Summary

The Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, conducted an official visit to Indonesia from 9 to 18 April 2018, at the invitation of the Government. The Special Rapporteur’s objective during the visit was to assess the enjoyment of the right to food in Indonesia, by identifying best practices and the remaining challenges, especially for vulnerable populations, including women, children and populations living in rural and remote areas.

In her report, the Special Rapporteur provides a general overview of the situation in Indonesia concerning the right to food, including its food productivity and patterns of consumption, the use of agricultural and marine resources, as well as the Government’s efforts to reduce poverty. In an analysis of the national legal and policy framework, she reviews the country’s compliance with international human rights and other food-related treaties and commitments of the Government entered in to as part of international and regional cooperation to realize the right to food. Through the review of the national legal and policy framework, the Special Rapporteur identifies good practices that demonstrate the efforts the Government has made to improve food security and productivity, while encouraging it to increase its efforts even further to ensure the effective enforcement and implementation of the existing framework.

In the section of the report focused on specific populations, the Special Rapporteur argues that indigenous peoples (customary local communities), women and children should be given special attention in the fulfilment of their right to food considering their particularly vulnerable situations. The Special Rapporteur identifies both challenges and opportunities for the Government to concentrate on in the realization of the right to food as regards its human rights obligations. These areas include land issues, fishing and coastal communities, business practices, infrastructure development projects, climate change and natural disasters, and trade.

At the end of the report, the Special Rapporteur makes a number of recommendations to Indonesia, including encouraging it to ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Labour Organization Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) and the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188). She also recommends that the Government fully integrate a human rights-based approach in its legal and policy framework, while diversifying policies beyond rice-based food policy and implementing various frameworks of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Lastly, she recommends that the Government take appropriate measures to address the challenges identified in the report.