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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

UN launches ‘toolbox’ to help nations ensure access to food as basic human right


The United Nations on 23 October, 2009 took a step towards helping the billion people around the world suffering from hunger achieve access to adequate food with the publication of a ‘how-to’ guide providing the tools for governments, institutions and civil society to assert this basic human right.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has released a comprehensive six-volume set of guidelines, which it calls a “toolbox,” containing hands-on advice on monitoring the right to adequate food, as well as identifying and classifying vulnerable groups suffering from hunger and food insecurity.

There are also a large number of recommendations in the “Right to Food Methodological Toolbox” on planning, implementing and monitoring public allocations and expenditures on food access on a national level.

FAO said that the publication comes at a time when scores of countries are seeking a way to incorporate the right to food into their legislations, strategies, policies and programmes.

“The right to food is not a utopia,” said Barbara Ekwall, FAO’s right to food team leader. “It can be realized for every woman, man and child, even in times of crisis.”

Ms. Ekwall stressed that the legal framework exists in the form of international, regional and national human rights standards, but to “make the right to adequate food a reality for all, action at country level is essential. It is there that the difference will be made for those who are suffering from hunger.”

Guide on Legislating for the Right to Food (Book 1)

This publication provides detailed guidance to legislative drafters and reviewers on legislative provisions and institutional coordination. While the present Guide addresses primarily states parties to the Covenant, it provides equally valid guidance to non-parties seeking to implement this fundamental human right. Following a brief explanation of the right to food in international law, the guide discusses three main levels of legislative incorporation of this human right at the national level, i.e. constitutional recognition, framework law on the right to food and a compatibility review of relevant national legislation.

This publication comes at an opportune moment – many countries are currently seeking ways to reform their constitutions and adopt new laws in order to strengthen the right to food. To assist them in this process, the guide provides detailed information and examples from other countries. In addition to the guide itself, the companion CD-ROM contains the full text of all national legislation referred to. No doubt there will be updates to this guide in the future as new lessons are learned from the number of countries that are increasingly engaging in right to food legislative processes.  

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/MYAI-7VY83S/$
file/fao-sep2009.pdf?openelement

Methods to Monitor the Human Right to Adequate Food (Book 2, Volume I and II)


Methods to Monitor the Human Right to Adequate Food - Volume I, Making the case fo Rights-Focused and Rights-Based Monitoring

This volume presents a broad framework for monitoring the protection and realisation of the right to adequate food, within the broader context of rights-based development. In “making the case” this volume attempts to contribute to a common understanding of what rights-focused monitoring and rights-based monitoring mean. Issues are introduced that will undoubtedly be involved in country-level monitoring of the right to adequate food. An analysis of likely opportunities and constraints can help to put in place strategic approaches. In-country monitoring the right to adequate food also involves institutional issues that need to be considered and addressed, as well as analytical and methodological issues involved in rights-based monitoring. Finally, some hints are provided as to how to go about organising at country level to implement monitoring the right to adequate food, building on existing monitoring systems.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/MYAI-7VY88P/$
file/fao-dec2008.pdf?openelement

Methods to Monitor the Human Right to Adequate Food - Volume II, An Overview of Approaches and Tools

This volume provides a detailed overview of various methods and approaches relevant to monitoring the right to adequate food. The primary target users of Volume II are expected to be technical staff in public sector institutions and civil society organizations that are responsible for planning and monitoring food security, nutrition, and poverty reduction policy development and programming, and of progress towards the achievement of food security, nutrition and poverty related goals and targets. Volume II is meant to help make their work easier, more efficient and effective.  

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/MYAI-7VY8D9/$
file/fao-dec2008.pdf?openelement

Guide to Conducting a Right to Food Assessment (Book 3)

This guide has been written to assist countries in undertaking a right to adequate food assessment as a first step in the process of developing a right to adequate food strategy and in implementing specific measures that respond to their obligation to progressively realize this human right.

The importance of initially undertaking a right to food assessment is also recognized in the Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security (thereafter referred to as “Right to Food Guidelines”), which provide a framework for the realization of the right to adequate food at country level.  

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/MYAI-7VY8G2/$
file/fao-apr-2009.pdf?openelement

Right to Food Curriculum Outline (Book 4)

The right to adequate food curriculum outlined here is unique, not only because of the process by which it was developed, but also because it stresses the practical implications of implementing the right to adequate food at country level. To our knowledge, there is no other curriculum outline like this for economic, social and cultural rights.

The right to adequate food curriculum will serve as a guide for instructors and trainers when they need to develop courses and training programmes on the right to adequate food. Recognizing that some of the materials have yet to be created for a portion of the curriculum, the lesson outlines contain suggestions for lesson authors on content, as well as relevant documentary sources and available institutional and individual resources. Lastly, the curriculum outline will also serve to orient the preparation of didactic, educational and advocacy materials to support the implementation of the right to adequate food.  

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/MYAI-7VY8NL/$
file/fao-apr-2009.pdf?openelement

Budget Work to Advance the Right to Food (Book 5)

This publication was developed through a three-part process: (1) an initial workshop, held in October 2007, to develop a methodology for integrating budget work into right to food monitoring, documentation and advocacy; (2) case studies undertaken in three countries to test the methodology; and (3) a second workshop, held in June 2008, to examine the findings of the case studies and develop an outline for this guide.

FAO was and remains interested in budget work for several reasons:

- Hunger and malnutrition often have multiple causes and need to be tackled on a number of fronts. Budget analysis could be helpful in identifying if and when a government’s budget choices are one of the causes.

- The right to food places specific obligations on governments. One way governments can meet those obligations is through allocating and spending funds available in the budget. Budget work can help determine if a government is allocating and spending those funds in line with its right to food obligations.

- A right to food analysis of a situation might suggest certain policy or programme choices. Budget work can assist governments, legislators and civil society organizations (CSOs) to identify the cost of those choices, and where funding for those choices might be found in the budget.

- Because resources are so limited and the reality of hunger and malnutrition so compelling, it is essential that a government’s resources be used in a highly efficient manner. Budget analysis enables both government and civil society to assess whether the government’s limited resources are being utilized in the most efficient and effective ways possible.  

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/MYAI-7VY8R6/$
file/fao-apr-2009.pdf?openelement