GUIDE TO ADVOCACY FOR THE RIGHT TO

THE RIGHT TO FOOD

PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE Authors: José María Medina and María Teresa de Febrer Edition co-ordination: Prosalus Design and layout: estudio blg Publication Date: December 2011 English version: Translation and layout financed by ACF International

This material has been produced with the co-financiation of the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para With the co-financiation of: Publicity partners: el Desarollo (AECID - the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development). The ideas contained herein are not to be taken as opinions of the AECID. www.derechoalimentacion.org

English version, translation and layout by:

PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE INTRODUCTION

The “Derecho a la alimentación. Urgent” (“The Right to Food - Urgent”) awareness The Legal Sphere includes the principal international instruments involved in the campaign was born in 2003, promoted by various development NGOs who, starting Right to Food; the issue of the legal demand to the right; the inconsistencies in natio- from of their own experience in cooperation with different countries in the Food and nal legislation to guarantee the Right to Food and/or of and the protec- Security Sector, wanted to further the topic in the fields of awareness and tion of the Right to Food at a regional level. political advocacy with the focus on human . With this proposal, the organiza- tions currently promoting the campaign – Acción contra el Hambre , Ayuda en Acción, Regarding the Political Sphere, the guide makes a brief review of public policy Cáritas, Ongawa and Prosalus – launched the Guide to Advocacy for the Right to Food regarding the Right to Food and/or Food Security; and national and regional strategies with the conviction that advocacy is an activity that development NGOs should not set on Food Security, with emphasis on the approach to the Right to Food. Additionally aside and one that should be permanently on our agendas if we truly want to achieve there are observations on the indicators associated with the Right to Food. the necessary change so that each and every person’s are recognized. Discussed in the Social Sphere section are: Food Security networks, resources and The aim of the guide is to ease the task of advocacy in subjects related to the right complaints that can be submitted when the Right is breached, the importance of to food in the legal, political and social spheres for all those, individually or collectively, communication in advocacy campaigns and some examples of awareness campaigns. who work towards the achievement of the recognition of the human right to food in all countries - recognition which these days needs asserting in the face of the shocking The Guide is published both in paper and electronic formats offering the possibility and unjustifiable figures. of establishing an open space for the consultation of different sources via links provided indicated by . Likewise, the Guide can be viewed and downloaded from The first chapters of the guide will analyze the concept of advocacy, and the the campaign website*. differences between pressure groups and lobbying will be noted. The serious situation of millions of people suffering from hunger in the world today, and the causes and The Guide to Advocacy for the Right to Food is the result of the joint effort by the proposals of the campaign to alleviate so much human suffering are highlighted. A following development NGOs: Ayuda en Acción, Cáritas, Ongawa and Prosalus that series of terms related to food security/sovereignty, nutrition and so forth, will be are promoting the “Right to Food. Urgent” awareness campaign; together with defined. The next chapters will analyze the different spheres for carrying out advocacy different organizations in Nicaragua, Peru and Bolivia, with financiation by the Agencia tasks: the legal, political and social - introducing possible advocacy activities with links Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarollo (AECID - the Spanish Agency for furthering them. of International Cooperation for Development).

* http://www.derechoalimentacion.org/webkwderecho/materiales/materiales.asp

PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE Local organizations in the countries which MANAGUA LIMA LA PAZ appear on the following list participated in Ayuda en Acción: Henry Zambrana ADIAR: Martín Mori, Rosa Janeth Acción Contra El Hambre: Mª Jimena seminars in order to obtain their opinions on y Marisa Fuentes Moreno Lozano y Augusto Arturo Peroni Galli the Guide - to make changes, broaden Cáritas: Ignacio Bodán, Daysi Rivera Hurtado ACLO: Edgar Ance, Deysi Oropeza y concepts… The experience of joint effort in y Jorge Padilla ARARIWA: Soraida Condori Grover Solano Managua, Lima and la Paz was of great Centro Humbolt: Julio Héctor Asociación KALLPA: Mª del Pilar Villegas AIPE: Aquiles Dávalos interest and highlighted the need to join forces Sánchez Gutiérrez y Emily Morante AYNISUYU: Juan Carlos Sejas in the area of advocacy, specifically in the Right CIEETS: Rosa Mª Matamoros, Carlos Ayuda en Acción: Mabel Herrera Ayuda en Acción: Víctor Hugo Ledezma to Food, so that it is recognized, respected and Aguirre, Maryan Guzmán CAM: Mª Luisa Aliaga guaranteed by States, while strengthening y Jairo Arce Capítulo Boliviano Derechos Humanos: Cáritas: Carlos Villanueva y Ruth Víctor Vacaflores social networks. Comité de Acción Global: Clemente Anastacio Martínez Cáritas Bolivia: Carmelo Crespo Centro Ideas: Fernando Alvarado de la The Organizations that promote the CECASEM: Wilfredo Valle y Patricia Coop. Multisectorial Malacatoya: Fuente campaign for the Right to Food wish to thank Jobaina Jaime Bustamante COEECI - ASPEM: María Esther Zevallos all those who took part in the seminars, both Fundación La Iluminación: Karina CIPCA: Lorenzo Solís, Corina Miranda y speakers and participants, for their Sujey Meléndez ESCAES: Delicia Coronado, Mª del Shirley Rasguido Carmen Parrado, Milagros del Pilar all-important contribution in the completion of Comité Cívico pro La Paz: Norberto GISSAN: Manuel Salvador Díaz Pingus y Yoany Llatas Requejo this Guide. Medina y Breddy Zeledón Guachalla FAO - Perú: Mirtha Correa GISSAN/ADAR: Ligia Espinosa Coordinadora de la Mujer de Bolivia: IDIPS: Yuri Hidalgo Mara Flores GPAE: Lourdes García KAUSAY: Enrique Pumacahua IPDRS: Carmen Beatriz Ruiz Intermón Oxfam: Silvio Minier Medicus Mundi Navarra: Fernando IPTK: José Cazas y Iván Ramiro Arancibia Ongawa: Sonia Wheelock Carbone, Marcela Velásquez Ronceros y OTC - Bolivia: Mercedes Alonso y La Cuculmeca: Harmhel Dalla Torre Virna Valdivia Ainhoa Cabezón Lideconi GISSAN: Brenda Ayerdis Mesa de Concertación para la Lucha PASOS: Alberto Carrasco PROSALUS José Mª Medina contra la Pobreza: Fernando Arnillas y Hugo Brousset PROSALUS: José Mª Medina, María y Mª Teresa de Febrer González López y Mª Teresa de Febrer SIMAS: Martín Cuadra PROSALUS: José Mª Medina, Ángela Gago, Beatriz Llorente y Mª Teresa de Salud y Desarrollo: Óscar Lanza SOYNICA: Ruth López y Febrer SEMTA: Gumerzindo Benavidez Mª Gabriela Martínez TOURO: Andrea Hernández, Lindsey Gerdes y Cliff Hoffman Veterinarios sin Fronteras: Carine Verdier YUNTA: José Argandoña

PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS

1.1 HUNGER 8 Hunger Today 10 Associated concepts

1.2 THE RIGHT TO FOOD 12 Definition 14 Constituent Elements 16 Obligations on States

1.3. ADVOCACY 18 Concept 22 Objectives 22 Demands 23 Requirements 1 24 Advocacy Plan

PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 1.1 HUNGER HUNGER TODAY

Since the World Food Summit in 1996 - when the international community committed In order to eradicate hunger, not just any increase in the availability of food is enough, itself to halve the numbers of the malnourished by 2015 - the hunger situation, far nor is the established agricultural, fishing, and livestock production model valid, as the from improving, has done nothing but worsen. The number of starving people in 2010 main problem is not in production - although important - but in distribution and was far higher than that predicted by the FAO in 1996. access.

