Right to Adequate Food

primary, guiding text on the right to food is article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rightswhich provides:

1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.

2. The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international co-operation, the measures, including specific programmes, which are needed:

(a) To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources;

(b) Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need.

Minimum Core Content

States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights bear non-derogable core obligations with respect to the right to food. States are obligated to ensure:

the availability of food in a quantity and quality sufficient to satisfy the dietary needs of individuals, free from adverse substances, and acceptable within a given culture;
economic and physical accessibility of such food in ways that are sustainable and that do not interfere with the enjoyment of other human rights;
the right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in order to develop fully and maintain physical and mental facilities;
non-discriminatory access to sufficient food that is balanced and safe enough to satisfy nutritional requirements for physical and mental growth, development and maintenance, and physical activity that is in compliance with human physiological needs at all stages throughout the life cycle and according to gender and occupation;
non-discriminatory access to culturally acceptable food that conforms as much as possible to perceived non-nutrient based values attached to food (See Module 17 of Circle of Rights on Cultural Rights); and
non-discriminatory access food in a manner which does not destroy one’s dignity

The obligation to promote human rights may extend to the development of coherent indicators and benchmarks for measuring the effectiveness of the government’s policies and measures to achieve the realization economic, social and cultural rights.  The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights advises that the right to food should not be “interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with a minimum package of calories, proteins and other specific nutrients.” Some important quantifying and qualifying tools that are useful when monitoring program service delivery on the right to food include the: 

Right to Food Dossier

Potential Right to Food Violations

Some potential right to food violations include:

using food aid as a political weapon
enacting statutes that outlaw breastfeeding
maintaining insufficient measures to prevent public and private contamination of foodstuffs

Key Food Rights Developments and Sample Best Practices

Significant advances toward the full realization of the right to food continue to be made. Some initial resources on the right are:

The following case summaries illustrate how human rights defenders have used the ESC rights approach to promote and protect the right to food:

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Side Links

Primary links

Right to Adequate Food

Minimum Core Content

Right to Food Dossier

Potential Right to Food Violations

Key Food Rights Developments and Sample Best Practices