The Right to Food around the Globe

  Ethiopia

The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia implicitly guarantees the right to adequate food through broader human rights. 

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has become a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1993 by way of accession.

CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITIONS OF THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD

Implicit protection of the right to adequate food

Article 43: "The Right to Development.

1. The Peoples of Ethiopia as a whole, and each Nation, Nationality and People in Ethiopia in particular have the right to improved living standards and to sustainable development.

2. Nationals have the right to participate in national development and, in particular, to be consulted with respect to policies and projects affecting their community.

3. All international agreements and relations concluded, established or conducted by the State shall protect and ensure Ethiopia's right to sustainable development.

4. The basic aim of development activities shall be to enhance the capacity of citizens for development and to meet their basic needs.

Directive principles of state policy

Article 90.1: “To the extent the country’s resources permit, policies shall aim to provide all Ethiopians access to public health and education, clean water, housing, food and social security.”

National status of international obligations

Article 13.2: “The fundamental rights and freedoms specified in this Chapter shall be interpreted in a manner conforming to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenants on Human Rights and International instruments adopted by Ethiopia.”

INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – 1948

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) – 1966

Status: Accession (1993)

Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) – 1979

Status: Ratification (1981)

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) – 1989

Status: Accession (1991)

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) – 2006

Status: Ratification (2010)

Legislation and policies recognizing the right to adequate food

Guidance on how to progressively realise the human right to adequate food in contexts of national food security has been provided by the Right to Food Guidelines, adopted by the FAO Council and endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security.

Considering that the human right to adequate food can be implemented through a variety of legal and policy actions, we invite you to visit the FAOLEX Country Profile database for a wide-ranging collection of measures that have been taken at national level. Some of the documents you may find are legislation and policies that touch on a number of relevant Guidelines, such as those on Access to resources and assets (Guideline 8), Food safety and consumer protection (Guideline 9), Support for vulnerable groups (Guideline 13) and Natural and human-made disasters (Guideline 16).

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