The most alarming increase has been since the Food Price Crisis in 2008 and the To fight against hunger, perhaps the best formula is not to encourage production economic crisis, with numbers surpassing a thousand million undernourished people, destined for market but domestic production in order to highlight the diet of rural of which 98% are in developing countries and 65% are in just seven countries: India, , as approximately 75% of the hungry are peasants. Likewise it is essential to the democratic Republic of the Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia. focus on small-scale agricultural and livestock farmers, traditional fishermen, women This at a time when there is enough food being produced for all humanity. and other vulnerable groups in order for them to have the necessary resources to produce food. It is not about the proposal of total and absolute self-sufficiency What causes have led to the current situation? (autonomy), but to at least minimize the excessive food dependency on international commerce that generates vulnerability in the poorest populations. It is important that Temporary causes aside - such as the loss of harvests, inflation and food price the local ability to at least produce basic food products should exist (“eat first, sell speculation - the structural causes point to: later”). Sustainable rural development must be encouraged to revise the social role of small-scale domestic production and place it within a national and international t The consequences of the deregulation of agricultural and non-agricultural economic framework. commodities markets. CAUSES OF THE FOOD CRISIS

t The effects produced by the increase in oil prices and the drastic shift away from TEMPORARY Adverse climate conditions Financial speculation food and agricultural production sectors in developing countries. Bad harvests Depreciation of the dollar Increase in oil prices and impact on grain markets t The inequality between supply and demand driven by changes in diet in big emerging countries. SUPPLY DEMAND Climate change Population increase Desertification Changes in dietary patterns in emerging t The burden of measures imposed by international financial institutions. Ground-water depletion countries Decline in harvest yields The deregulation of food commodities markets t The existing imbalance in the international food market. Land grabbing Boom in Agricultural production sector abandonment bio-fuels t The global effects of climate change in Food Security. Decrease in investment in International Food Market imbalance Inactivity of agricultural land STRUCTURAL

Source: Especulación financiera y crisis alimentaria (Financial Speculation and Food Crisis) Campaign for the Right to Food. Urgent. 2011

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 1.1 HUNGER ASSOCIATED CONCEPTS

HUNGER UNDERNUTRITION FOOD SECURITY Is the result of a lack of nutritional quality of A broad term referring to low levels of food Food security exists when all people at all food consumed, low absorption and/or the intake or , often chronic. times have physical, social and economic deficient biological use of consumed According to the FAO “The concept of hunger access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food nutrients. Types: is commonly used for situations of serious that meets their dietary needs and preferen- Acute Undernutrition: weight/height ratio. food deprivation as well as for different forms ces for and active and healthy life. In the case of being 20% under average, it is of undernutrition, including a shortfall in termed Moderate. When 30% under average access to sufficient food or in essential it is termed Severe Acute Undernutrition. components of nutritionally necessary food Chronic Undernutrition: Delay in growth, making an impact on the normal physical or the height/age ratio. FOOD INSECURITY mental capacity of the person, or group of Global Undernutrition: Low weight in people… Over an extended period, hunger is The situation of a population group that, relation to height. likely to lead to malnutrition and is usually the whether in chronic or temporary form, has an insufficient diet due to the impossibility of consequence of extreme food insecurity”. UNDERNOURISHMENT purchasing food either because of lack of Undernourishment occurs when calorific supply in local markets, for the lack of purcha- intake provides less than minimum energy sing or producing power, or both. Food insecu- requirements. Such needs are made up of the rity can be chronic, seasonal or temporary. HIDDEN HUNGER estimated amount of calories required to undertake moderate activities and to maintain A lack of micronutrients, essentially minerals a minimum accepted weight in relation to and vitamins. The most prevalent deficiencies height and this varies according to country, are iron, iodine, and vitamin A. It is known as gender and age of the population. It is difficult According to the Manifesto approved by the hidden as there are no visible signs in mild to specify an exact energy intake, however the Forum of Civil Society organizations which and moderate cases, and people with these OMS has established an estimated energy took place in Sélingué (Mali) in 2007, Food deficiencies are unaware of having them. intake of 2000 to 2500 kilocalories per day for Sovereignty is “the right of peoples, countries an adult male, and between 1500 to 2000 for and unions of States to define their own food women. and agriculture policies without the interven- tion of third countries, as well as the right of MALNUTRITION people to healthy and culturally appropriate A relatively prolonged process of socio- food, produced through ecologically sound The abnormal physiological state owing to the economic crisis consisting in the progressive and sustainable methods”. Food Sovereignty lack, excess or imbalance of energy, proteins impoverishment of the most vulnerable places priority on local agricultural production or other nutrients. According to the FAO, “the groups and the deterioration of their systems with the aim of feeding people and facilitate immediate causes are those that are directly of livelihood with a massive increase of farmers’ access to water, land, seeds and related with to food intake and the ability of hunger. The process also involves population credit. displacement, the spread of epidemics, the the body to adequately use these food items. disintegration of communities, and in the Underlying causes are related to the availabili- worst cases, an increase in population morta- ty of food, health and care practices both at lity rate. the community or household level.” 11

PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 1.2 THE RIGHT TO FOOD DEFINITION

The right to food is the right to have regular, permanent and free access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantita- THE RIGHT TO FOOD tively and qualitatively adequate and suffi- cient food corresponding to the cultural tradi- tions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensures a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life free of fear. (UN Special Rappor- teur on the Right to Food).

Jean Ziegler, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2000-2008

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 1.2 THE RIGHT TO FOOD CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS

FREE FROM ADVERSE SUBSTANCES SUFFICIENCY ADEQUACY SUSTAINABLITY

Sufficient food is that which has a In order to fulfill the Right to Food, The possibility of access to food Food should be free from combination of nutritional available food or diets should be by present and future genera- harmful substances for which a products to satisfy human physio- suitable for social, economic, tions. range of protective measures logical needs (physical and mental cultural, climatic, and ecological should be established by both growth, development, sustenance, conditions and other prevailing public and private means to physical activity) in all stages of the conditions determined by place prevent contamination of life cycle, according to gender and and time. foodstuffs though adulteration occupation. and/or through bad environmen- tal hygiene or inappropriate handling at different stages though the food chain.

AVAILABILITY ECONOMIC ACCESSIBILITY RESPECT FOR CULTURE PHYSICAL ACCESSIBILITY

Food must be acceptable to a The possibility to feed oneself, Implies that adequate food must Implies that personal or house- Culture or to specific consumers, either directly by use of productive be accessible to everyone at all hold financial costs associated thus, where possible, non land and other natural sources of times and in all circumstances. with the acquisition of food for nutrient-based values associated food, or via well-functioning and adequate diet should be at a with food and food consumption distribution, processing and level such that the attainment should be taken into account, as market systems which can move and fulfillment of other basic well as informed consumer food from the site of production to needs are not threatened or concerns regarding the nature of where it is needed according to compromised. available food. demand.

Source: General Comment 12, United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 1.2 THE RIGHT TO FOOD OBLIGATIONS ON STATES

THE OBLIGATION TO PROTECT THE OBLIGATION TO FULFILL THE OBLIGATION TO RESPECT THE OBLIGATION TO FACILITATE

Requires States parties not to take Requires measures by the State to Means that the State must States have this obligation any measures that result in ensure that neither companies nor pro-actively engage in activities whenever an individual or group is preventing access to adequate private individuals deprive indivi- intended to strengthen people’s unable, for reasons beyond their food. duals of their access to adequate access to and utilization of control, to enjoy the right to food. resources and means to ensure adequate food by means at their their livelihood, including food disposal. This obligation also security. applies for persons who are victims of natural or other disasters.

Source: General Comment 12, United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights sets t The immediate prohibition by States of discrimination in the access to food out two types of Obligations for States: obligation through progressive for reason of race, colour, language, age, religion, political or other realization and obligation of immediate effect. opinion. Non-discrimination does not mean, however, the identical treatment of all people, as States are obliged to recognize certain differen- PROGRESSIVE OBLIGATIONS ces and specific needs in certain groups, in particular those most excluded as taken from Article 2.1 of the ICESCR “Each State Party to the present or those with special dietary needs such as: children, pregnant or breastfee- Covenant undertakes to take steps (…) with a view to achieving progressi- ding women, the aged, disabled or sick. vely the full realization of the rights recognized in the present Covenant by t States are obliged to take measures to ensure the fulfillment of the right to all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative food, such as collecting relevant data to evaluate the state of progress of measures”. the right to food; to formulate strategies and plans with sets of indicators, aims and time-frames to evaluate progress of the right to food; to adopt The Office of the High Commissioner recognizes that States may have laws and policies for the realization of the right and to revise those which limited resources to fully comply with obligations related to the right to affect it negatively; to establish appropriate mechanisms to take procee- food. In such cases, States must devise a specific plan for achieving the full dings when there is a violation of the right to food. realization of the right to food and do everything possible to respect, t States cannot institute regressive measures to impair the existing standard protect and guarantee it. of progress of the right to food. t States should protect the minimum essential standards of the right to food, OBLIGATIONS OF IMMEDIATE EFFECT standards established in the ICESCR. The High Commission has set out four categories of obligations based on the ICESCR:

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 1.3 ADVOCACY CONCEPT

Generally, when we speak of advocacy we equate it to a type of reaction against Since the 80’s, many organizations have carried out advocacy actions directed injustice as in, for example, influencing the process of decision-making that will towards governments, international bodies, private companies and other agen- affect a collective. In one of its definitions, the Royal Spanish Academy describes it cies. In the area of civil society, when referring to advocacy we mean a series of as “influence or repercussion”, referring to an action that can have influence or actions with an aim to influence in political, social and economic power when have repercussion on another action or process. In this particular case, we should decisions are being made, and when referring to political advocacy we mean a set take it as an attempt to involve citizens in public life and act for the common of strategic actions to influence the political agenda and achieve change for a good. Therefore, advocacy is a way of strengthening in community. Influencing the political agenda means that specific issues become decision-making beyond mere demands or demonstrations, for which an active priorities of public authorities and that such authorities should include them the and proactive population is needed. Many definitions of advocacy are linked with process of decision making, a process in which we call for involvement so that political advocacy, which is intended to influence, or have repercussions on, the appropriate political decisions are taken and change is brought about. political system by means of people with the power of political decision to make change.

