A/HRC/7/5
page 26
from grave, permanent undernourishment. Consequently, the Special Rapporteur
maintains that only the normative approach can gradually eliminate hunger and grave
permanent malnutrition in the world. The human right to food has to be implemented by
all States, by all intergovernmental organizations and by all non-State actors, including
multinational corporations. As Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote 246 years ago in the Social
Contract:
“Between the rich and the poor, it is freedom which oppresses and it is law which
liberates.”
77.
The Special Rapporteur makes the following recommendations:
(a) Hunger is not inevitable. The lack of progress in meeting the objectives of the
World Food Summit and Millennium Goal No. 1 to halve the number of hunger victims by
2015 is unacceptable. All States should take immediate action to realize the human right to
food of all their people. Lessons can be learned from the very positive examples of many
Governments which have been detailed in this and in previous reports of the Special
Rapporteur. The key initiatives of the Governments of Brazil, Cuba and Bolivia observed
by the Special Rapporteur during his country missions set an example for the rest of the
world;
(b) All States should ensure that their international political and economic policies,
including international trade agreements, do not have negative impacts on the right to food
in other countries. In this context, European Union Governments must ensure that EPA
agreements with Asian, Caribbean and Pacific countries do not negatively affect the
progressive realization of the right to food in those countries and include safeguard
mechanisms to allow appropriate responses to any resulting food insecurity and hunger.
All international trade agreements should include the participation of all stakeholders,
including civil society. The implementation of the concept of food sovereignty should be
discussed;
(c) States should improve the international supervisory mechanisms for
transnational corporations, especially those which control our food and water system, to
ensure that they respect the right to food. This should include discussing and adopting the
Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business
Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights;72
(d) States should give priority to investments in long-term development projects
that reduce vulnerability to drought and desertification, including through investing in
small-scale water harvesting and management to improve food security;
72
E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/12/Rev.2.
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