A/HRC/7/5
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worldwide on 16 October 2007 was dedicated to the theme of the right to food. Activities to
promote the right to food were organized in over 150 countries. On this occasion, the Special
Rapporteur participated in events staged in Brussels, Bonn, Bern and Geneva.
8.
At the same time, the Special Rapporteur has also continued to follow the important work
of NGOs around the world to promote respect for the right to food. In particular, he would like to
underscore the efforts made by Foodfirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) and
ActionAid. These organizations have launched two international campaigns on the right to food
in 2007: Face It Act Now, a three-year campaign by FIAN targeting European governments, and
Hunger Free, a five-year campaign by ActionAid to promote the right to food worldwide.
9.
In this final report to the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur briefly presents
some of the most recent developments with respect to the right to food. He then recalls the
definition of the right to food and State obligations. The report addresses six main topics: the
schizophrenia in the United Nations system and in States’ policies; the exclusion and
discrimination that exists in relation to the right to food, especially in relation to women and
indigenous people; refugees from hunger; the impact of new powerful non-State actors such as
transnational corporations (TNCs); desertification; and biofuels. Finally, the report addresses the
areas that should give us some hope: the Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive
realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security (hereafter the
Right to Food Guidelines) adopted by the FAO Council in November 2004; the Optional
Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights being negotiated
in the Human Rights Council; the progress in justiciability of the right to food at the national
level; global commitments to fight hunger; and the work of States and civil society to promote
the issue of food sovereignty.
I. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS WITH RESPECT TO
THE RIGHT TO FOOD
A. Positive developments
10. The Special Rapporteur has followed important legislative developments for the protection
of the right to food in many countries, including through his country missions to Brazil, India,
Guatemala, and Bolivia.
Honduras
11. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the forward-looking initiatives that have been taken by
the Government of Honduras in cooperation with civil society. In particular, he welcomes the
various awareness-raising programmes on forced land evictions and the right to food, organized
by the Special Office on Human Rights of the Prosecutor’s Office, with the participation of
police officers, prosecutors and officers of the National Agrarian Institute (INA). The Special
Rapporteur also welcomes the proposal for a Protocol on forced land evictions and the right to
food that was submitted to the Supreme Court in August 2007 by civil society organizations as
well as the drafting by such organizations of a law on the right to food and food security,
presented to Congress on 16 October 2007. He urges the Court and the Parliament promptly to
adopt these important instruments.
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