COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS ADOPTS GENERAL COMMENT ON RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD

MORNING
HR/ESC/99/24
11 May 1999




840 Million People In the World Are Chronically Hungry


The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this morning adopted a general comment on the right to adequate food, underlining that the human right to adequate food was of crucial importance for the enjoyment of all rights.

In its general comment, the Committee noted that while guidelines were available for reporting related to the right to adequate food, only a few State parties had provided information sufficient and precise enough to enable the Committee to determine the prevailing conditions in the countries concerned and to identify the obstacles to the realization of that right.

The Committee started preparing the general comment after a request by States during the 1996 World Food Summit to better define the rights related to food in article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The general comment affirmed that the right to adequate food was indivisibly and indispensably linked to the inherent dignity of the human person and was inseparable from the fulfilment of other rights enshrined in other international bills of rights.

The Committee stressed in the general comment that despite the fact that the international community had frequently reaffirmed the importance of full respect for the right to adequate food, a disturbing gap still existed between the standards set in article 11 of the Covenant and the situation
prevailing in many parts of the world. More than 840 million people throughout the world, and particularly in developing countries, were chronically hungry. Millions of people were suffering from famine as the result of natural disasters, the increased incidence of civil strife and wars in some regions, and the use of food as a political weapon.

The Committee observed that while the problems of hunger and malnutrition were often particularly acute in developing countries, malnutrition, under-nutrition and other problems which related to the right to adequate food and the right to freedom from hunger also existed in some of the most economically developed countries. Fundamentally, the roots of the hunger and malnutrition problem were not the lack of food but the lack of access to available food. The right to adequate food was realized when every man, women and child, alone or in community with others, had physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.

The adopted text further said that violation of the Covenant occurred when a State failed to ensure the satisfaction of the minimum essential level required to be free from hunger. In addition, violations of the right to food could occur through the direct action of States or other entities insufficiently regulated by States such as the repeal or suspension of legislation necessary for the continued enjoyment of the right to food, among other things.

The general comment also states that State parties should refrain at all times from food embargoes or similar measures which endanger access to food in other countries. Food should never be used as an instrument for political and economic pressure. In this regard, the Committee recalls its convictions stated in its general comment number 8 which addressed the relationship between economic sanctions and respect for economic, social and cultural rights.

In the course of its previous sessions, the Committee has adopted 11 general comments to assist State parties in their interpretation and implementation of the provisions of the Covenant.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will adopt in a private meeting its concluding observations and recommendations on the situation in the Solomon Islands and Denmark which it has already considered during the current session. The Committee will issue the its observations and recommendations towards the end of its three-week session, which concludes 14 May.