The Right to Food around the Globe

  Slovakia

The Constitution of the Slovak Republic does not explicitly guarantee the right to adequate food.

The Slovak Republic has become a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1993 by way of succession. It has ratified the Optional Protocol (OP-ICESCR) in 2012.

CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITIONS OF THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD

National status of international obligations

Article 1(2): “ The Slovak Republic acknowledges and adheres to general rules of international law, international treaties by which it is bound, and its other international obligations.”

Article 7(5): “International treaties on human rights and fundamental freedoms and international treaties for whose exercise a law is not necessary, and international treaties which directly confer rights or impose duties on natural persons or legal persons and which were ratified and promulgated in the way laid down by a law shall have precedence over laws.”

Other pertinent provisions for the realization of the right to adequate food

Article 36: “Employees have the right to equitable and adequate working conditions. The law guarantees, above all.
1. the right to remuneration for work done, sufficient to ensure the employee’s dignified standard of living”

Article 39:
(1) Citizens have the right to adequate material provision in old age, in the event of work disability, as well as after losing their provider.
(2) Anyone suffering material hardship, has the right to such assistance as may be necessary to secure his or her fundamental standard of life.

(3) Details of rights pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) are provided by law.”

INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – 1948

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

Status: Succession (1993)

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

Status: Ratification (1993)

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

Status: Ratification (1993)

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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