A/HRC/7/5 page 8 plantations throughout 2007 despite orders by the Colombian Institute for Rural Development, the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights to stop the exploitation of this land and to facilitate the return of the owners. Some of the displaced communities have declared humanitarian zones, characterized by precarious living conditions. It also appears that military and paramilitary groups have allowed transport of only limited amounts of food and other goods in and out of these zones.6 With the help of the Interecclesiastical Commission for Justice and Peace, an international ethics commission has been created to ensure minimal protection for peasants threatened by eviction and displacement, living in the humanitarian zones.7 Economic Partnership Agreements between the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) and the European Union 15. The Special Rapporteur is concerned by the terms of new agreements being negotiated by the European Union (EU) under new Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. He would like to draw the urgent attention of all States, particularly members of the EU, to the implications that this may have on the right to food of poor farmers in the developing world. He is particularly concerned about the potential negative impacts of greater trade liberalization on peasant farmers in the ACP countries, especially given unfair competition with highly subsidized EU production. In these countries, where up to 80 per cent of the population can be involved in peasant agriculture, unfair competition may push millions of African, Caribbean and Pacific peoples out of agriculture, leaving few other employment options. In addition, the new EPAs are likely to lead to substantial loss of revenue for ACP governments, most of which depend heavily on import taxes to raise revenue.8 Eliminating tariffs on EU imports would lower tariff revenues considerably, forcing these countries to cut fiscal expenditure and therefore jeopardizing social programmes and affecting Governments’ ability to meet their obligations in terms of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to food. II. THE RIGHT TO FOOD IN INTERNATIONAL LAW A. Definition of the right to food 16. The right to food is a human right that protects the right of all human beings to live in dignity, free from hunger. It is protected under international human rights and humanitarian law. 6 See International Displacement Monitoring Centre, op. cit, 2007. 7 Report of François Houtard, University of Leuven, Belgium, 2007. 8 Oxfam, Unequal Partners: How EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements could harm the development prospects of many of the world’s poorest countries, September 2006.