New UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food appointed

In May 2014 the Human Right Council appointed Ms Hilal Elver as the new United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food (UNSR).

Ms Elver, who assumed her functions on 2 June 2014, is a Research Professor, and co-director of the Project on Global Climate Change, Human Security, and Democracy housed at the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

She previously taught at the University of Ankara, Faculty of Law and was appointed by the Turkish government as the founding legal advisor of the Ministry of Environment and the General Director of Women’s Status. She was also appointed to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Chair in Environmental Diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, University of Malta.
Her publications have focused mainly on international environmental law, women’s rights and international human rights law.

Ms Elver made her first official appearance on the occasion of the Technical Dialogue on 10 Year Retrospective of the Implementation of the Right to Food Guidelines, organized by FAO on 3 July 2014.

Please find below a 3 minute interview with the Special Rapporteur on the main topics of the discussion.

For more information on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, please refer to the relevant page of the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.