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55th Session |
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55th Session |
Mr Chairperson,Distinguished delegates.
The World Food Summit Plan of Action provides the blueprint for creating conditions in which everyone can enjoy the right to food. The right to food implies that optimally people should be able to provide for their own needs in full dignity and in a sustainable manner. However, in the short term, many of the over 800 million malnourished people will only enjoy the right to food through direct food assistance, local, national and international. Work must be done at all levels if the goals of the WFS are to be achieved.
FAO has established good working relations with the Office of the High Commissioner. We had the pleasure of cohosting her Second Expert Consultations on the Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right, the report of which has been submitted to the Commission. The Consultations were a welcome opportunity to focus on the specific role of international organizations, the Rome-based food organizations in particular, regarding the right to food.
The cohosting of the Consultations was also part of FAO’s commemoration activities for the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In addition, FAO published a book entitled "The Right to Food in Theory and Practice" – which has been made available here, a leaflet called "What is the right to food" and a legal study containing extracts from international and regional instruments and declarations as well as some other authoritative texts relevant to the right to food. Finally, new webpages were launched on the right to food. The site provides links to relevant documentation that is available electronically, as well as on-line access to FAO’s publications regarding the right to food.
FAO, as a technical agency with the right to food at the heart of its mandate, stresses its role in assisting states in reaching their objectives in a practical way. There are several specific activities of the Organization which aim to do this and are of special relevance to the right to food. "The Right to Food in Theory and Practice" discusses these activities and I would here only mention a few key aspects.
The indicators developed under the Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information Mapping System – or FIVIMS - will be of direct use for those monitoring the right to food at both the national and international levels. FIVIMS will serve as a bridge between different bodies, such as FAO’s Committee on World Food Security and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Information at the national and global levels, about who is food insecure and why, should be seen as a tool for action, rather than an end in itself. This action needs to be taken primarily at the national and local levels, but international organizations should be ready to lend their assistance in a coordinated way, for instance for the establishment of food safety nets to help states ensure, as a minimum, freedom from hunger.
FAO has the opportunity of integrating the right to food in its policy advice to states, advocate for the right to food, and provide information thereon, in accordance with its Constitution and the Charter of the United Nations.
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. The right to food in emergency situations, including in armed conflict, needs to be brought into the limelight in connection with the commemoration of this anniversary. Conflict brings with it many serious violations of the right to food, which need to be better addressed. Furthermore, agencies should make a concerted effort to devise the delivery of food aid in full respect for human dignity and human rights. Humanitarian access should be seen in the context of the victims’ right to food and other basic necessities, and insisted upon as a legal obligation of the state, in cases where it is unable or unwilling to provide such assistance itself.
Mr Chairperson,
According to FAO research more than 20 countries have incorporated the right to food in their constitutions. However, none of them have adopted specific legislation to give effect to the constitutional provisions. The primary responsibility for implementing the right to food lies with States. Allow me, to conclude, to draw your special attention to paragraphs 45 and 46 of the report of the High Commissioner on the Right to Food, in which the Second Expert Consultations recommended that states should consider the adoption of framework law as part of their national strategy, and that FAO should offer its assistance upon request. It is now time to look to the practical ways in which the right to food can be implemented at the national level, as a way also of enriching the understanding of the concept at the international level. FAO welcomes the concrete and practical conclusions and recommendations of the Consultations towards the realization of the right to food, and expresses the hope that this Commission will continue to support, and strengthen, the mandate of the High Commissioner.
Thank you Mr Chairperson.
