Chapter of the book “New Challenges to the Right to Food”, edited by Miguel Angel Martin and Jose Luis Vivero (2011).CEHAP, Cordoba and Huygens Editorial, Barcelona
The public conscience that, in furthering the principles of humanity, the nations of the world must jointly and individually do everything possible to bring to a rapid end the vast but needless suffering and premature death now being caused by acute and chronic hunger and other forms of malnutrition. Eating enough and adequate food and being free from hunger are fundamental human rights, directly linked to the right to life. The recognition that the global food system is deeply interconnected in that the actions of one country or group of countries can impact on the capacity of people living in other countries to access adequate food and also affect the planet’s future ability to meet humanity’s food needs. The recognised need to motivate and engage governments and institutions responsible for all the various dimensions of food security and nutrition in the joint development and implementation of common strategies.
4. Elements of a Convention on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition In fields other than food security, especially in relation to the conduct of war and the protection of the environment46, international conventions and protocols have been used as instruments within which genuinely interested nations can come together to commit themselves in an explicit and binding manner to work jointly towards the attainment of agreed global goals. These agreements are normally reflected in national legislation designed to enable each signatory nation to fulfil its commitment on a sustainable and predictable basis until the goal is achieved. The Geneva Convention that sets out the rules on the conduct of war is the best known. However, more recently in the weapons area, there has been successful experience towards the banning of anti-personnel mines. In the environmental area, amongst the most outstanding conventions and protocols are those that relate to maintaining biological diversity, the banning of ozone-depleting substances, and reduction in the release of green-house gases. The only specific agreement in the food security area is the already expired Food Aid Convention (FAC), a post-WWII agreement between food aid supplying countries to guarantee an agreed minimum amount of food assistance each year47. Recipient countries were not included in this convention. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) - that includes recognition of the right to food - has many of the characteristics of an international convention. It does not, however, include time-bound goals or any provision for funding commitments that can be monitored. As already noted, the approval of an Operational Protocol, creating a mechanism for handling complaints of violations, will, however, greatly strengthen the effectiveness of the ICESCR. The history of the processes leading to the approval of recent conventions and protocols shows that: The process itself raises the level of public knowledge of the issues being addressed; Related campaigning, especially when led by NGOs and faith-based groups, can be successful in increasing the extent to which citizens demand action by their governments, especially to end obvious injustices; This, in turn, induces governments to participate in the negotiation process and to raise the level of their commitments, often before the convention is formally approved; Citizen engagement also contributes to effective monitoring and helps ensure that governments are held accountable for fulfilment of their commitments and goals;
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Amongst the best known are the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Ottawa Convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and on their destruction, the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. 47 Currently a number of international NGOs are pressing for a revision of the FAC, including the transfer of its secretariat from the London-based International Grains Council to a UN agency. The FAC could easily be covered by a Protocol to the proposed Convention.
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