A/HRC/37/61 respect to genetically modified seeds, or the provision of fortified foods that have never been tested on large populations. Food Assistance Convention of 2012 88. The Food Assistance Convention, of 2012, is the only legally binding international treaty addressing “the food and nutritional needs of the most vulnerable populations” in emergency situations. 98 It has in fact has been in operation since 1967 and has been continuously reformulated over the years. In 1991, there was a fundamental shift in approach, expanding the traditional focus on tied in-kind food aid to a much broader form of assistance that included a stronger focus on the nutritional aspects of food aid, the protection of livelihoods, and the use of cash transfers and vouchers. 89. In 2012, there was a change in the convention’s title from “aid” to “assistance”, revealing a certain shift. Longer-term development assistance seems to be reflected through the 2012 Convention’s change in the emergency framework, which includes all forms of food assistance. This has the potential to prevent distortions of local markets and to generate benefits for local producers, thereby combining emergency responses with broader development goals of food security in recipient countries. 90. This change appears to have been shaped by previous international commitments, most notably the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, of 2005, which placed strong emphasis on recipient countries’ ownership of their development policies and strategies while at the same time recognizing the responsibility of donors to take account of food policies in recipient countries.99 91. The shift towards assistance, with greater possibilities for beneficiaries’ participation, and explicit recognition of the right to food, suggests that the Food Assistance Convention has the potential to contribute to developing a governance regime. 100 However, a number of areas of reform stand out. For instance, the extent to which beneficiaries have actually participated in practices and policies relating to food assistance remains unclear. 101 Similarly, beneficiary States can now also become parties to the Convention, but while a number of non-State parties have attended sessions of the Food Assistance Committee as observers, no beneficiary countries have yet become parties to the Convention. Right to food approach 92. The 2012 Convention has an explicit reference to the right to food.102 It has been observed that there is increasing recognition generally among donor States of the usefulness of a human rights lens when addressing issues of food insecurity. 103 Acknowledging the right to food in the preamble is indeed a positive step, however the preamble emphasizes the role of beneficiary States and not of donor States. 104 The Convention also adds a new reference to upholding the dignity of the beneficiaries of assistance, indirectly invoking this fundamental underpinning human rights principle. 105 93. Similarly, several provisions of the Convention draw upon the text of the 2004 Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security, of 2004. Both the Voluntary Guidelines and the 97 Frederic Mousseau, “Food aid or food sovereignty? Ending world food hunger in our time” (The Oakland Institute, 2005). 98 Ratified by Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Switzerland and the United States, and by the European Union, in 2012. 99 See the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, para. 14. See the Food Assistance Convention (2012), art. 2 (c) (ii). See www.foodassistanceconvention.org/downloads/sumrec/fac2015nr.pdf, pp. 6–16. See the Food Assistance Convention, preamble. See www.tafad.org. Annamaria La Chimia, “Food security and the right to food: finding balance in the 2012 Food Assistance Convention”, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 65, No. 1 (2016), pp. 99–137. See the Food Assistance Convention, art. 2 (c) (iv). 100 101 102 103 104 105 17