“... What is political advocacy for? Political advocacy, in its most compre- hensive vision of development, is a process to promote social change, giving traditionally excluded people, such as women and the poor, the possibility to have their voices heard and to express their concerns and decisions. Seen as a long-term process that is strengthened by popular involve- ment, Political advocacy in its turn reinforces the building of democracy, in that it makes the making of decisions a matter of public interest of an inclusive nature, where the people affected by these decisions become lead players in their own change. It is also a complement to the tasks of civil society organizations that promo- te the participation of the population in the taking of political decisions, based on their factual knowledge, its analysis and input on possible solutions.”...

Fortaleciendo nuestra ciudadanía. Manual para la incidencia política. Colectivo Mujer y Salud. (Strengthening our citizenry. Manual for Political Advocacy. Woman and Health Collective) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2005.1 Image from the “Pobreza Cero” (Zero Poverty) Campaign. Coordinadora de ONG de Desarollo 1.El hilo de Ariadna. Manual de incidencia política para organizaciones de mujeres. (Ariadne’s Thread. (Coordinating Committee Manual for Political Advocacy for Women’s organizations.) Paloma Jimena Medina. Campaña Muévete of Development NGOs), Spain por la igualdad. Es de justicia (Campaign - «Move for Equality. It’s about justice») 2009.

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 1.3 ADVOCACY CONCEPT

WHY ADVOCATE? TYPES OF POLITICAL ADVOCACY: t To influence the political agenda. That is, to that manage to get our LOBBYING issue of interest and aim of the advocacy work to become part of the Etymologically “lobbying” comes from the English “lobby” meaning passa- priorities in the public, political and social agenda. In this sense, it means geway, entrance hall, antechamber or anteroom. The term makes reference to highlight our cause and gain the attention of the authorities, political to the time when representatives of private interests went to meet with players and the public in general. British delegates to put forth of their concerns or petitions. The origin of the term therefore can be found in England with subsequent development in t To take part in decision-making. We wish to form part of the process by the United States, where it quickly became institutionalized via a specific which the political decisions that affect or can affect the issues or rule that regulates the manner, mechanisms and procedures for economic groups for and with which we work. pressure groups to intervene in public policy. The word “cabildeo” is synonymous with the English word “lobbying” in Spanish. t To promote legislative change and public policy that mean improve- Lobbying is a political activity consisting in intervening directly or indirectly ments for a community, a specific group or society as a whole. to influence the making, implementation or interpretation of legislative measures, rules, regulations, and in general, all action or decision taken by WHEN ADVOCATE? public authorities. t In the absence of a legal framework or public policy that responds or There are five keystones making up the meaning of lobbying (Cifra, 1998): regulates a given issue. 1. A management strategy by businesses, pressure groups or political groups. t When commitments, legislation or existing policies are breached. 2. Its aim is to influence determined regulations or activities of public authorities. t When rules or existing policies are insufficient, inadequate or negative. 3. The strategy is conveyed by actions of communication, information, or any other type of relations with public authorities. Source: Curso incidencia política y cooperación para el desarrollo. 4. It is carried out without the restriction of freedom of choice and by (Political advocacy course and cooperation for development) Yolanda Román and Eva Suárez-Llanos. Madrid, 2011. legitimate means, without bringing to bear pressure of an ambiguous nature on those who make policy decisions. 5. Those who carry out the strategy can be members of the pressure groups themselves, or act via third parties, professional lobbyists. In Latin America the term “cabildeo” (lobbying) is used, which is taken as “an instrument for political advocacy consisting of informing and conveying private Source: Plataforma Latinoamericana de Gestión de Conocimientos para el Desarrollo Rural (ASOCAM) (Latin American Platform for Knowledge Management for Rural Development) www.asocam.org opinions to the representatives of public authorities”.2

2. www.corecaf.org

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 1.3 ADVOCACY OBJETIVES3 1.3 ADVOCACY REQUIREMENTS

t Information. To know what is going on in the world, in our community, in our To widen the social base of support and/or bring about solidarity with town to act accordingly. a group, cause or issue. t Investigation. To always look for the causes of events, the why’s and conse- quences. To help a movement widen its reach. t Social Base. One must always look for “more” people for a cause; generating public support is required. t Relationships, strengthening alliances, working in groups. One must To support the resolution of a specific technical problem. always maintain relationships with different entities, both public and private. t Communication. One must make advocacy activities, the association, networks…visible. To change the balance of power in favour of the weakest groups or collectives. In the process of advocacy, all stages are important and necessary – from planning 3.El hilo de Ariadna. Manual de incidencia política para organizaciones de mujeres. to the evaluation of results, with negotiation a key element for the information it (Ariadne’s Thread. Advocacy Manual for Women’s Organizations.) provides and knowledge it generates in different areas, which contribute to enrich dialogue between parties. Negotiation should be clear, that is, one must know 1.3 ADVOCACY DEMANDS clearly what is and is not negotiable.

t Relevance and importance of the question that should be feasible and motiva- ting. t Credibility of the organization promoting the advocacy. t Long-term commitment. That which has lasted years cannot be changed in a short space of time. t Precise definition of the objective or objectives, and clearly established aims. The starting point, needs and possibilities must be carefully analyzed. It is not possible to do everything at the same time. It is useful to have measurable goals and objectives. t Appropriate content selection. Accuracy and quality of information, analysis and proposals. Demonstration by the “Pobreza Cero” (Zero t Priority at different levels. Our chances depend on the definition of goals. Poverty) Campaign. t Different strategic approaches to achieve the final aim. Once our strengths and Coordinadora de ONG de our given time frame to accomplish objectives are analyzed, the choice must Desarollo España (Coordinating Committee be made of what, how, and with whom to act. of Development NGOs), Spain

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 1.3 ADVOCACY ADVOCACY PLAN

To carry out the process, an advocacy plan and strategy are needed. The Advocacy Plan is used to lead the action, concentrate appropriate strengths to avoid disper- sal, and make the most advantage of available resources. Advocacy strategy is a FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ADVOCACY PROCESS IT IS ADVISABLE TO: set of actions leading to the same end and can be used in different spheres, such t Keep being persistent throughout the whole process. as the political, economic, social or communication spheres. Alberto Mora t Operate with creative and open ideas throughout the whole process. Portuguez4 puts forward the following steps to draw up an advocacy plan: t Build the success of the advocacy based on small victories, sharing achie- vements, learning from failure and focusing on the objective. 1. Definition of the problem. The problem is analyzed on the basis of causing t Strengthen ties and work in coalitions which increase the possibility of factors. Once the factors are analyzed, the most important is chosen to consti- success of the advocacy. tute the objective/issue. t Dedicate time and resources in the planning stage to maximize the 2. Definition of the Proposed Solution. Once the objective/issue is chosen, effective use of limited resources. the proposal that makes up the basis of the advocacy work is prepared. t Establish the objective and specific goals to increase the chances of success. 3. Analysis of the Decision and Power base. The person, people, institutions t Persuade and negotiate in order to carry out advocacy strategies. or organizations responsible for decision making are identified and those t Evaluate resources and abilities (strengths and limitations) of the organi- towards whom the advocacy objective are directed. zation to accept compromise and be able to carry out specific advocacy work. 4. Self-analysis of the Organization to evaluate the Advocacy Plan. This Source: Guía para elaborar planes de incidencia (Guide to Develop Advocacy Plans) involves the evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the organization MBA. Alberto Mora Portuguez, ACI-Américas itself in relation to achieving the proposal.

