The Human Right to Food
This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Food and human rights are not often placed together in the same dialogue, however, Article 25 of the Declaration states: \u201cEveryone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food\u2026\u201d
One concept that originates from the idea of a \u201cright to food\u201d is that of food sovereignty; whereby people have the right to determine what foods are available to them. The right to food and food sovereignty are undermined every day both here and abroad. The recent spike in the global food crisis is a clear indicator of this.
Looking at food through a human rights lens was the subject of a dialogue that took place on August 29, 2008 at the United Nations in New York City. Titled \u201cThe Human Right to Food and the Global Food Crisis\u201d, the event was sponsored by The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Department of Public Information, the NGO Committee on Human Rights and the Permanent Missions of Cuba and Malawi.
Voices
Olivier De Schutter,\xa0Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food,\xa0Flavio Valente,\xa0Secretary General,\xa0FIAN International\xa0(Rome, Italy) \u2013\xa0FIAN (FoodFirst Information Action Network), is an international human rights organization that for more than 20 years has advocated for the realization of the right to food. FIAN is represented in over 50 countries and has consultative status to the United Nations. Their headquarters are in Heidelberg, Germany.
Joia Mukharjee,\xa0Policy Director,\xa0Partners in Health\xa0(Boston, MA) \u2013\xa0PIH was founded in 1987 to deliver health care to the residents of the mountainous Central Plateau of Haiti. In the 20 years since then, they have expanded into many more sites in the country and have launched initiatives in Peru, Lesotho, Russia, Rwanda, Guatemala and Malawi.
Karen Hansen-Kuhn,\xa0Policy Director,\xa0ActionAID USA\xa0(Washington D.C.) \u2013\xa0ActionAid is an international anti-poverty agency whose aim is to fight poverty worldwide. Formed in 1972, they have helped over 13 million of the world\u2019s poorest and most disadvantaged people in 42 countries. The International headquarters are in Johannesburg South Africa.
Sanjay Reddy,\xa0Assistant Professor of Economics,\xa0Barnard College at Columbia University\xa0(New York, NY) \u2013\xa0Reddy also teaches in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, where he teaches courses on world poverty and on development economics.