Moving towards greater convergence of all struggles
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.
Kathmandu hosted the last meeting of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition (GNRtFN), a 3-day gathering involving CSOs and social movements the world over. At a time when people’s human rights, in particular those of the most marginalized, are being undermined by corporate capture, patriarchy, gender-based violence, and conflicts, participants discussed the way forward to achieve the full realization of adequate food and nutrition. Inspired by the meeting’s host country, Nepal, which recently started consultations towards a draft Constitution that enshrines food sovereignty while still recovering from the devastating earthquakes, the worldwide network culminated its third meeting with a public declaration. Commenting on the outcomes of the meeting, Flavio Valente, FIAN International’s Secretary General, says: “The declaration marks a new juncture for the network. Representatives from civil society across the world have agreed to move towards greater convergence of all the struggles and fight the continuing assaults on people’s sovereignty collectively. The land, water, forests, natural resources, livelihoods and identity of many communities are threatened and no single social movement or organization could tackle all these challenges alone. There is a need to join forces to defend the primacy of human rights over the current global model of development, and hold States accountable for their human rights obligations”. The network, officially launched in June 2013, was the result of a broad consultative process that has taken into account the aggravation of the chronic world food crisis, including the persistence of gross violations of the right to food and the prevailing impunity of perpetrators. The network is about a joint struggle towards the full realization of the human right to adequate food and nutrition in the context of the indivisibility of human rights and people´s sovereignty, which can be traced back to the preparation of the Civil Society Parallel Forum ahead of the World Food Summit in 1996. With the declaration, the network members and supporters pledge to mobilize themselves to collectively strengthen human rights accountability and the human rights-based frameworks, from local to global. In addition, the declaration lists a series of commitments, including the support and protection of human rights defenders, and to advocate towards the end of all forms of discrimination, violence again women as well as corporate capture in all its forms and across sectors. NOTE TO EDITORS: The Network is an initiative of public interest CSOs and social movements (peasants, fisherfolk, pastoralists, landless people, consumers, urban people living in poverty, agricultural and food workers, women, youth, and indigenous peoples) that recognize the need to act jointly for the realization of the RtAFN. The Network: opens a space for dialogue and mobilization of its members to hold States accountable with regard to their territorial and extraterritorial obligations to realize this right; supports the struggles of social movements and groups fighting against violations of this right; supports and does its best to protect human rights defenders against repression, violence and criminalization; moves to end the impunity of state-condoned violations and of non-state human rights abusers; and promotes the holistic interpretation of the human right to adequate food and nutrition, including the full realization of women´s human rights, within the food sovereignty framework. For more information about the network, contact secretariat[at]GNRTFN.org For media enquiries, please contact delrey[at]fian.org For more information, read the declaration. List of endorsing organizations.