5. Definition of influence strategies, that is, how to influence the people and organizations with decision-making power. To this end, appropriate visits are Advocacy can be understood starting from two compatible approaches: social made to key players and, concurrently, media contacts are set up. mobilization (process) and results (changes effected). When we talk about social mobilization we refer to a process whereby the members of a community become 6. Definition of the actions to be carried out to develop strategies determi- aware of a problem, identify it as a priority, and look for ways to act. Often, social ned in the previous step by the division of tasks, establishing of time frames, mobilization becomes simplified and is reduced to the simple generation of events economic resources, and people responsible to carry out, coordinate and with a social impact: “Mobilization is a process which, starting from the everyday, follow these up. seeks to influence ways of thinking, deciding, acting and imagining a project of a society which guarantees the participation of different social sectors. The key to 7. Evaluation of the process of change achieved, what strategies have this process is the underlying sense that guides it, the definition of its objectives, worked and which have not; positive and negative experiences. If the evalua- the choice of players to drive the mobilization and the extension of the action in tion occurs in the final step, it should evolve on an ongoing basis throughout different spheres”5. the whole process.

5. Abogacía en medios y movilización social. (Advocacy in the media and social mobilization.) UNICEF 4. Guía para elaborar planes de incidencia (Guide to Develop Advocacy Plans) 24 25

PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 1.3 ADVOCACY ADVOCACY PLAN

One can’t speak of advocacy if there are no results, changes, whether desirable or undesirable. It is from there that the responsibility of those who implement advo- cacy strategies comes. The manner of achieving the result is important as, if it is WHAT ARE “CABILDEO”, LOBBY, ADVOCACY? gained via participative processes, there will be complementary results such as an They are all synonymous with POLITICAL ADVOCACY awareness of the right to food, the empowerment of society, the formation or the emergence of social leadership. The Dictionary of the Real Academia Española (Spanish Royal Academy) has long included one of the above: “cabildear”. It is defined as “to ably manage an activity in order to convince within At the same time it is important to consider the place of the “advocated to”, that a corporation”. It alludes to an ancient democratic institution in Spanish tradition: the “cabildo”. is, to take into account all the strategy from a different perspective that will lead This has been defined simply as “representatives chosen by the people” - this is understood as us to consider the challenges existing in public policy. The profile of the player being a group of residents. There was even a case of the King being unable to revoke a decision with whom we wish to advocate is useful for constructing our discourse, prepa- made by the “cabildos” - thus the importance of knowing how to advocate. ring a range of arguments and counter-arguments, considering possible objec- The term “lobby” comes from the English tradition. It derives from the entrance area to public tions (“how can we get our way by them thinking it is their idea?”). We should buildings, parliament in particular. One English dictionary gives the following meaning: “each of the corridors of the chambers of parliament to which the members each go to vote”. From there be very aware that confrontation is not the right path to carry out advocacy action. we get the word being identified with the act of trying to influence politicians into voting one way or another. As can be seen, the idea of “influencing” is central. What is clear from both terms “cabildear” and lobby is the how and why of this activity. Regar- ding lobbying, Peru passed Law number 28024 in 2003 which regulates the management of 1 interests in the sphere of public administration to ensure transparency in public decisions, which Know what are understood as making of policy or complementary decisions of economic, social or political to change significance, of individual or collective character or which affect interests in different sectors of society. This rule is not being adhered to, meaning that people presenting themselves as 5 2 “lobbyists”, are in actual fact fostering a web of corruption. Follow up Identify The term “abogacía” in Spanish as a translation of the English word “advocacy” has begun to and targets, allies, be used. This is linked to the activity of advocating, publicly defending a person or cause in legal evaluate tactics… terms. Related to the above terms, “advocacy” adds the idea of public action. Moreover, in North ADVOCACY American society, the term was adopted by groups taking on the defence of causes of women STRATEGY and excluded ethnic groups. Unlike the previous terms “cabildeo”, lobby and advocacy, political advocacy is the public mobili- zation of social players, not of individuals, to influence those who develop, pass or implement public policy. Advocacy is not limited to the defence of certain groups under existing legislation, but also 4 3 includes initiatives in favour of new policy, going beyond action before courts of justice. In Implement Develop addition, political advocacy uses many and varied means. action plan action plan Source: Guía de cabildeo con perspectiva de derechos o de incidencia en políticas públicas. (Advocacy Guide from a Perspective of Rights or Advocacy in Public Policy) Escuela Campesina de Educación y Salud (ESCAES) (Farmers School of Education and Health) 2011 Source: Curso de incidencia política para el desarrollo (Course on Political Advocacy for Development) Coordinadora de ONG de Desarrollo - España. (Coordinating Committee of Development NGOs), Spain

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE DIFFERENT SPHERES FOR ADVOCACY

2.1 LEGAL SPHERE 30 The principal international instruments recognizing the Right to Food. 50 The issue of legal exigibility in the Right to Food. 54 National legislation on the Right to Food and/or Food Security. 58 Protection of the Right to Food at regional level.

2.2 POLITICAL SPHERE 62 Public policy on the Right to Food and/or State, Regional or Local Food Security. 72 National and Local Strategies on Food Security. 80 Indicators relating to the Right to Food

2.3 SOCIAL SPHERE 84 Food Safety Nets. 86 Reports and Resources. 2 88 Advocacy and Communication. 90 Awareness and Advocacy Campaigns.

PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

International Rights encompass many regulations referring to the Right to Food as t First generation rights are civil and political (freedoms) and have been claimed a Human Right, some of binding nature, that is legally mandatory, and others since at least the 18th century. A person could claim that their rights (of non-binding which are Declarations. Both establish a set of international standards thought, expression, belief, , of association) be respec- of the Right to Food. ted from whoever, be they person or state. t Second generation rights began to be claimed at the end of the 19th century. In the case of the legally mandatory regulations, the binding instruments, States These are social, economic and cultural rights which, unlike the first genera- are under obligation to comply or otherwise answer to the international commu- tion rights which merely required a determined society not to interfere with nity for failure to comply. the rights of each individual, demanded significant economic means to guarantee them and therefore could only be met gradually according to the moment in history and ability of each State (the rights to education, health, food, housing, work). t Third generation rights are those not pertaining to the individual human person, but to a collective: communities, towns, Humanity (the right to deve- The principal international instruments lopment, a healthy environment, peace, cultural identity, self-determination).

recognizing the Right to Food The Right to Food is one of the second-generation rights, or economic, social and cultural rights, the generic clause of which is included in article 22 of the Universal THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Declaration of Human Rights and specifically illustrated in article 25.

In December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations approved the Article 22: “Everyone, as a member of society, has the and Universal Declaration of Human Rights, fruit of a long process through many is entitled to realization, through national effort and international cooperation centuries where, little by little, legal thought came nearer to the definition of the and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the rights that should be given, by the mere fact of being, to every human. economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his and the free development of his personality”. The Rights enshrined in the Declaration are understood as arising from human nature itself, and that they therefore precede and exceed any positive legislation Article 25: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health (though for the right to claim and enforceable before courts of justice, they must and well-being of himself and of his , including food, clothing, housing be guaranteed by law). The Rights are also understood to be Universal, Inviolable and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the and Inalienable. event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstan ces beyond his control”. Legal thought has identified three generations of Human Rights:

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL After being included in the above Covenant, in 1966 the Right to Food was also RIGHTS incorporated into the ICESCR; in paragraph 1 of article 11, States recognize “the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, In itself, the Universal Declaration is only of ethical value, therefore signatory coun- including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improve- tries decided to develop agreements of a binding nature for all the States that ment of living conditions”. In paragraph 2 of the same article, States recognize signed them. In 1966, two Covenants were approved by the United Nations Gene- that other measures may be necessary to guarantee “the fundamental right of ral Assembly: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and everyone to be free from hunger”. The States Parties shall take, individually and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). In through international cooperation the measures, including specific programmes, order to come into force, they needed to be ratified by at least 35 member states, which are needed to: which didn’t happen until 1976. t To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by There are substantial differences between the two Covenants. The signatories of making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating the ICCPR committed themselves to immediate implementation, after the knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming establishment of means so that anyone considering that any of their rights had agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development been violated could lodge an appeal before competent bodies of the State. and utilization of natural resources. However the safeguard of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights requires signifi- cant economic resources, which means the commitment by the more than 150 t Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting States which have ratified the ICESCR, is only to progressively achieve the full countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation realization of these rights. to need.

