A/HRC/9/23 page 14 and Rural Development since gaining access to land is essential to landless labourers who are among the most food- insecure today. In the ministerial declaration adopted by consensus at its 2008 session the Economic and Social Council recognized “the crucial importance of enhanced access of the rural poor, women and men, to productive assets, in particular land and water”, and stressed that “priority attention should be given to the adoption of policies and the implementation of laws that guarantee well-defined and enforceable land- and water-use rights and promote legal security of tenure, while recognizing the existence of different national laws and/or systems of land access and tenure”.25 In accordance with Res. 2002/49 of the Commission on Human Rights on ‘Women's equal ownership, access to and control over land and the equal rights to own property and to adequate housing’, special attention should be paid to the removal of all obstacles to the equal enjoyment of land rights by women.26 D. Women’s rights 23. Elsewhere, the previous Special Rapporteur on the right to food explored why the full respect for women’s rights is crucial to the enjoyment of the right to adequate food, particularly in its nutritional aspects.27 As noted by the World Bank, “in many societies, women bear the primary responsibility for feeding the family, yet without having control of family resources. In many countries, women and girls are also frequently less favoured in the intra-household distribution of food.”28 The Comprehensive Framework for Action is explicit on this issue.29 There is a high degree of consensus, therefore, on the need to strengthen women’s rights, particularly in rural areas as required under article 14 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and on the contribution this could make to food and nutrition security. However, many obstacles remain in the implementation at the national level, owing to discriminatory laws or customs. States should be encouraged to move further in this direction by making women’s rights an explicit component of their national strategies to respond to the food crisis. IV. AN ENABLING INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT 24. When they adopted g8 on establishing a global partnership for development as part of the Millennium Development Goals, Members States were in fact reaffirming what was already an obligation under international law. States should not only respect, protect and fulfil the right to 25 Implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to sustainable development, doc. E/2008/L.10, para. 28. 26 E/CN.4/2002/200 (23 April 2002). 27 See Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food to the General Assembly, A/58/330 (2003). 28 29 GFRP, at ii. At 19. The CFA also encourages channelling food assistance via women and targeted interventions for women farmers (at 13 and 16).

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