A/HRC/12/31*
page 8
11. Secondly, the right to food requires that accountability mechanisms be put in place so that
victims of violations of the right to food have access to independent bodies empowered to
monitor the choices made by decision makers. The right to food implies that victims must have a
right to recourse mechanisms, that Governments must be held accountable if they adopt policies
which violate that right, and that courts are empowered to protect that right. As in the case of
Guatemala and India, an increasing number of countries, such as Argentina, Bolivia
(Plurinational State of) and Ecuador are moving in this direction.
12. Thirdly, the right to food requires prioritization: trade and investment policies and choices
in modes of agricultural production, for instance, should be subordinated to the overarching
objective of realizing the right to food. To this effect, States should put in place national
strategies for the realization of the right to food. Such strategies serve a number of purposes: they
encourage participation, since their adoption and implementation should involve all stakeholders;
they oblige Government to make clear, time-bound commitments; and they ensure that choices
in other policy areas fit into a broader strategy aimed at realizing the right to food. The
Comprehensive Framework for Action adopted by the High-level Task Force on the Global Food
Security Crisis advocates in favour of “partnerships for food” at the national level, under clear
and visible political leadership, in order to improve coordination across different sectors and
participation of various segments of society and government. In several countries - Bolivia
(Plurinatinal State of), Costa Rica, Indonesia and Togo - mechanisms coordinate the various
actions taken in the field of food security. National and lower-level councils on food security
exist in several countries, such as Angola, the Dominican Republic, Kyrgyzstan and Senegal. In
the majority of countries surveyed, however, no specific body for the participation, consultation
and coordination of all actors on issues related to the right to food seems to exist.
IV. REINVESTING IN AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
13. One of the beneficial effects of the global food crisis is that Governments and international
agencies have realized that there is an urgent need to put agriculture back at the centre of their
development agendas, after 25 years of neglect. Many States and agencies have pledged to
reinvest, sometimes massively, in agriculture. Recent indicators of this shift include the
announcement, on 15 April 2009, of the creation of the Agricultural Investment Fund for Africa,
established jointly by the African Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, with the support of the
French Development Agency, which aims to collect €500 million to support agro-industries and
farmers’ cooperatives in Africa; the priorities defined for the United States Agency for
International Development in May 2009 by the United States administration for the 2010 fiscal
year, which includes $3.4 billion to address global food insecurity and $1.4 billion for agriculture
development assistance; and the establishment by the European Union, in December 2008, of a
new facility for a rapid response to soaring food prices.6
6
Regulation (EC) No. 1337/2008 of the European Parliament and the Council for establishing a
facility for rapid response to soaring food prices in developing countries, OJ L. 354 of
31 December 2008, p. 62.
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