Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
6.7 billion people who currently inhabit the planet. Yet every few seconds a hild dies
of hunger. This is not a new phenomenon, but the situation is the worst it has ever
been, and continuing to worsen.
he countries whih are the most afected by the food crisis are those whih
are dependent upon imports for more than 40 per cent of their basic food needs.
he FAO has identiied 36 suh countries particularly vulnerable to food insecurity,
and whih are most afected by the food crisis: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bolivia,
Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, China, Democratic People's Republic
of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Mauritania,
Moldova, Nepal, Nicaragua, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka,
Sudan, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Uganda, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. In
these countries, for the vast majority of people, food accounts for at least 60 to 80 per
cent of consumer spending, compared to 10 to 20 per cent in industrialized countries.
A 40 per cent increase in food prices means that families in these countries must now
spend their entire budget on food.
One early conclusion can be drawn: the food crisis (and the global financial and
fuel crises) have exacerbated the long-lasting food insecurity plaguing the poor and
most vulnerable of this world. So where is the solution? We must move beyond
merely drawing atention to these dismaying igures, although this is important. We
must move towards ensuring policy-makers look at the food crisis through a human-
rights lens.
What is the 'right to food'?
An understanding about what the right to food means can be found in international
human rights law. It is mentioned in article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Hu-
man Rights and in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR), whih outlines the right to an adequate standard of living,
including adequate food, and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hun-
ger. he UN Commitee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - the body harged
with monitoring the implementation of the ICESCR - explains in its General Com-
ment No. 12 (1999) that 'the right to adequate food is realized when every man, wo-
man and hild, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic ac-
cess at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement'. The first UN Special
