cooperation. FAO wishes to assure member states of its support in the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines and related work in a post-2015 agenda. We look forward to continuing our close collaboration with the Special Rapporteur and countries on the right to food.

 

Thank you Madame Chair.