A/HRC/28/65 available, a lack of affordable and dedicated legal assistance and judicial corruption often hinders access. In cases where rights holders have the means to submit a case, often ordinary courts, which are more accessible for families facing food security,34 are unaware of the issue — with the right to food not considered as related to other citizen’s rights. Complex and inflexible court systems also have a significant impact on victims, often requiring a high burden of proof for applicants. Some courts may also be averse to accepting collective, or public interest mechanisms or innovative fact-gathering or remedial procedures. In such cases, victims are dissuaded from submitting claims. Some countries, however, have tackled the problem by establishing public interest litigation procedures that authorize individual and collective claims.35 35. The role played by judges also has a significant impact on the judicial interpretation of economic, social and cultural rights. In many countries, it is often the case that judges based outside of urban area have little knowledge of human rights law, and are therefore less inclined to consider international standards when making a judgement. The reliance of the judiciary on the State for its legitimacy and the appointment of judges also has considerable influence over the decision-making process, with historical relations between the State and the judiciary often coming into play. 36. Ensuring justiciability of the right to food is also hindered by the fact that individual cases often end up stagnating within the court system amidst protracted, costly and bureaucratic proceedings, while in some instances collective cases influenced by politically motivated activities take precedence and serve as sensationalist media fodder. As a result, many cases have been neglected with no follow-up. 37. Quasi-judicial bodies, such as ombudspersons, have the potential to consider cases of human rights violations. However, more often than not, they tend to focus solely on civil and political rights, with few having taken the necessary steps to introduce complaint mechanisms for economic, social and cultural rights. A general lack of awareness by affected populations that such a mechanism for filing a grievance exists has also done little to encourage applications. However there are some examples of progress in this regard, such as the Ombudsman’s Office in Ecuador that took the initiative and established a unit for economic, social and cultural rights, while the Procuradoria for Human Rights in Guatemala has been submitting reports on the right to food since 2007, in line with its Food and Nutrition Security Law of 2005. V. Extraterritorial obligations A. Economic globalization and right to food 38. The universality of human rights has been the underlying inspiration for all human rights law and standards. While much emphasis has been placed on achieving the universal acceptance of the content of rights, less attention has been given to attaining universality as to the content of obligations.36 Economic globalization and the increasing involvement of corporate entities in State affairs have challenged the traditional understanding of territoriality of human rights. The powerful influence of transnational corporations 34 35 36 Vivero Pol, “Hunger for Justice in Latin America”, p. 20. Ibid. Sigrun I. Skogly, “Right to adequate food: national implementation and extraterritorial obligations”, in Max Plank Yearbook of United Nations Law, vol. 11 (2007), p. 341. 11