As competition to control the world’s water resources increases the 2022 Right to Food and Nutrition Watch calls for global fisheries governance that recognizes small-scale fishers as custodians of water ecosystems and protects their rights from the onslaught of extractive industries and other commercial interests.
Commonly referred to as ‘corporate capture’, the increasing control of businesses over food systems and resources, institutions, policy spaces and governance structures, is putting human rights at great risk. The world is witnessing this reality from the Americas to Asia, particularly since the 2008 world food crisis that shook societies across the globe. It is clear that the present economic model cannot guarantee the conditions for national governments to fulfill their human rights obligations, including the right to adequate food and nutrition.
At a time when people’s human rights are being undermined by corporate capture, patriarchy, gender-based violence and conflicts, members from the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition gathered in Nepal, culminating with a joint statement.
Arguably the single most violated human right in the world, the right to adequate food and nutrition is contending with the emergence of growing threats posed by corporate and economic interests that are increasingly gaining influence in policy spaces and taking control of food systems and natural resources worldwide. In view of this alarming trend, social mobilization and resistance are more critical now than ever before.
The overarching goal of realizing all human rights for all, and in particular the right to food and nutrition, can only be achieved through strong, human rights-based accountability systems. There is a clear need to articulate feasible and culturally acceptable alternatives to dominant policies in the areas of agriculture, food and nutrition.
The right to decide and to control which food to have is inherent to the human right to food. The Right to Food andNutrition Watch 2012 addresses the decision making process on global food and nutrition from this human rights perspective.
Accountability is currently the most pressing challenge in the struggle for the right to food and nutrition. Without a clear accountability mechanism, declarations of political will to fight hunger and malnutrition remain ineffective.
In 2010 the global situation of the right to food and nutrition is dire. The consequences of the climate, energy, financial and food price crises have been felt around the world. In 2009, for the first time in history, the number of undernourished people surpassed the one billion mark, and there is no sign that this unacceptably high number will be reduced any time soon. At the current pace, it will be impossible to achieve the first of the Millennium Development Goals, to halve the percentage of undernourished people in the world by 2015, without a profound change in national and global policies and governance.
The gap between promises and reality is increasing. In 2009, the number of undernourished people in the world reached the historically high figure of 1.02 billion people, about 100 million more than in 2008.
National and global political decisions that fail to take the human rights obligations of states and intergovernmental organisations into account are the main reasons why hunger still persists. One of the most essential instruments to increase public pressure with which it is possible to hold governments and intergovernmental bodies accountable for their policies and programmes is the establishment of monitoring tools to check that states meet their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the human right to adequate food of every person globally.
26/09/2017