Article 2.1 of the ICESCR states that States Parties commit to adopt necessary means to progressively achieve the full realization of the rights, both individually POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 1 and through international assistance and cooperation, to the full extent of all resources at their disposal: “Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes Check whether the State in which your to take steps, individually and through international assistance and cooperation, organization carries out its activities has especially economic and technical, to the maximum of its available resources, with ratified the ICESCR. You can find a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights recognized in the up-to-date information on the United present Covenant by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of Nations website. legislative measures”.

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

GENERAL COMMENT NUMBER 12

POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 2 In May 1999, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the body in charge of overseeing the implementation of the ICESCR, approved General Com- If your State has not ratified the ICESCR, ment (GC) number 12 in relation to the right to adequate diet in answer to the your organization could promote a request made by member States during the World Food Summit of 1996 that campaign with other civil society definitions relating to food mentioned in article 11 of the Covenant should be organizations to petition relevant improved. politicians in charge (government, In GC 12 basic premises of the Right to Food are set out, as seen in paragraph 4. parliament, etc.) to ratify the Covenant. It should be added that included among these premises are, whether implicitly or explicitly, the pillars of Food Security – availability, accessibility, stability and use.

At the same time GC 12 sets out the obligations on States regarding the Right to Food, as commented in point 4, obligations that have a national dimension, that is for citizens, and an extraterritorial one. POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 3 Paragraph 36: “States parties should recognize the essential role of international If your state has ratified the ICESCR, periodically cooperation and comply with their commitment to take joint and separate action (every four or five years) it is under obligation to to achieve the full realization of the right to adequate food. In implementing this present reports to the United Nations on advances in commitment, States parties should take steps to respect the enjoyment of the guarantees of the Rights within the Covenant. Your right to food in other countries, to protect that right, to facilitate access to food organization can follow up on these reports, verify that and to provide the necessary aid when required. States parties should, in interna- they are being presented on time and in the proper tional agreements whenever relevant, ensure that the right to adequate food is manner and take an interest as to its contents. In given due attention and consider the development of further international legal many countries, civil society organizations carry instruments to that end”. out – concurrently – their own parallel reports (“shadow reports”) and send them to the United Nations to act as a contrast to the official information given by the government. To consult some of these

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

GC 12 also refers to violations of the Right to Food. On this point, it states that INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS these can be caused by actions taken either directly by States, as by other institu- tions. The Right to Food is understood as being violated when a State, despite As well as these fundamental instruments, the right to food is recognized in a having the capacity, fails to ensure the satisfaction, or at the very least, the number of international conventions that create obligations on States: minimum essential level required to be free from hunger, though it is important to distinguish situations where there is unwillingness of a State to comply with their t The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against obligations with respect to this right from those where resource constraints make Women. it impossible to provide access to food for those who are unable by themselves to secure such access, in which case the State has to demonstrate that every effort t The Convention on the Rights of the Child. has been made to use all the resources at its disposal in an effort to satisfy those minimum obligations (GC 12, paragraph 17). t The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. The violation of the Right to Food is also understood as being any discrimination in access to food, as well as to means and entitlements for its procurement, on the t The Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention. grounds of race, sex, colour, age, religion, language, political or other opinion, …(GC 12, paragraph 18). t The Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court.

GC 12 sets out that any person or group of people victims of a violation of the t Regional instruments such as the African Charter on Human Rights, the Char- Right to Food are entitled to adequate reparation, which may take the form of ter of the Organization of American States, or the Protocol of San Salvador. restitution, compensation, satisfaction or guarantees of non-repetition. For this, they must have access to appropriate remedies at both national and international levels. From this we can deduce the importance of the incorporation of internatio- nal instruments recognizing the Right to Food, or recognition of their applicability in the domestic legal order.

Signatory States have the responsibility of the implementation of the International Covenants of Human Rights, both civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural; however in GC 12, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights places joint responsibility for the realization of the right to food on other sectors of society – individuals, families, local communities, civil society organiza- tions and the private business sector.

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

DECLARATIONS IN CONFERENCES AND INTERNATIONAL SUMMITS

POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 4 Several declarations also recognize the right to food, the most relevant being:

Check whether the State in which your organization carries out its activities has The First World Food Conference. 1974 ratified the international instruments above. The First World Food Conference, held in Rome, approved the Universal Declara- For instruments on an international level, tion on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition, which proclaimed that: “Every you can find up to date information on the man, woman and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and United Nations website . For regional malnutrition in order to develop fully and maintain their physical and mental facul- instruments, look for information in the ties. Society today already possesses sufficient resources, organizational ability and relevant field. technology and hence the competence to achieve this objective. Accordingly, the eradication of hunger is a common objective of all the countries of the internatio- nal community, especially of the developed countries and others in a position to help”.

The Declaration also says that Governments have the responsibility to work together “for higher food production and a more equitable and efficient distribu- POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 5 tion of food between countries and within countries”. Furthermore, priority must be given to the attack “on chronic malnutrition and deficiency diseases among the Your organization can analyze what vulnerable and lower income groups”. In essence “ as it is the common responsibi- obligations related to the right to food are lity of the entire international community to ensure the availability at all times of found in each State-ratified treaty, covenant, adequate world supplies of basic food-stuffs by way of appropriate reserves, or international or regional instrument. From including emergency reserves, all countries should co-operate in the establishment this analysis, specific appeals against of an effective system of world food security”. violations can be made in writing to government officials, questions in parliament, public denunciation campaigns, etc. World Food Summit. 1996

Called by the FAO in 1996, it approved the Rome Declaration on World Food Security, in which participants committed themselves to apply, monitor and follow up the Plan of Action in cooperation with the international community, with the purpose of reducing the number of people with malnutrition by half by 2015. To this end, the five following objectives were defined:

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

1. Adopt measures within each country’s national framework to improve food security and allow the fulfillment of the commitments made in the World Food POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 7 Summit Plan of Action. In the case that your country did make the 2. Improve international cooperation and mobilize and optimize available resour- commitment, your organization could ces, to support national efforts with the aim of achieving sustainable world follow up on advances made in the last food security as soon as possible. years. You can consult databases on country food security for this on the FAO 3. Actively monitor the implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of y Action. website.

4. Clarify the content of the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, as stated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other relevant international and regional instruments, paying particular attention to the implementation and full and progressive realization of this right as means of achieving food security for everyone. Millennium Summit. 2000

5. Share the responsibilities for the achievement of food security for everyone, in Referred to as the Millennium Summit, organized by the United Nations in order that the implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action is September of the year 2000, 189 heads of State and government signed the carried out at the most basic possible level to best achieve its objective. Millennium Declaration in which they committed to reach eight objectives (the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs) to raise levels of global development. MDGs should be reached by 2015. Each goal has a general definition and specific targets. POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 6 MDG 1 sets out to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. There are two targets: The countries participating in the World Target 1: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose Food Summit of 1996 took on the commit- income is less than one dollar a day. ment to reduce the number of hungry people by half by 2015. Check whether Target 2: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer your country was one of those who signed from hunger. the Rome Declaration on World Food Security.

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

VOLUNTARY DIRECTIVES It is not likely that MDG 1 be achieved by 2015. According to the latest report by the FAO on the state of agriculture6, “a food price crisis followed by the financial Voluntary Directives for the progressive realization of the right to food in the crisis and global economic recession pushed the number of the hungry and under- context of national food security are a crucial tool for the monitoring of the right nourished people in the world to unprecedented levels…this has underscored the to food and very useful for advocacy7. importance of appropriate safety nets and social programmes to protect the food-insecure”. At the conclusion of World Food Summit: Five Years Later, convened by the FAO in June of 2002, there was a reassertion of the right of everyone to have access to Others of note: healthy and nutritious food and a reaffirmation of the pledge to reduce the number of the starving by half by 2015. The final declaration of the Summit Declaration on the . 1986 included the suggestion by the FAO to establish an inter-governmental working Beijing World Conference on Women. 1995 group with the task of developing a set of voluntary directives to support the member States of the FAO working towards the progressive realization of the fight It is as well to highlight the existence of important documents when considering to food in the context of national food security. The process of development of the the fulfillment/violation of the right to food: Voluntary Directives, reports by the voluntary directives brought about the first governmental negotiation relating to United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and the Optional Protocol one of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights carried out outside the United to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Nations System of Human Rights.

Voluntary directives are a practical instrument based on human rights without binding legal obligations for States or international organizations. They were adopted by the member States of the FAO in 2004. POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 8 The aim of the directives is to propose specific measures in different fields and If your country has not advanced adequa- create favourable long-term conditions to guarantee national food security. The tely towards the commitment made in the directives take on legal and institutional aspects, good public administration, Rome Declaration, your organization can national strategy, issues linked to the economy and functioning of markets, nutrition, food policy, education, social policy, emergency situations, international launch a publicity campaign against this aid - to highlight a few aspects, all related to the human right to food. non-compliance, calling on the Govern- ment to put in place specific measures to make positive advances.

