A/HRC/31/51 I. Introduction 1. Since the 1945 - UN Charter, equality between men and women has been among the most fundamental guarantees of human rights. The same principles of equality and nondiscrimination are at the core of the two Covenants, namely on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 1. Both Covenants in their respective article 3, oblige States Parties to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of their civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. 2. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) offers guidance on the State obligations to ensure gender equality and nondiscrimination in the enjoyment of all human rights. Its article 14 on Rural Women introduces concrete measures to create an enabling environment for women to enjoy equal treatment, in particular, in relation to land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes. The Convention also guarantees adequate nutrition for women during pregnancy and lactation (art. 12). The CEDAW provides good guidance on how violations of economic, social and cultural rights may be experienced by women in various social contexts and helps illustrate the need for an integrated approach when addressing women’s economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to food. 3. Notwithstanding the legal framework designed to protect them, women experience poverty and hunger at disproportionate levels. Institutionalized gender discrimination and violence still impose barriers that prevent women from enjoying their economic, social and cultural rights and specifically the right to adequate food and nutrition, and the status of women and girls has not substantially improved, despite recurrent calls for the inclusion of a gender perspective to development programs and to social policies. 4. Women account for 70% of the world’s hungry and are disproportionately affected by malnutrition and food insecurity. 2 This ratio is overwhelming in some developing and Least Developed Countries, for example, more than one third of women in several SouthAsian countries being underweight3. Poor nutrition, lack of healthcare, social protection, limited economic opportunities and general neglect has excluded more women from global society than the number of men killed in 20th century wars, combined.4 5. On the other hand, female farmers are responsible for cultivating, ploughing and harvesting more than 50% of the world’s food. 5 In sub Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, women produce up to 80% of basic foodstuffs and in Asia women constitute 50-90 percent of the labour force dedicated to rice production.6 Moreover, in many parts of the world majority of female farmers mainly engaged in subsistence farming. 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 Article 2 para 1 in respective Covenant. See (A/HRC/16/40) Study of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on discrimination in the context of the right to food, para 29 K. Von Grebmer et al. "Global Hunger Index: The Challenge of Hunger — Building Resilience to Achieve Food and Nutrition Security." Bonn: Welthungerhilfe; Washington D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute; Dublin: Concern Worldwide, (2013). FAO, http://www.fao.org/ag/agn/nutrition/bgd_en.stm A.A. Pisciotta, Sympoium: Making the case: Rule of Law in the Emerging Development Agenda : Post-2015 Development Goals for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women, 21 Sw. J. Int’l L. 303, 304 (2015). P 304 and 305. Op Cit, (A/HRC/60/40) para 29 http://www.fao.org/docrep/x0262e/x0262e16.htm 3