Food is a human right, not a commodity: High Commissioner

Warm greetings from Geneva.

Twenty years ago, this Committee adopted the Voluntary Guidelines for the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food.

It was a crucial step towards the realization of this fundamental human right. And the Guidelines have played a key role in driving a human rights-based approach to food security and nutrition.

But still, today, we live in a world overflowing with food and drowning in food waste, while somehow 735 million people are suffering from hunger and malnutrition and millions teeter on the brink of famine – all too often for reasons that are entirely avoidable.

In Sudan, the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has left over half of the population – close to 26 million people – facing acute hunger. In parts of the country, 30 per cent of children are severely malnourished. Nearly 1 in 3 children.

In Gaza, 96 per cent of people face severe food insecurity, and the threat of famine hangs over the entire population. Relentless restrictions on humanitarian aid and escalating attacks are cutting off access to life-saving food supplies.

In Chad, Haiti, Mali, Myanmar, South Sudan, Yemen and elsewhere, people are experiencing intolerable levels of hunger.

It is simply unacceptable, that in a world of such abundance, so many people have so little – and I’m afraid that we have developed a deeply skewed relationship with the way that food is produced, supplied and consumed.

Too often, food is treated, not as a human right, but as a commodity for speculation or profit, and a weapon of war. Peasants and workers in rural areas are often among the poorest and the hungriest, despite being responsible for the bulk of food production themselves.

We urgently need to shift our focus and start building global and national food systems that prioritize accessibility, adequacy, and sustainability in line with international human rights standards.

Along with the legal guidance issued by the UN human rights bodies, such as the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Guidelines can help States to uphold the right to food – and to deliver this shift.

The Committee on World Food Security is also key.

By strengthening the interlinkages between the work of the Human Rights Council and the Committee, we can drive the change that is so urgently needed.

Colleagues,

Food is among the most basic of human needs. As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Guidelines, it is long past time for serious efforts and political will to be dedicated to their implementation.

Events like this one are important steps towards a more sustainable and more equal future.

So I look forward to working with you to build a world where food is secure – not scarce. And where catastrophic global hunger is a thing of the past.