6. The State of Food and Agriculture 2010-2011. Women in Agriculture. Closing the gender gap for 7. Complete text and commentary in Spanish in: http:/www.derechoalimentacion.org, under the development. FAO 2011 “materiales de campaña” (campaign materials)

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

THE RIGHT TO FOOD

During its 56th session, the UN Commission on Human Rights approved resolution POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 9 2000/10 of the 17th of April 2000 for which it decided to respond to the need to adopt a comprehensive and coordinated approach in the advancement and protection and appoint a Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food for a period of Voluntary Directives for the progressive three years. The Commission defines the mandate of the Special Rapporteur in the realization of the Right to Food assume a following terms: commitment – albeit voluntarily – by all the member States of the FAO. Check a) To promote the full realization of the right to food and the adoption of measu- y whether your country is one of the member res at the national, regional and international levels for the realization of the States of the FAO. right of everyone to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger so as to be able fully to develop and maintain their physi- cal and mental capacities. b) To examine ways and means of overcoming existing and emerging obstacles to the realization of the right to food. c) To continue mainstreaming a gender perspective in the fulfillment of the mandate. POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 10 d) To submit proposals that could help the realization of Millennium Develop- ment Goal No. 1. Your organization can do a follow-upon e) To present recommendations on possible steps with a view to achieving the advances made by your country on the progressively the full realization of the right to food. implementation of the Voluntary Direc- f) To work in close cooperation with all States, intergovernmental and tives. To find reports and documentation non-governmental organizations, the Committee on Economic, Social and for Latin America organized by country. Cultural Rights, as well as with other actors. g) To continue participating in and contributing to relevant international confe- rences and events with the aim of promoting the realization of the right to food.

Routinely, the Rapporteur issues two annual reports, one for the Human Rights Council and the other for the United Nations General Assembly, and, in country missions, examines progress in the realization of the right to food and monitors the situation of vulnerable groups, particularly those suffering discrimination.

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 11 POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 12

Reports produced by the United Nations Within the programme of activities, the Rapporteur Special Rapporteur on the right to food visits and conducts missions in different countries contain much relevant information and to analyze the situation of the right to food in each doctrine. Your organization can use them one, and issues a report on each of these visits. Occa- as training tools and to draw rationales sionally, these missions take place as a result of an for awareness-raising activities and invitation by civil society groups and organiza- advocacy. To see the reports. tions , who collaborate with the Rapporteur in the preparation and carrying out of the visits. If your organization considers that violations to the right to food are taking place in the country, you can contact the Office of the Special Rapporteur for the Right to Food to propose a mission to the country. For y contact details of the office of the Rapporteur.

The first Rapporteur, Jean Ziegler identified seven important obstacles that directly affect the realization of the right to food:

1. Problems linked to developments in world trade. 2. External-debt servicing and its impact on food security. 3. Developments in biotechnology and its influence on access and the availability Basing himself on GC 12, Jean Ziegler defined the right to food as “the right to of food and food security. have regular, permanent and free access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corres- 4. Wars and their destructive impact on food security. ponding to the cultural traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, 5. Corruption. and which ensures a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and 6. Access to land and credit. dignified life free of fear”. 7. Discrimination against women and its impact on the realization of the right to Since April 2008, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has food. been .

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL FOR ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

Adopted by consensus in 2008 by the United Nations General Assembly, this POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 13 makes it possible for people, groups or organizations to present themselves in their own name to seek justice at international level against violations to econo- Up until now, the Optional Protocol for the mic, social and cultural rights by bringing action before the Committee on Econo- ICESCR has not come into force as it mic Social and Cultural Rights at the United Nations. As yet, this has not entered requires ratification by at least 10 states. into force as ratification by at least 10 States forming part of the ICESCR. “Upon Although 39 States have signed, only five the protocol’s entry into force,” affirms Christophe Golay8 “the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will have the capacity to exercise a central have ratified it. You can check which role in protecting the right to food at the international level, recognizing the countries have signed and which have justiciability of the totality of the right to food and enabling access to justice for ratified the protocol. scores of victims who would not otherwise have access to justice at the national level”.

It would be important to be able to rely on this instrument as it would provide effective resources for individuals who feel that their economic, social or cultural rights are being violated and, at the same time, international jurisprudence regar- ding these rights could be developed, as has happened in the case of the Commit- tee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights regarding civil and political rights. POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 14

If your country is one that has signed the Protocol but not yet ratified it, your organi- zation could carry out a campaign with other civil society organizations with the ratification as the objective.

8. The Right to Food and Access to Justice: Examples at the national, regional and international levels.

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE LEGAL EXIGIBILITY

The issue of legal exigibility in the right If a right cannot be demanded, that is to say is not exigible before legal bodies, it loses its reason for being. Although the right to food encompasses different levels, to food the legal is fundamental to overcome legislation and practices contrary to the Right.

According to FIAN, the right to food will only be effective when the hungry or EXIGIBILITY malnourished or those at risk of either can demand their right directly to the This is defined by the FAO as a legal, political and social process that allows government institution responsible for protecting or promoting such right and for the enforcement of human rights. This term refers to measures and receive an adequate response to their demand. When people know that they have mechanisms of invoking rights before competent public institutions, the right to adequate food and that this right is not being implemented, they whether administrative, political or jurisdictional. Consequently, this concept should be able to identify who (which authority) has the obligation of ensuring it. includes but is not limited to justiciabilty. Among the different forms of social and political enforcement are political protests and demonstrations as well as In the past years, important advances have been made in the enforceability of other ways of political participation such as referenda, popular legislative economic, social and cultural rights. Specifically, the right to food is being included initiatives, public consultations, public hearings etc, through which people in national legislation, however the vast majority of violations of the right to food can demand and push for appropriate changes in State policies and legisla- still go unpunished. tion. Exigibility includes the right to have timely and adequate responses and The majority of national legal systems have included, in some form or other, actions by public authorities and, in the case of judicial exigibility, adequate international rules on the right to food by means of the ratification of the ICESCR redress where a violation of a recognized human right has been established. or other international instruments. Only 23 countries recognize the right to food in their respective constitutions: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Demo- JUSTICIABILITY cratic Republic of Congo, Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Kenya, The notion of justiciability generally refers to the capacity of a right to Malawi, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, the become subject to a dispute before a judicial or quasi-judicial organ and be Islamic Republic of Iran, South , Sri Lanka, Uganda and the Ukraine. enforced. Being a justiciable right means that an individual has a possibility to complain before a court or other independent authority about an alleged Legal exigibility of the right to food is not solely based on the ICESCR and the violation of his or her human right, and obtain in case the Optional Protocol to the Covenant, but also on the extensive jurisprudence of competent authority has determined that there has actually been a violation national, regional and international bodies, national and international conference of the right in question. The remedy can be in form of restitution, financial proceedings, many legal instruments, as well as the general comments by the compensation, non-repetition, or even just a declaration of a violation. The Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, and the reports by the United need to ensure justiciability is relevant when deciding the best way to give Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. effect to human right to food.

Source: Glossary on Right to Food FAO 2009

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE LEGAL EXIGIBILITY

Additionally, we can find regulations associated with the right to food in sectors such as land reform, fishing law, , and child protection to name but a few. GOALS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RIGHT TO FOOD Some lawyers, judges, and fiscal or public officials have a limited vision of the Access to justice must be considered a fundamental component in the fight right to food, which prevents the evolution of their viewpoint on a case. This against hunger based on the protection of the right to food, as stated by the FAO impedes the use of international instruments, which could lay the founda- who establishes a series of recommendations based on the Voluntary Directives: tions for favourable decisions that support the right to food. In such a way, there have been great differences between judicial systems of countries 1) States should enshrine the right to food under internal law, and, if possible, in regarding their capacity to create jurisprudence on this matter. their Constitutions. Of equal importance is the adoption of framework law on food security or the right to food that provides for the responsibility of govern- The absence of the right to food in the formative processes of a judicial ments, coordination of its ministries, the participation of civil society and most career has hindered major advances in justiciability. Therefore, one of the vulnerable groups, the objectives to be achieved, the available remedies in principal challenges is to empower social justice workers, in cooperation cases of violations of the right to food, and the role of national human rights with the judicial powers, in order to assure the coherence between judicial institutions. rulings and the right to food. The second challenge is to establish precedents and jurisprudence of human rights at both the regional and national system 2) States should provide mechanisms that offer remedies in cases of violations of levels. Finally, it is fitting to mention that initiatives for integrating and the right to food. strengthening the right to food must be reinforced within the framework of national legislation. 3) National human rights institutions have a central role in ensuring access to justice in cases of violations of the right to food. Source: Advancing the Right to Adequate Food at the National Level. Some Lessons Learned FIAN International 4) States should strive to ensure recognition of the justiciability of the right to food by judicial bodies at the national, regional and international levels.

