The right to food, and international guidelines for its implementation
Sub-Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/10
Sub-Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/10
The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights,
Recalling its resolution 2001/7 of 15 August 2001 on the right to food, in which it appealed, through the Commission on Human Rights, to the world's leaders, who were to assemble for the World Food Summit: five years later to reaffirm the right of everyone to adequate food and to be free from hunger, to call on States to develop a national strategy to implement progressively the right to food, and to promote the right to food in poverty reduction strategies,
Noting with satisfaction the Declaration adopted in June 2002 by the World Food Summit: five years later, in particular the invitation to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to establish an intergovernmental working group to elaborate, in a period of two years, a set of voluntary guidelines to support Member States' efforts to realize the right to adequate food,
Noting that the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations will establish that working group at its next session in October/November 2002, with the participation of stakeholders,
Noting Commission on Human Rights resolution 2001/25 of 20 April 2001 in which the Commission recommended that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights organize a fourth consultation on the right to food, with a focus on the right to food as part of poverty reduction strategies and policies,
Welcoming the report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the right to food (E/CN.4/2002/58 and Add.1),
Endorsing the recommendations of the first regular session of the Social Forum held in July 2002 (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/18, chap. IV, sect. B), which focused on poverty reduction and the right to adequate food in the context of globalization,
Welcomes recent initiatives in some States to initiate a national dialogue with all stakeholders on the implementation of the right to adequate food, as exemplified by seminars held in 2002 in Brazil, Nigeria, Norway and South Africa, and others being planned,
1. Appeals to all States to support and contribute to the work of the intergovernmental working group to be established under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to elaborate a set of voluntary guidelines to support Member States' efforts to realize the right to adequate food and to be free from hunger, with a view to achieving an inclusive and effective process that can be concluded within the time set by the World Food Summit: five years later;
2. Calls upon the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to extend its cooperation to the Food and Agriculture Organization, and appeals to relevant international financial and development organizations to provide the intergovernmental working group with relevant information and ideas that can help in the formulation of meaningful guidelines;
3. Calls upon civil society to assist the intergovernmental working group constructively in making the guidelines as relevant as possible, especially by taking into account the voices of the poor;
4. Recommends that the process of elaborating the guidelines on the right to food should start with a broad consultation among all stakeholders, including non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, to gather ideas and recommendations;
5. Recommends that the fourth consultation on the right to food recommended by the Commission on Human Rights be organized during this process at a suitable time;
6. Urges Member States to consider holding national seminars with relevant stakeholders to initiate or develop a dialogue on the scope of and conditions for implementing the right to adequate food and to be free from hunger.
22nd meeting
14 August 2002
[Adopted without a vote. See chap. VI.]
14 August 2002
[Adopted without a vote. See chap. VI.]