Condensed: The right to adequate food is realised when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement. Food should be (a) available, (b) in a quantity and quality sufficient to meet the dietary needs of individuals, (c) without adverse substances, (d) culturally acceptable and (e) accessible in a sustainable manner.
Situations where persons are excluded from access to adequate food are usually caused by breaches of states obligations, which then amount to violations of the right to food. States have an obligation to ensure access to adequate food, the means and entitlements for its procurement without discrimination. Women, children, refugees, indigenous peoples, older persons, people living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases, people deprived of their liberty and people living in conflict areas may be disproportionately affected by food insecurity and shortages. The lack of adequate food in detention may amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.
Comprehensive: The right to adequate food is realised ‘when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.’[1]The right to food is protected in the ICESCR and other international and regional instruments.[2] The core content of the right to adequate food entails that food be:[3]
(a) Available – either through possibilities of feeding oneself directly from productive land and other resources, or through well functioning distribution, processing and marketing systems to make food available where needed;[4]
(b) In a quantity and qualitysufficient to meet the dietary needs of individuals, where dietary needs of individuals implies a diet that contains nutrients adequate for ‘physical and mental growth, development and maintenance and physical activity that are in compliance with human physiological needs at all stages throughout the life cycle and according to gender and occupation’;[5] (c) Without adverse substances, meaning contamination through a variety of sources including adulteration, bad environmental hygiene, inappropriate handling, and naturally occurring toxins;[6]
(d) Culturally acceptable, taking into account ‘perceived non-nutrient-based values attached to food and food consumption and informed consumer concerns regarding the nature of accessible food supplies’;[7] (e) Sustainable accessibility –including physical and economic accessibility - of such food without interfering with the enjoyment of other human rights. Related violations of the right to food are breaches of obligations which states carry separately and jointly in international cooperation and which imply (or maintain) the non-enjoyment of this right for specific persons – individually and in community.
States have an obligation to ensure access to adequate food, the means and entitlements for its procurement withoutdiscrimination on any of the prohibited grounds.[8] Discrimination in relation to access to adequate food covers a wide range of situations. Women,[9] in particular in rural communities[10] are disproportionately affected in terms of access to productive resources such as land, water, seeds and finances, as well as in access to markets. Women face multiple impediments to their equal access to land and consequently their access to adequate food, such as laws, inheritance practices, marital status and agrarian reform policies.[11] See *unequal inheritance rights*; *discrimination based on sex*.
Food aid may be distributed in a discriminatory manner for example, excluding opposition supporters.[12] Other vulnerable groups that may be excluded from enjoying access to adequate food include children, refugees, indigenous peoples, older persons, people living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases, people deprived of their liberty and people living in conflict areas.[13] A violation due to discrimination occurs also when food producing resources (land, water, genetic resources) of future generations are less protected against ruinous use than the resources of the current generation.
The CESCR has noted that serious food insecurity and shortages in India disproportionately affect the population living in the poorer states and in rural areas, and the disadvantaged and marginalized groups.[14] The CAT Committee has found that the lack of adequate food in prisons may amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.[15] (See *conditions of detention – adequate food*).
Violations can be implied by irregularities in programmes to provide vulnerable groups with income to buy food or directly with food (obligation to fulfill-provide[16]) – or by the absence of such programmes, for example when a State does not establish or maintain income programmes providing each person threatened by hunger and malnutrition with access to food. Such irregularities include that the income provided by income programmes (in cash or kind) is insufficient to access food, that persons in prisons or state custody are not provided with food, that persons are excluded from income programmes, and that the international community in situations of food emergencies fails to provide funds or food aid to secure physical access to food for each person in the territory of the state in food emergency.
Additional references
A Eide ‘The right to an adequate standard of living including the right to food’ in A Eide et al (eds) Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2001) 133-148
J Ziegler et al The fight for the right to food: Lessons learned (2011)
OHCHR/FAO ‘The right to adequate food’ Fact Sheet No 34
[1] CESCR General Comment 12, para 6. The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food defines it as ‘the right to have regular, permanent and free access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensures a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life free of fear’ E/CN.4/2001/53 (2001) para 14. [2] ICESCR art 11; UDHR art 25; CEDAW art 12; CRC arts 24 & 27; CPWD arts 25 (f) & 28(1); ACHR art 12; African Children’s Charter art 14(2)(c); African Women’s Protocol arts 14(2)(b) & 15; Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War arts 6 & 59; the Protocol Additional I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts arts 54 & 69; the Protocol Additional II to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non- International Armed Conflicts arts 5(1) (b), 14 & 17(1). The African Commission, in Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) & another v Nigeria(2001) AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001) paras 64-66, held that the right to food is implicit in arts 4 (life), 16 (health), and 22 (economic, social and cultural development) of the African Charter. [3] CESCR General Comment 12, para 8. [4] CESCR General Comment 12, para 12. [5] CESCR General Comment 12, para 9. [6] CESCR General Comment 12, para 10. [7] CESCR General Comment 12, para 11. [8] CESCR General Comment 12, para 18. [9] HRC Study of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on discrimination in the context of the right to food A/HRC/16/40 (2011) paras 29-35. [10]Study of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on discrimination in the context of the right to food paras 23-24. [11]Study of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on discrimination in the context of the right to food paras 29-35. [12] A/HRC/16/40. [13] [14] CESCR, Concluding Observations: India E.C/12/IND/CO/5 (2008) para 28. [15] CAT Committee, Concluding Observations: Argentina CAT/C/CR/33/1 (2004) para 6 (h). [16]CESCR, General Comment 12, para 15.