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE NATIONAL LEGISLATION

National legislation on the Right to Food t Financial and budgetary arrangements. t Provisions on implementing legislation and compliance. and/or Food Security CG 12, reports by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food and the Voluntary According to the FAO, there are three legislative areas to take into account when Directives on the Right to Food recommend that States adopt a legal framework egislating on the right to food: Constitutional provisions, the legal framework and as the main instrument for the implementation of the right to food as it consolida- sectoral legislation. tes the capacity of legal powers to implement the right to food and paves the way for the judge to enforce legal provisions. CONSTITUTIONAL TEXTS The implementation of the right to food within framework law has its advantages. With reference to constitutional texts, the majority have, in actual fact, a chapter The FAO highlights the following: on human rights that sets out clear guidelines in policy and state legislation regar- ding human rights in general, including the right to food. Only the 23 aforemen- t Framework law can stipulate the accountability of public authorities for actions tioned countries recognize the actual human right itself in their respective consti- undertaken. tutions. The inclusion of the right to food in the constitution of a country is the most effective form of legal protection, as it means that all the legislation of a t It can provide the basis for the establishment of the institution that will take given country must adjust to constitutional provisions, and in case of conflict, the lead in the coordination of its enforcement. constitutional rules prevail. t It can define the entitlement to the minimum amount of food that persons LEGAL FRAMEWORK have and that the state is required to provide immediately.

The legal framework defines obligations of States to carry out the right to food in t It can provide a legal basis for adopting special measures needed to correct the a more precise manner than in the Constitution. The FAO defines a series of key existing inequalities within society with respect to access to food or to means provisions to be present in legal frameworks: for its procurement.

t The definition of the content of the right to food and the corresponding t It can stipulate the financial arrangements needed for its realization in practice. obligations for public authorities. t The prohibition of discrimination and special measures for vulnerable popula- SECTORAL LEGISLATION tion groups (people living in poverty in urban and rural areas, indigenous people, women, girls and boys). With reference to the right to food, sectoral legislation assumes great importance t Measures to enhance right to food implementation such as requiring a right to as many sectors are involved and can facilitate or restrict recognition of the right, food impact assessment or education and information measures. such as trade, natural resources, labour, education, social security, food safety… t An institutional setting for its management, including mechanisms for civil society participation. t Procedures and remedies for possible right to food violations.

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POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 15 FRAMEWORK LAW The term “framework law” refers to a legislative technique used to Many legislative initiatives have started from address cross-sectoral issues and facilitate a cohesive, coordinated and civil society organizations – or at least, have holistic approach to them. Insofar as it establishes a general frame for action, counted with their support and encouragement. If framework legislation does not regulate the areas it covers in detail. Instead, it lays down general principles and obligations but leaves it to implementing there is no law on food security and/nor right to legislation and competent authorities to determine specific measures to be food in your country, your organization could taken to realize such obligations, possibly within a given time limit. Such develop advocacy action to promote their drafting measures include subsidiary instruments, regulations and administrative with members of parliament. You can consult a decisions, changes in state policies and financial measures. In designing the guide on legislation on the right to food which measures required for implementation, the authorities have to act in compliance with the principles and conditions set out in the framework law. includes plenty of guidance, ideas, good prac- tices, experiences, etc Given the multi-dimensional character of the right to food, the framework law should encompass the characteristics of “framework” legislation and prevail over domestic legal order.

The place of the legal framework within the domestic legal order is of vital importance for its future interpretation and fulfillment, particularly should cut across other sectoral laws that influence the exercise of the right to food. POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 16

The principle of the primacy of the legal framework within the domestic You can consult the systemization of expe- legal order, in issues relating to food, constitutes the basis to ensure that subsidiary legislation should not only be adopted but that existing laws and riences in the process of the development of a sectoral regulations related to the availability, accessibility or adequacy of law on the right to food driven by civil food, should be interpreted and implemented, as far as possible, in accor- society. You can also consult examples of dance with the right to food. Legal provisions that are clearly incompatible legal texts in the Legislative Database on the with the right to adequate food, should be amended or repealed (for exam- Right to Food ple, restrictions on land or property inheritance rights of women).

Source: FAO

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.1 LEGAL SPHERE PROTECTION AT REGIONAL LEVEL

Protection of the Right to Food at Regional Level EXAMPLES OF REGIONAL MECHANISMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS THAT PROTECT THE RIGHT TO FOOD At regional level there are three systems for the protection of human rights: the African, Inter-American and European with the common characteristic that access In 2001, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights concluded that to justice for the violation of the right to food is achieved indirectly via the protec- Nigeria had failed to meet its obligation to respect and protect the right to food of tion of the , property or the . the Ogoni people by not preventing the destruction and contamination of food sources by oil companies as well as by the military and security forces. The Com- The African System - the right to food has been recognized in the African Charter mission stated that the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and interna- on Human and People’s Rights, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of tional law bound Nigeria to protect and improve existing food sources and to the Child, and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights ensure access to adequate food for all citizens. The Commission ordered the on the Rights of Women in Africa. Government to cease attacks on the Ogoni people, to investigate and prosecute those responsible for attacks, to provide adequate compensation to victims, to The American Continent - there are likewise three instruments: the American conduct environmental and social impact assessments for any future oil develop- Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the American Convention of Human ment, and to ensure communities likely to be affected by oil operations access to Rights and the Protocol of San Salvador (1988), the only regional treaty explicitly information and decision-making processes. enshrining the right of all people to food: in article 12 it states that “everyone has the right to adequate nutrition which guarantees the possibility of enjoying the In 2006, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights decided that the Government highest level of physical, emotional and intellectual development”. of Paraguay had violated the right to life of members of the Sawhoyamaxa indige- nous community by failing to ensure them access to their ancestral lands, which At European level there is no explicit recognition of the right to food, although the provided the natural resources directly related to their survival capacity and the European Social Charter recognizes various interdependent rights, such as the preservation of their ways of life. It was recognized that the denial of access to land right to protection against poverty and social exclusion. and the traditional means of subsistence had led the community to extreme pover- ty, including deprivation of access to a minimum of food, and thus threatened its members’ right to life. The Court ordered Paraguay to take the necessary measu- res, within three years, to guarantee the members of the community tenure over their traditional lands or, if impossible, make over alternative lands. The Court also ordered that, while the community remained landless, the State should adopt measures to deliver basic services to its members, including sufficient quantity and quality of food.

Source: Fact Sheet 34 – Human Rights. The Right to Adequate Food. Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights of the United Nations.

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EXAMPLES OF NATIONAL CASE LAW ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD

Increasing numbers of individuals and groups of individuals are immediately to 32 districts which were seriously affected by food bringing cases alleging violations of the right to food. Below are shortages. The Court observed that the Constitution guaranteed some examples of such litigation: the right to food as a fundamental right and the Government should ensure adequate food supplies for all. In India The NGO People’s Union for Civil filed a case before the In South Africa Supreme Court claiming that deaths had occurred in A group of individuals and organizations representing 5,000 drought-affected rural areas while public granaries were artisanal fishers filed a case claiming that the Government had overflowing. The Court acknowledged that preventing hunger failed to provide them fair access to fishing rights which resulted in and starvation was one of the Government’s prime responsibilities the violation of a number of basic socio-economic rights, most and failure to do so would constitute a violation of the right to live notably the right to food. In 2008, the High Court issued an order with human dignity as well as the State’s duty to raise the level of that the policy framework developed by the Government on the nutrition and the standard of living of its people under the Consti- allocation of fishing rights must accommodate the socio-economic tution. It issued a series of interim orders directing the central and rights of artisanal fishers and ensure their equitable access to State Governments to implement several existing schemes, such as marine resources, based on South Africa’s international and natio- the Famine Code of 1962, to improve the situation. nal legal obligations. The Constitution of South Africa recognizes the right to sufficient food. In Nepal In response to public interest litigation, the Supreme Court issued an interim order in 2008 directing the Government to supply food Source: Fact Sheet 34 – Human Rights. The Right to Adequate Food. Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights of the United Nations.

