The Right to Adequate Food Voluntary Guidelines

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The Right to Adequate Food - Voluntary
Guidelines

• Julian Thomas
• Senior Coordinator
• Right to Food Unit
• Economic and Social Department
• FAO, Rome

Workshop on the Implementation and Monitoring of
Rights-based Development in the Context of the
Voluntary Guidelines on the Realisation of the
Right to Adequate Food Oslo, 7-9 September 2005
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Overview

• Status and Attributes
• Significance
• Implementation Challenges
• Monitoring

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Status and Attributes

• Adopted by FAO Council, November 2004
• Disseminated (FAO, OHCHR, ECOSOC)
• Practical tool to promote implementation of
  international legal obligation
• Voluntary character

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Status and Attributes (cntd.)

• State Obligations
• Respect
• Protect
• Fulfil (facilitate, promote and provide)

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Status and Attributes (cntd.)

• Aimed at realizing
• Availability
• Accessibility (Physical, Economic)
• Quality (Consumer safety, Cultural acceptability)

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Status and Attributes (cntd.)

• Right to Food vs. Food Security
• New concept in international development debate

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Significance

• First attempt by Governments to interpret an ESC
  right and to recommend implementation measures
• High credibility
• Broad, inclusive, participative, constructive
  elaboration process
• Rests on sound, progressive groundwork and
  lobbying over 2-3 decades

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Significance (cntd.)

• Introduces HR principles into development policy
  and actions
• Defining nature of individuals rights
• State obligations
• Focus on poor and vulnerable and their
  empowerment

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Significance (cntd.)

• Complementary to current development thinking
• Emphasis on food and nutrition
• Additional tool to tackle poverty and hunger

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Significance (cntd.)

• Timely
• RBA being introduced into CCA and UNDAF processes
• Prominence of HR principles in Millennium
  Declaration
• Draws attention to international issues affecting
  development, e.g. trade, ODA, food aid
• Supported by UN Special Rapporteur

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Implementation challenges

• Ease of elaborating VGs should not lead to
  complacency
• Relatively unknown, ill-understood concept
• Public education and strengthening implementation
  capacity

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Implementation challenges

• Develop implementation methodology and
  demonstrate practical value
• Inter-disciplinary concept requires cross
  sectoral cooperation

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Monitoring

• Practical, effective monitoring system central to
  realization of RtF
• Recognized in the VGs
• Difficult because of complexity of RBA
• Hence importance of this workshop

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Thank you
www.fao.org/righttofood