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Freedom from Want Advancing Human Rights Sumner B freedom from want advancing human rights sumner b. twiss, john kelsay, terry coonan, series editors Breaking Silence: The Case That Changed the Face of Human Rights richard alan white For All Peoples and All Nations: The Ecumenical Church and Human Rights john s. nurser Freedom from Want: The Human Right to Adequate Food george kent freedom from want The Human Right to Adequate Food george kent foreword by jean ziegler georgetown university press washington, d.c. Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C. © 2005 by Georgetown University Press. all rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 2005 This book is printed on acid-free, recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials and that of the Green Press Initiative. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kent, George, 1939– Freedom from want : the human right to adequate food / George Kent. p. cm. — (Advancing human rights series) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 1-58901-055-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 1-58901-056-6 (paper : alk. paper) 1. Food supply. 2. Hunger. 3. Human rights. I. Title. II. Series. hd9000.5.k376 2005 363.8—dc22 2004025023 Design and composition by Jeƒ Clark at Wilsted & Taylor Publishing Services Dedicated to the hundreds of millions of people who suƒer because of what governments do, and fail to do. Creo que el mundo es bello, que la poesía es como el pan, de todos. I believe the world is beautiful and that poetry, like bread, is for everyone. —martín espada Contents List of Tables and Figures xiii Foreword by Jean Ziegler xv Acknowledgments xvii Introduction: Taking Rights Seriously 1 part i π foundations chapter 1Food and Nutrition 7 Malnutrition 7 Causes of Malnutrition 9 Growth Measurement 12 Numbers of Malnourished People 14 Malnutrition and Mortality 15 Comparative Mortality 17 Food and Nutrition Security 21 Varieties of Government Action 23 chapter 2 The International Human Rights System 25 Historical Foundations 25 International Humanitarian Law 26 The International Bill of Human Rights 28 Children’s Rights 32 Regional Human Rights Agreements 33 Human Rights Agencies 34 United Nations Charter Bodies 37 United Nations Treaty Bodies 40 Civil Society Organizations 41 Informal Civil Society 42 chapter 3 Adequate Food Is a Human Right 45 Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights 45 Food in International Human Rights Law 47 Food in International Humanitarian Law 49 Global Declarations and Commitments 50 x General Comment 12 54 The Special Rapporteur 56 The Voluntary Guidelines 58 part ii π human rights systems chapter 4 Human Rights, Governance, and Law 63 Human Rights and Governance 63 Studying Human Rights in National Governance 66 The Role of National Law 70 Universal Human Rights and the Role of International Law 77 chapter 5 Rights and Entitlements 80 Definition 80 Moral versus Legal Rights 81 Soft versus Hard Rights 83 Rights as Goals 85 Rights Imply Entitlements 91 Determining Local Entitlements 94 Having versus Realizing Rights 96 chapter 6 Obligations and Commitments 98 Moral Responsibilities 98 When Do Governments Do Human Rights Work? 101 Levels of Government Obligation 103 Economic Rights 110 The Obligation of Good Governance 113 Obligations of Nonstate Actors 116 Questionable Charity 120 chapter 7Accountability Mechanisms 126 Varieties of Accountability 126 Justiciability 129 Remedies for Rights Holders 132 National and Local Human Rights Agencies 134 Accountability through Public Action 137 xi part iii π applications chapter 8 India 143 The Supreme Court Case 144 Starvation Is Not the Problem 145 The Missing Piece in India’s Rights System 146 The Tamil Nadu Integrated Nutrition Project 147 chapter 9 Brazil 151 chapter 10 The United States 156 chapter 11 Feeding Infants 163 Breast-Feeding Rights 164 Infants’ Human Right to Adequate Food 165 Principles 167 Women’s Right to Breast-Feed versus Infants’ Right to Be Breast-Fed 170 chapter 12 Feeding Infants of hiv-Positive Mothers 173 O~cial Guidance on hiv/aids and Infant Feeding 173 Issues 174 A Court Case 180 Informed Choice 182 Principles 185 chapter 13 Water 187 The Household Water Problem 187 Water Rights Are Diƒerent 189 General Comment 15 191 chapter 14 Trade 193 Issues 193 The Human Right to Adequate Food in Relation to Trade 196 Reconciling Diƒerent Frameworks 197 Food Sovereignty 199 xii chapter 15 Refugees 201 Issues in Refugee Nutrition 201 Explanations and Justifications for Uneven Services 202 The Human Right to Adequate Food 205 The Adequacy Question 206 Specifying the Obligations 209 Limiting the Obligations 211 The Work Ahead 212 chapter 16 International Humanitarian Assistance 214 Issues 214 Rights to Assistance 217 The Provider’s Motivation 218 Implementation 219 chapter 17 