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THE HUMAN RIGHTS

APPROACH TO REDUCING

MALNUTRITION

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THE CONCEPT

• Every individual should be adequately nourished.

• Every individual has a right to be adequately nourished.

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OUTLINE1. The Human Rights Context

2. Malnutrition

3. Causes of Malnutrition

4. Food and Nutrition in International Law

5. International Standards

6. Objective 7.4 of the World Food Summit

7. Advocacy

8. National Framework Legislation

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1. THE HUMAN RIGHTS 1. THE HUMAN RIGHTS CONTEXTCONTEXT

• Human rights are those rights that are universal, enjoyed by all persons by virtue of their being human.

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Human Rights Law

• International human rights law can be understood as a project of articulating universally accepted standards of governance with regard to the protection and promotion of human dignity.

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MAJOR RIGHTS DOCUMENTS

• Magna Carta, 1215

• U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1776

• U.S. Bill of Rights, 1787

• French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, 1789

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MAJOR HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTS

• Charter of the United Nations, 1945

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966/1976

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966/1976

• Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989/1990

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Rights Systems

• Rights-holders and their rights

• Duty-bearers and their obligations

• Agents of accountability and their procedures for assuring that duty bearers meet their obligations to the rights holders

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LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT OBLIGATION

• Respect - government must not interfere with access to adequate food

• Protect - government must prevent others from interfering

• Fulfill (facilitate) - must establish enabling conditions so people can provide for themselves

• Fulfill (provide) - government must feed directly

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Accountability

• What can be done to make sure that government officials do what they are supposed to do?

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Accountability of National Governments

• To United Nations bodies

• To other governments

• To specific agencies of government (e.g., legislative auditor, ombudsmen, national human rights commission

• To mass media

• To general public

• To the rights holders - What are the remedies available to rights holders themselves?

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2. MALNUTRITION2. MALNUTRITION• 200 million malnourished children

• 1 billion adults seriously underweight

• Maternal anemia…>80% in some countries

• Infections, cancer, heart disease, obesity…

• Half of the 12 million children’s deaths each year are associated with malnutrition (“Silent Holocaust”)

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3. CAUSES OF 3. CAUSES OF MALNUTRITIONMALNUTRITION

• Immediate causes (clinical level)

• Underlying causes (household level)

• Basic causes (societal level)

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Availability vs. Access

• Availability -- is there food nearby?

• Access -- can you get it?

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Failure of entitlements

• “What we can eat depends on what food we are able to acquire . . . . If a group of people fail to establish their entitlement over an adequate amount of food, they have to go hungry (Drèze and Sen, 1989)

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Bases for entitlement

• Ownership

• Labor

• Money

• Inheritance

• Gift

• Human rights

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4. FOOD AND NUTRITION RIGHTS 4. FOOD AND NUTRITION RIGHTS IN INTERNATIONAL LAWIN INTERNATIONAL LAW

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948): “…everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food … (Article 25)”

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International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976)

• The States Parties recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing, and housing (Article 11).

• Recognizes “…the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger . . . ”

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Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990)

• States Parties “…recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health …”

• “…shall take appropriate measures to combat disease and malnutrition . . . through provision of adequate nutritious foods… (Article 24)”

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5. INTERNATIONAL 5. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDSSTANDARDS

• 1963 - Special Assembly on Man’s Right to Freedom from Hunger

• 1974 - Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition

• 1981 - International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes

• 1984 - World Food Assembly

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More International Standards

• 1990 - Innocenti Declaration on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding

• 1990 - World Summit for Children

• 1992 - International Conference on Nutrition

• 1996 - World Food Summit

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6. OBJECTIVE 7.4 OF THE 6. OBJECTIVE 7.4 OF THE WORLD FOOD SUMMITWORLD FOOD SUMMIT

Objective 7.4 of concluding Plan of Action of the World Food Summit of 1996 called upon “…the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in consultation with [others], to better define the rights related to food in Article 11 of the Covenant . . .”

