Food Security and the Right to Food in the Discourse of the United Nations

Abstract: The definition of food security now most commonly used, that of the 1996 World Food Summit, bears considerable resemblance to the definition of the right to food. Yet a right-to-food based approach to food security is distinct from other approaches to reducing hunger and malnutrition and complements food security considerations with dignity, rights acknowledgment, transparency, accountability, and empowerment concerns. It is based on an a priori commitment to the value of human dignity and makes the individual an agent of change in a way that enables him or her to hold governments accountable and to seek redress for violations of his or her rights. A right-to-food approach is not based on vague and replaceable policy goals subject to periodic redefinition, but on existing, comparatively specific and continuously becoming more precise obligations undertaken by governments. Therefore, the right to food cannot only be regarded as a means to achieve food security, but must be seen as a wider, more encompassing, and distinct objective in itself. Realizing the right to food should, furthermore, be part and parcel of rights-based approaches to development that aim to implement all human rights obligations which States have committed themselves to under human rights law.