A/HRC/16/40 41. Although the problem is by no means new,50 it has become dramatically worse since the explosion of world market prices for staple foods in recent years, in particular for rice, maize and wheat, as well as the economic downturn. Reduced food ratios or the risk of halting food programmes altogether in camps already affected by malnutrition and a lack of alternatives is the grim reality for refugees and internally displaced persons in States such as Chad and the Central African Republic.51 42. In recent decades, millions of people have crossed international borders and tried to reach developed countries to escape pervasive hunger, especially people living in subSaharan Africa.52 Most people fleeing from hunger are refused entry and protection in other countries because they do not qualify as refugees in the traditional and legal sense. Most are detained and held in processing or detention centres before being forcibly repatriated to their own countries. 43. Refugees from hunger are, however, not migrants. They do not move voluntarily, but out of a state of necessity.53 When famine strikes a whole country or region (such as the 2005 famine in the Sahel zone of sub-Saharan Africa), individuals have no other choice but to flee across international borders. Hunger is an immediate threat to their lives and those of their families. These persons should therefore be protected and have the right to temporary non-refoulment. The need to strengthen protection for people forced to leave their homes and land because of hunger was recognized by the General Assembly in its resolution 62/164 on the right to food. G. Other vulnerable groups 44. Hunger and malnutrition are largely explained by unequal power relations that systematically disadvantage minorities. “From the beginning of time, in the history of humankind, minorities (political, ethnic or religious) have always been the first to suffer from hunger, in the same way that all populations, victims of a status considered inferior, find themselves placed on the bottom rung of the social ladder.”54 45. Indigenous people face exclusion and discrimination, which have an impact on their right to food. In Guatemala, for instance, progress in lowering chronic malnutrition rates for indigenous children has been slower than for non-indigenous children. Between 1987 and 2002, the rate for non-indigenous children decreased by 13 per cent, compared to just 2 per cent for indigenous children. It was the predominately indigenous regions of the north and north-west that experienced a deterioration in the situation from 1999 onwards.55 46. The right to food of indigenous people often depends directly on their access to and control over their lands and other natural resources in their territories. Of great relevance in this context is the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and 50 51 52 53 54 55 See A/HRC/4/30 and A/HRC/7/5. See Newstime Africa, “WFP suffers funding shortfall”, 1 August 2009 (available from www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/1377); UN News Centre, “Lack of funds may force UN agency to cut food aid”, 24 August 2010 (available from www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35699); and IRIN News, “WFP raises concern over food shortage at refugee camps” (available from www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?reportid=32621) (accessed 10 February 2011). A/HRC/7/5. A/62/289. Sylvie Brunel, La faim dans le monde ; comprendre pour agir (Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1999), p. 11. Center for Economic and Social Rights, fact sheet No. 3 (Guatemala), available from www.cesr.org/downloads/Guatemala%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf. 13