OMCT contribution to the Report of the Special Rapportuer on the Right to Food: A human rights framework for world food and nutrition security

Paragraph 11: Policy at National Level Access to food for those who are food insecure and most vulnerable. Food shortage and denied access to food for the most vulnerable derive, to a large extent, from uneven distribution systems along with agricultural policies that favour large landholders to the detriment of small farmers. When natural resource scarcity is accompanied by unequal resource distribution, the first victims of food shortage are the poorest and most vulnerable. Such a situation inevitably stimulates competition over limited natural resources and generates food-related tensions.

Paragraph 14: Ensuring access to food as a matter of right rather than a matter of policy. Ensuring access to food, as a matter of right and not of policy, necessarily requires a legal framework that ensures access to land, since land represents the prime source of food. However, land frequently constitutes an object of dispute between those who consider it as a business resource and those who need it as a source of daily subsistence. Consequently, access to food should be protected as a matter of right by agrarian systems that ensure equitable land distribution.

Paragraph 26: Human right approach of the right to food In order to adequately address the issue of access to food from a human rights perspective, it should be understood that food insecurity frequently is both a cause and an effect of conflict and tensions. Therefore, addressing the food crisis issue and reducing the risk of food-related tensions will entails a wide-ranging strategy that ensures an equitable distribution of resources in order to break the vicious circle of social inequality, food insecurity, hunger and violence.

Paragraph 33: Mistaking means for ends A strong human rights approach to access to food must uphold human rights standards throughout the entire food-production process. This necessarily includes ensuring appropriate working conditions, adequate pay and the right to form and join trade unions. This also requires ensuring protecting to women and children from all forms of violence and exploitation in the sphere of production. These principles must not, under any circumstances, be jeopardised by a drive to increase food production or increase profit margins.