Global Human Rights 221 Global Rights and Global Obligations 221 Global Accountability 224 Strategic Planning 225 Sources 233 References 237 Index 257 Tables and Figures Tables 1.1 Factors Contributing to Mortality, 1990 18 1.2 Estimated Number of Deaths of Children under Five Years of Age, 1960–2003 19 1.3 Deaths Attributable to Malnutrition, 1990 20 2.1 Seven Major Treaties and Treaty Bodies 30 5.1 Rights/Obligations and Entitlements/Commitments 91 12.1 Mother-to-Child Transmission Rates of hiv 178 14.1 Direction of Food Trade by Value, 1999 194 Figures 1.1 Causes of Malnutrition 9 1.2 Contribution of Various Risk Factors to Deaths in 1990 16 2.1 Human Rights Bodies in the United Nations 36 4.1 Mechanical Governor 64 6.1 Rings of Responsibility 100 Foreword We live in a world that is richer than ever before in history, yet 840 million peo- ple still suƒer from hunger every day. There is already enough food in the world to feed the global population twice over, yet every seven seconds, a child dies from hunger or malnutrition-related diseases. This daily massacre of hunger is not a question of fate; it is the result of human decisions. Hunger, malnutrition, and chronic poverty still exist, not only in poor countries but also in some of the rich- est countries in the world. The divide between rich and poor, North and South, is growing every day. Yet, this could all be changed with political will and real action. The right to adequate food is a human right for all people everywhere. The right to adequate food is laid out in the most important human rights document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the International Cove- nant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The right to food reflects Presi- dent Franklin Roosevelt’s declaration that “freedom from want” was one of the four fundamental freedoms that informed our original understanding of uni- versal human rights. George Kent’s new book outlines the advances being made in our under- standing of the right to adequate food. He explains and defines the right and ap- peals for an urgent recognition that the right to food is a human right. He shows how hunger and poverty are not simple, technical problems that can be addressed by raising agricultural production. Hunger and poverty are instead deeply polit- ical problems, rooted in the fact that many people do not have access to food be- cause they do not have adequate control over local resources or decent opportu- nities to engage in meaningful, productive work. Kent argues that we must adopt a human rights approach to empower the world’s poorest and to ensure the ac- countability of governments and other actors for their promises to eradicate hunger. Human rights are primarily about human dignity. Kent explains that the right to adequate food is not about charity: It is the right to be able to feed yourself in dignity. Hunger will never be solved by charity or by food aid. It must be solved by creating the conditions in which all human beings can live a decent life, pro- viding for themselves. The human right to adequate food is a practical goal, as well as a moral and legal obligation. It is not simply a theoretical or aspirational ideal. Understanding the right to food as a human right recognizes the impera- tive obligation to act. It requires all governments to work progressively toward the full eradication of hunger. If they fail to make progress, they can—and should— be held accountable by the people. The right to food is not merely a normative standard. Kent clarifies the need to establish specific institutional arrangements that will ensure accountability for the realization of human rights. xv xvi foreword Many governments still resist the idea of accountability in the fight against hunger. Many make endless promises to eradicate hunger, yet resist the idea of the justiciability of the right to food. Kent shows that a number of governments still resist the very concept of human rights as including economic, social, and cultural rights, such as the human right to adequate food. He argues, for exam- ple, that the resistance of the government of the United States results from a sys- tematic and sustained misunderstanding of the meaning of the right to adequate food. He also moves the human rights debate forward by challenging the view that human rights obligations stop at each country’s borders. He argues that gov- ernments must recognize their human rights obligations not only to their own people but also to the citizens of other countries. In a globalized world of inter- dependent countries and in the common fight against hunger, the right to ade- quate food entails responsibilities and obligations of all of us to all of us. Kent’s important book is a part of a growing movement to construct a strong and coherent understanding of the right to food.
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