scholarly journals Book review: Harsh Mander, Ashwin Parulkar and Ankita Aggarwal (Eds.), The Right to Food Debates: Social Protection for Food Security in India

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-117
Author(s):  
Anjana Thampi

Harsh Mander, Ashwin Parulkar and Ankita Aggarwal (Eds.), The Right to Food Debates: Social Protection for Food Security in India. Hyderabad: Orient BlackSwan, 2018, xiii + 455 pp., ₹1250 (hardback). ISBN: 978-93-5287-284-8.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Jacobi ◽  
Stellah Mukhovi ◽  
Aymara Llanque ◽  
Markus Giger ◽  
Adriana Bessa ◽  
...  

Abstract Food systems must become more sustainable and equitable, a transformation which requires the transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge. We present a framework of food sustainability that was co-created by academic and non-academic actors and comprises five dimensions: food security, right to food, environmental performance, poverty and inequality, and social-ecological resilience. For each dimension, an interdisciplinary research team—together with actors from different food systems—defined key indicators and empirically applied them to six case studies in Kenya and Bolivia. Food sustainability scores were analysed for the food systems as a whole, for the five dimensions, and for food system activities. We then identified the indicators with the greatest influence on sustainability scores. While all food systems displayed strengths and weaknesses, local and agroecological food systems scored comparatively highly across all dimensions. Agro-industrial food systems scored lowest in environmental performance and food security, while their resilience scores were medium to high. The lowest-scoring dimensions were right to food, poverty and inequality, with particularly low scores obtained for the indicators women’s access to land and credit, agrobiodiversity, local food traditions, social protection, and remedies for violations of the right to food. This qualifies them as key levers for policy interventions towards food sustainability.


Author(s):  
Hannah Lambie-Mumford

Chapter 3 sets out the key theories with which the book engages: food insecurity and the human right to food. Following on from a conceptualisation and definition of food insecurity, the right to food is introduced. Emphasis is placed on normative element of ‘adequacy and sustainability of food availability and access’ and on the state’s obligation to ‘respect, protect and fulfil the right to food’. Theories of ‘othering’ and ‘agency’ are employed to assess the social acceptability of emergency food systems as a means of acquiring food, and the power of providers to make sufficient food available through these systems and of potential recipients to access it. Theories of ‘care’ and ‘social protection’ are employed to explore the ways in which charitable providers are in practice taking responsibility for the duty to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food and how shifts in welfare policy are affecting need for this provision.


2017 ◽  
pp. 221-247
Author(s):  
Rajesh Chakrabarti ◽  
Kaushiki Sanyal

This chapter narrates the saga of the Right to Food Security. Briefly pointing out various prior food movements, the chapter dates the movement to 2001 in Rajasthan with a writ petition at the Supreme Court. The SC took up the issue with surprising enthusiasm issuing order after order to force the government to comply with reports and action. The government, while not antagonistic, was apathetic. Encouraged by the court orders the activists gathered under a single banner of Right to Food Campaign in 2004 and built on the campaign in court as well as on the ground. Political support finally came when the issue entered UPA’s election manifesto in 2009. Post UPA victory, the NAC submitted its draft bill in 2010 but a substantially altered bill finally got enacted in 2013. The movement reflects a combination of Punctuated Equilibrium Framework and Advocacy Coalition Framework.


Author(s):  
Elver Hilal

This chapter focuses on food security. Although ‘food security’ is not a legal concept and does not impose rights or responsibilities, it is a necessary precondition to the full enjoyment of the right to food. The right to food is enshrined in article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as an integral part of the right to an adequate standard of living. As this right is indivisible, interrelated, and interdependent with all other fundamental rights and freedoms, it is ultimately essential for a secure, safe, and harmonious world. The chapter demonstrates that severe food insecurity continues to inflict massive casualties and create and prolong conflicts and emergencies despite well-established rules of international law, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law. It then looks at the international law principles protecting food security with the aim to diffuse emergency situations that create instability, inequality, and unrest, including those resulting from conflicts and natural disasters. The chapter provides suggestions for enforcing and enhancing existing laws and for the adoption of a new international convention which will set out clear duties and obligations for States and non-State actors with a view to eliminating food insecurity and preventing violations of the right to food for a safer, more secure world.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver C. Ruppel

This article examines – from an international law perspective – the interface between soil protection, land degradation neutrality, food security, climate governance and trade in agriculture. Although these different spheres are most often viewed in isolation, an attempt is made to analyse them more holistically with the aim of identifying the connectedness for the purpose of finding some strategies for a better common future.


1970 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Ana García Juanatey

This article examines the utility of the human rights-based approach (HRBA) in tackling environmental challenges that face achievement of the right to food in coming decades. So far, such approach has been quite useful in the consideration of equity, discrimination and accountability issues. Nevertheless, the HRBA’s utility to tackle the effects of environmental degradation, natural resources depletion and climate change on food security is not that clear, as human rights law and practice has evolved in parallel with environmental concerns until recently. Therefore, this article poses the following question: is the human rights-based approach to food security sufficient to address the environmental problems and constraints that infringe directly on the right to food implementation? And, how can we integrate the needs of future generations in current human rights-based policies and deal with the tradeoffs between present and future needs? This article examines how last years’ international legal literature has portrayed the linkages between the environment and human rights, principally in relation to the right to food. Moreover, it also intends to explore possible avenues of convergence, pinpointing opportunities to connect the right to food and sustainable development in the context of the 2030 Agenda. In more concrete terms, it suggests that a greater integration between the right to food and a set of principles of sustainable development law may open new avenues for research and advocacy on the right to food.Keywords: Human Rights, Environment, Right to Food, Human Rights- Based Approach, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Law


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-871
Author(s):  
Anita Z. Rakhman

The activities of the United Nations in the 21st century, as in the earlier period, are undoubtedly devoted to protection and promotion of human rights. It promotes the realization of fundamental human rights through specialized agencies in various fields taking in account concerns and needs of vulnerable groups of population, in particular indigenous peoples. The World Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), in its turn, develops policies and implements strategies and programs to guarantee food security and the right to food to aboriginal people around the world, including in Latin America.


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