Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
FoodFirst Information and Action Network
The Human Right to Food and the Food Crisis
With Human Rights against Hunger!
The right to food and the food crisis
» The Human Right to Food» The food cisis – a permanent
crisis3. Why are they going hungry?4. Who are the hungry people?5. The Human Rights perspective6. Case liberalisation of the rice
markets in Indonesia7. Case Agrofuels in Brazil8. Recommendations
With Human Rights against Hunger!
UN Special Repporteur on the Right to Food
Olivier de Schutter
“The food crisis should not be treated like a natural disaster but as a massive threat to the Right to adequate Food for millions of individuals“
► man-made disaster
With Human Rights against Hunger!
1. The Human Right to Food
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 25
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services,...”(Art. 25)
With Human Rights against Hunger!
1.1 The Human Right to Food
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Art. 11
General Comment Nr. 12 on the right to food
(to the ICESCR)
“The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, have physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.” (para. 6)
► the right to feed oneself in dignity
With Human Rights against Hunger!
1.2 The Human Right to Food
The individual person
- is a rights holder- is not a recipient of aid or charity- can claim his rights legally and politically- is a victim of injustice
► Respect and Empowerment
With Human Rights against Hunger!
1.3 The Human Right to Food
The stateNational obligations: - States have the obligation to - respect- protect- fulfil the human rights of their population.
International obligations:- International policies - trade policies,
development policies – may not harm the RtF of people living in other countries
► Obligation and Responsibility
With Human Rights against Hunger!
1.4 The Human Right to Food
The civil society- Civil society organisations –NGO’s, social
movements and human rights organisations - have the role to- document violations of the RtF - defend the rights of the individuals - hold the state accountable for
violations of the RtF
► middleman between the individual and the State
With Human Rights against Hunger!
1.5. The Human Right to Food
International institutions - World Bank, IMF, WTO and the European Union
- International trade and development policies should not threaten the human right to food:
General Comment nr. 12 states: “The international financial institutions,
notably the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, should pay greater attention to the protection of the Right to Food in their lending policies and credit agreements…
Care should be taken, (…),in any structural adjustment programme to ensure that the right to food is protected.”
With Human Rights against Hunger!
2. The food crisis – a permanent crisis
Today 923 million are undernourished (FAO sept.2008)
►actual food crisis
Before the food crisis 854 million were hungry (FAO, 2006)
► permanent food crisis
22.000 persons die every day due to malnutrition and nutrition related diseases, whilst we produce enough food for everyone.
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)State of World Food Insecurity (SOFI) 2006
With Human Rights against Hunger!
3. Why are they going hungry?
Poor people- spend 50-70 % of their income for food- have low wages, lack work and
adequately paid work►lack economic access to food- lack access to food security programs
(ration cards, food baskets)►have no or restricted access to
natural resources like land, waters, seeds or access to credits
►the food crisis has structural causes and needs policies that structurally improve the situation of the poorest.
With Human Rights against Hunger!
4. Who are the hungry?
UN Development Project - Hunger Task Force
50%
22%
20%
8%
A typology of hunger
Food producing households in higher-risk environments and remote areas
Non-farm rural households Poor urban households Fishing, herding, hunting households
With Human Rights against Hunger!
4.1 Marginalisation and Discrimination
- Hunger is mainly a rural phenomenon
- People are hungry because they are marginalised geographically, socially and politically
- People are hungy because they are discriminated against: gender, age, religion, indigenous groups
With Human Rights against Hunger!
5.The Human Rights Perspective on Hunger
If we choose a human rights
perspective, we- set a minimum standard for human
beings to live a life in dignity; - empower and protect the poorest and
most marginalised groups of our societies;
- dispose of a a social instrument to regulate the powerful, such as the States and the private sector.
With Human Rights against Hunger!
5.1 FIANs vision on the Food Crisis
1.International „pro poor“ development policies of the World Bank, IMF and the WTO: Liberalisation of markets, including agricultural trade, and structural adjustment programs failed to reduce poverty and are a main cause of the current crisis
2. Increased demand for the production and trading of agrofuels fuelled the cisis
► These policy driven causes seriously endanger the right to food of millions of people
With Human Rights against Hunger!
6. Case libersalisation of the rice markets in Indonesia
Indonesia- 225 million inhabitants, 4th largest population in
the world- rice is most important staple food - Indonesia is one of the largest rice producers and
importers- Rice is a key product for the rural economy of
smallholder families and landless workers- 13,6 million farmers produce rice, 21 million
live from the rice sector- 65% are poor farmers with less than 0,5 ha of
land – unable to feed themselves properly
► Extreme poverty of small rice farmers is a result of liberalisation of the rice market and structural adjustment programs in Indonesia from 1995 on
With Human Rights against Hunger!
6.1 Case Indonesia
1995 – 2001 period of structural adjustment programs and liberalisation of markets induced by the IMF and World Bank
- opening the rice market for import- reducing agricultural support that was given in
form of subsidised fertilisers, seeds, pesticides- deregulating price policies that were stabilising
national rice prices
►since 2001 the rice market partly re-regulated
With Human Rights against Hunger!
6.2 Case Indonesia
Impact on small farmers:- increased production costs- competition with low world market prices
► significant decline in income
Big disadvantage: fluctuation of market prices- low prices and the mere rumour of low prices put
farmers under pressure- high prices are not or very slowly transmitted to
farmers- benefit is captured by traders and middlemen- rising consumer prices do not benefit small
farmers
►small farmers depend on traders that control prices
►Small farmers are extremely vulnerable to price fluctuation
With Human Rights against Hunger!
With Human Rights against Hunger!
7. Case Agrofuels in Brazil
The expansion of energy crops in Brazil to produce bio-ethanol and bio-diesel results in:
- expansion of big scale monocultures is displacing food crops
►reduced food availability at local level +price hikes
►strong competition with resources for food production
- exclusion and displacement of small-scale farmers, selling or leasing their land, or being violently evicted
► migration to the cities- concentration of control over land in the hands of
agribusiness, big landlords, and investment funds►loss of access to land of small farmers and
landless- slave labour, child labour and violations of labour
rights- slowing down and halt of Land Reform Program
and the restitution of indigenous lands
With Human Rights against Hunger!
8. FIAN recommends
1. Governments should recover to regulate their economies and promote policies to guarantee the access to resources and to adequate food by all groups of society.
2. Governments should fully implement the Guidelines on the progressive realisation of the Right to Adequate Food, approved by the FAO Council in 2004
3. International development and trade policies (World Bank, IMF, WTO) should undergo a right to food assessment before being implemented
4. Small farmers‘ and rural‘s poor access to productive resources (land, water, seeds) has to be facilitated
• Governments should impose an immediate moratorium on the expansion of agribusiness-led agriculture like agro-energy production
• States should design and implement social security systems based economic social and cultural rights
With Human Rights against Hunger!
Event World Food Day 2008
“Agrofuels and the right to food of indigenous peoples”
The silent genocide of the Guaraní-Kaiowá in Mato Grosso do Sul
Saturday,18th October 16.00 – 18.30Amnesty InternationalKeizersgracht 177
With Brazilian guests and film documentation
With Human Rights against Hunger!
FIAN Foodfirst Information & Action Network
Thank you very much for your attention!
Gudrun MüllerFIAN-NederlandDe Wittenstraat 25 1052 AK Amsterdam
FIAN-Internationalwww.fian.org