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Objective 7.4 initiatives• April 1997 - Resolution from Commission on HR• December 1997 - CESCR Day of Discussion• December 1997 - First Expert Consultation• January 1998 - HCHR report• November 1998 - Second Expert Consultation• April 1999 - ACC/SCN symposium• May 1999 - CESCR General Comment• June 1999 - Eide’s updated study

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CESCR General Comment’s definition

“The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement. “

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7. ADVOCACY7. ADVOCACY

• 1984 - Books: Food as a Human Right and The Right to Food

• 1992 - IPRA initiative, Oslo initiative, convergence at ICN, Rome

• 1994 - WANAHR launching

• 1996 - Special Food Policy; link with WABA

• 1997 - Special International Journal of Children’s Rights

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UN’s Administrative Committee on Coordination/Subcommittee on Nutrition

• 1994 - First meeting of Working Group on Nutrition, Ethics, and Human Rights, in NY

• 1998 - SCN meeting in Oslo agreed that SCN symposium in 1999 would focus on HR

• 1999 - SCN meeting in Geneva, hosted by HCHR Robinson; also addressed by Brundtland of WHO. (Report at www.unsystem.org/accscn)

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8. NATIONAL FRAMEWORK 8. NATIONAL FRAMEWORK LEGISLATIONLEGISLATION

• National workshops in Mexico, Guatemala, Nigeria, Ghana

• Case studies on Brazil, South Africa

• Article in IJCR on national law

• FAO support for framework legislation

• Third Expert Consultation

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SPECIAL TOPICS• Nutrition Rights in Specific Places

• Nutrition Rights in Specific Programs– (TINP, WIC, Food Stamps)

• Nutrition Rights of Refugees

• Nutrition Rights in Complex Emergencies

• Nutrition Rights of Infants

• HIV/AIDS (Eugene court case)

• Human Right to Water

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To follow up . . .(1) The Human Rights Approach To Reducing Malnutrition

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kent/hrapproach.doc

(2) A Gendered Perspective on Nutrition Rights

http:/www2.hawaii.edu/~kent/gendered.pdf

(3) Tutorial on Nutrition Rights

http:/www2.hawaii.edu/~kent/tutorial2000/titlepage.htm

(4) May 2000-Nutrition Rights course at Peace and Development Centre, Geneva

(5) Fall 2000: Political Science 320; Political Science 675c

(6) kent@hawaii.edu

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The Question of Strategy:

How can we assure that the human right to food and nutrition

is realized by all people?

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A GENDERED PERSPECTIVEON NUTRITION RIGHTS

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Women have special vulnerabilities AND special

capacities. Give more attention to their capacities!!

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WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION…54.6 % !!

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Nutrition status for children is strongly related to the overall

status of women.

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Probably the best way to assure the realization of the human right to adequate food and nutrition for

all people is to assure the realization of all human rights for

all women.

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• Nutrition Education as an Instrument of Empowerment

• The teachers as well as the learners should be empowered.

• Women need to gain status by being more fully educated and by participating more fully in social life.

• Women care more about nutrition.

• Conclusion: Women should play an increasingly strong role in designing, managing, and implementing nutrition programs.

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Women should play larger roles in the design and implementation of nutrition programs because:

• they are likely to produce better results AND

• because women have a human right to full participation in their societies’ development.

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CONTRACTING OUT

• Government-sponsored nutrition programs, like other kinds of programs, can be managed on the basis of contracting out. Private contractors bid for the job. Their compensation depends on their successful completion of the job.

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Women-centeredNutrition-rights approach toContracting out toReducing malnutrition

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• Manage the national nutrition program through a contract process.

• Establish clear, jointly determined objectives, based on nutrition rights.

• Invite leading women’s organizations to design and manage the program, making full use of subcontracting.

• Involve women at all levels.

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