Condensed:
The right to adequate food is realised when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement. Food should be (a) available, (b) in a quantity and quality sufficient to meet the dietary needs of individuals, (c) without adverse substances, (d) culturally acceptable and (e) accessible in a sustainable manner.
Situations where persons are excluded from access to adequate food are usually caused by breaches of states obligations, which then amount to violations of the right to food. States have an obligation to ensure access to adequate food, the means and entitlements for its procurement without discrimination. Women, children, refugees, indigenous peoples, older persons, people living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases, people deprived of their liberty and people living in conflict areas may be disproportionately affected by food insecurity and shortages. The lack of adequate food in detention may amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.
Comprehensive:
The right to adequate food is realised ‘when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.’[1] The right to food is protected in the ICESCR and other international and regional instruments.[2]
The core content of the right to adequate food entails that food be:[3]
(a) Available – either through possibilities of feeding oneself directly from productive land and other resources, or through well functioning distribution, processing and marketing systems to make food available where needed;[4]
(b) In a quantity and quality sufficient to meet the dietary needs of individuals, where dietary needs of individuals implies a diet that contains nutrients adequate for ‘physical and mental growth, development and maintenance and physical activity that are in compliance with human physiological needs at all stages throughout the life cycle and according to gender and occupation’;[5]
(c) Without adverse substances, meaning contamination through a variety of sources including adulteration, bad environmental hygiene, inappropriate handling, and naturally occurring toxins;[6]
(d) Culturally acceptable, taking into account ‘perceived non-nutrient-based values attached to food and food consumption and informed consumer concerns regarding the nature of accessible food supplies’;[7]
(e) Sustainable accessibility –including physical and economic accessibility - of such food without interfering with the enjoyment of other human rights.
Related violations of the right to food are breaches of obligations which states carry separately and jointly in international cooperation and which imply (or maintain) the non-enjoyment of this right for specific persons – individually and in community.
States have an obligation to ensure access to adequate food, the means and entitlements for its procurement without discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds.[8] Discrimination in relation to access to adequate food covers a wide range of situations. Women,[9] in particular in rural communities[10] are disproportionately affected in terms of access to productive resources such as land, water, seeds and finances, as well as in access to markets. Women face multiple impediments to their equal access to land and consequently their access to adequate food, such as laws, inheritance practices, marital status and agrarian reform policies.[11] See *unequal inheritance rights*; *discrimination based on sex*.
Food aid may be distributed in a discriminatory manner for example, excluding opposition supporters.[12] Other vulnerable groups that may be excluded from enjoying access to adequate food include children, refugees, indigenous peoples, older persons, people living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases, people deprived of their liberty and people living in conflict areas.[13] A violation due to discrimination occurs also when food producing resources (land, water, genetic resources) of future generations are less protected against ruinous use than the resources of the current generation.
The CESCR has noted that serious food insecurity and shortages in India disproportionately affect the population living in the poorer states and in rural areas, and the disadvantaged and marginalized groups.[14] The CAT Committee has found that the lack of adequate food in prisons may amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.[15] (See *conditions of detention – adequate food*).
Violations can be implied by irregularities in programmes to provide vulnerable groups with income to buy food or directly with food (obligation to fulfill-provide[16]) – or by the absence of such programmes, for example when a State does not establish or maintain income programmes providing each person threatened by hunger and malnutrition with access to food. Such irregularities include that the income provided by income programmes (in cash or kind) is insufficient to access food, that persons in prisons or state custody are not provided with food, that persons are excluded from income programmes, and that the international community in situations of food emergencies fails to provide funds or food aid to secure physical access to food for each person in the territory of the state in food emergency.
Additional references
A Eide ‘The right to an adequate standard of living including the right to food’ in A Eide et al (eds) Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2001) 133-148
J Ziegler et al The fight for the right to food: Lessons learned (2011)
OHCHR/FAO ‘The right to adequate food’ Fact Sheet No 34
[1] CESCR General Comment 12, para 6. The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food defines it as ‘the right to have regular, permanent and free access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensures a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life free of fear’ E/CN.4/2001/53 (2001) para 14.
[2] ICESCR art 11; UDHR art 25; CEDAW art 12; CRC arts 24 & 27; CPWD arts 25 (f) & 28(1); ACHR art 12; African Children’s Charter art 14(2)(c); African Women’s Protocol arts 14(2)(b) & 15; Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War arts 6 & 59; the Protocol Additional I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts arts 54 & 69; the Protocol Additional II to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non- International Armed Conflicts arts 5(1) (b), 14 & 17(1). The African Commission, in Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) & another v Nigeria(2001) AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001) paras 64-66, held that the right to food is implicit in arts 4 (life), 16 (health), and 22 (economic, social and cultural development) of the African Charter.
[3] CESCR General Comment 12, para 8.
[4] CESCR General Comment 12, para 12.
[5] CESCR General Comment 12, para 9.
[6] CESCR General Comment 12, para 10.
[7] CESCR General Comment 12, para 11.
[8] CESCR General Comment 12, para 18.
[9] HRC Study of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on discrimination in the context of the right to food A/HRC/16/40 (2011) paras 29-35.
[10]Study of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on discrimination in the context of the right to food paras 23-24.
[11]Study of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on discrimination in the context of the right to food paras 29-35.
[12] A/HRC/16/40.
[13]
[14] CESCR, Concluding Observations: India E.C/12/IND/CO/5 (2008) para 28.
[15] CAT Committee, Concluding Observations: Argentina CAT/C/CR/33/1 (2004) para 6 (h).
[16]CESCR, General Comment 12, para 15.