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State, Public, Regional or local policy t Family Grant. A programme for the transfer of income aimed towards poor families and focused on helping children get to school and on health checks. on the Right to Food and/or Food Security t National School Food Programme. Guarantees food at school for pre-school children and basic public school education.

t The National Programme for Strengthening Family-based Agriculture. Gives Public policy involves the adoption of a set of guidelines and directives that direct access to technical services and credit to smallholder farmers. the actions of a public administration - at local, departmental and national levels - in any given issue or field. Regarding the fight against hunger or the reduction of t Food purchase programme. Promotes the purchase of food from smallholder malnutrition or promotion of food security, one can find different examples of farmers for local supply to institutions in the social protection network. public policy with these aims at different levels. At national level, the “Zero Hunger” programme in Brazil and “Zero Malnutrition” programme in Bolivia are t A Cistern-building Programme for the collection and storage of rainwater for worthy of mention. At regional level the “Cuzco Child Emergency Plan” (Peru) and domestic use. the food security policy of the district of Bogotá (Colombia) stand out. At the same time, we find examples of investment into participative projects for the improve- The extraordinary achievement of Brazil in the last years is set out in a study carried ment of food security at local level. out by the FAO9: children and adolescents studying at public schools have impro- ved access to a daily ration of nutritious food; the National Programme for Family- ZERO HUNGER PROGRAMME based Agriculture is contributing to an important increase in production and income of rural family units; smallholder farmers have also benefited with food The launch of the programme by the then president Lula da Silva in January 2003, purchasing programmes by the National Supply Company; the rainwater storage was the result of his determination of ending hunger in Brazil: “a programme cisterns have benefited families affected by prolonged drought. created to combat hunger and its structural causes that perpetuate social exclu- sion”. The intention was to guarantee that all families should be able to feed The above-mentioned report makes special mention of the role of civil society themselves by their own means, eating the quantity with the necessary quality of organizations and movements in policy formulation and management, with food to maintain physical and mental health. The programme is made up of a set special advocacy for the existing inequalities in Brazilian society, particularly in the of public policies involving the federal government – all the ministries – and the distribution of land, ecological problems - deforestation of the Amazon jungle - state and municipal governments of Brazil. and risks in the use of genetically modified organisms. At the same time, it has focused special attention on the consideration of the right to food as a human Zero Hunger is a strategy that intends, with the support of the federal govern- right and the distribution of educational materials among children and youth for ment, to ensure the right to adequate food, with priority for those people who promoting a healthy diet in the face of extensive propaganda by the food and have difficulty in accessing food. This is a set of more than 30 complementary drinks industries, which have such influence on the dietary habits of the younger programmes to combat the immediate and underlying causes of hunger and food population. insecurity carried out or supported by the federal government. The main program- mes are: 9. The Zero Hunger Program: Main lessons FAO 2006

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Another outstanding aspect of the programme is the institutional strengthening of The overall purpose of the programme is directed towards the eradication of the fight against hunger and food insecurity, for example the revitalization of the infant malnutrition under the age of five, with special focus on the under-two’s, National Food Security Council (CONSEA) in which both government and civil carrying out comprehensive interventions, strengthening multi-sectoral structure society participate; the creation of a ministry permanently in charge of food securi- and operation at departmental and municipal levels, establishing transparent ty; the adoption of the National System of Food and Nutritional Security, which mechanisms of monitoring and evaluation of multi-sectoral interventions and guarantees every Brazilian an adequate diet; the enactment of a Family-based strengthening community training and participation. The specific objectives are agricultural law which recognizes its economic importance and establishes public the following: policy to facilitate access to credit, technical assistance, agricultural insurance and the marketing of products; the creation of an inter-ministerial work group to t Increase population access to health and nutrition services. Education, drinking manage Hunger Zero programmes; the establishing of a Food and Nutrition water and sanitation, strengthening social assets. Surveillance System, managed by the Ministry of Health to monitor the nutritional t Contribute to the availability, access, and use of sufficient nutritional food status of the population. to reduce malnutrition through the Strategic Plan of Food Security and Sovereignty. t Improve the dietary and eating habits and practices for children THE MULTI-SECTORAL ZERO MALNUTRITION PROGRAMME, BOLIVIA10 under the age of five, pregnant and breastfeeding women. t Contribute towards the realization of the human right to adequate food of the Malnutrition affects one in every three children under the age of five in Bolivia. To Bolivian population, encouraging intersectoral linkages and the development eradicate malnutrition, the government of Bolivia has made an institutional effort, and management of legal instruments. and as a first measure, the assembly of the National Food and Nutrition Council (CONAN) to promote the drafting and implementation of a Food and Nutrition Sovereignty and Security Law, overseen by the president of Bolivia and technically led by the Ministry of Health and Sport, and made up of the following ministries: POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 17 Presidency, Development Planning, Finance, Rural Development, Agrarian and Environment, Education and Culture, Production and Microenterprises, Water and Your organization can identify whether there Justice. is existing public policy related to the right to Through its technical committee, CONAN drafted this programme, which is food or food and nutritional security in your carried out at municipal level with the support of municipal and government area of activity, whether national, regional or departments, civil society organizations, NGOs and international cooperation local. In the affirmative case, advocacy work agencies. could consist in the monitoring of the imple- mentation of these policies and the issue of recommendations for their improvement. 10. More information on other security policies and food sovereignty in Bolivia can be found at: http://www.ifsn.info

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COMMENTARIES ON THE «ZERO MALNUTRITION» PROGRAMME

As health activists and advocates for the free exercise of the right in Bolivia as “chispitas nutricionales” (“nutritional sprinkles”). If these to food, we make the effort for these programmes to have a focus on are a valid and creative proposition to encourage access and provide social justice and human rights, feeling great anticipation and hope in micronutrients to infants between the ages of six and 24 months, the achievements of the Malnutrition Zero Programme in Bolivia and these interventions should be backed up by a strong component of supporting it to the extent of our abilities, though with some reserva- information, education and community training in health, encouraging tion regarding the definition of priorities, where, we believe, a genuine the selection of nutritional food so that the population identifies and greater support of early and exclusive maternal breastfeeding, natural sources of with high micronutrient content and thereby continued breastfeeding together with complementary food and the avoid “strengthening the dependence on technological supply” by application of the Code for infant survival. Also worrying is the prioriti- pharmaceutical laboratories and the patent-owners of the cited zation of “technological intervention” over public health-oriented “sprinkles” who see the expansion of the market for their products. systems, with the risk of creating a sustained demand for fortified foods for complementary nutrition, promoting the use of specific It’s true that these sachets have ease of use and can be added to products, widening greater access to these products for the poor in any children’s food, particularly baby purees when eaten, as a supple- their diet. We take that there is a risk that this policy could become a ment. A daily sachet taken over 60 days is enough to satisfy require- real threat against the achievements of good policies like “Zero Malnu- ments for a year. However, operational evidence shows that these trition” and breakthroughs after years of effort in Bolivia by the move- “nutritional sprinkles” are not being used by some families due to ment for the protection of the right to food and the protection of insufficient guidance, representing a major investment by the National breastfeeding. Health System, which could be better used for health education programmes which encourage a suitable selection of natural foods, We trust that the Malnutrition Zero Programme will result in actual source of these micronutrients. implementation responsive to the public interest, combining not only the supply of micronutrients in individual sachets of, tasteless, dry Dr. Oscar Lanza V. (MD, MPH) powder that include iron, zinc, Vitamins A and C and Folic Acid in HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT (Bolivia) sufficient doses to prevent and treat nutritional anaemia, better known Professor of Public Health – Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz – Bolivia

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CUZCO CHILD EMERGENCY PLAN

In 2004 the government of Peru approved the Food Security Strategy, which The evaluation of the PEI was positive, and in the face of the need to develop a recognizes the right to food and the responsibility of the Sate in the creation of regional strategy of food safety, once the Regional Council of Food Safety opportunities so that such right is recognized for the whole population. This (CORSA) was formed, the regional government approved the Regional Strategy of strategy has not been fully implemented and the need has arisen for establishing Food Safety with the aim of preventing and reducing the factors causing food sectoral policies and drafting regional food safety strategies with regional consul- insecurity in the population and specific projects were developed to be carried out tation bodies on food security. in Cuzco.

In Cuzco, once the Report on the State of Peruvian Children was published, it was seen that the indicators related to infant malnutrition, maternal mortality and neonatal mortality were extremely worrying, so the regional government of Cuzco POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 18 called for various social partners to analyze the indicators and act upon the findings. The result was the development of the Child Emergency Plan 2004-2006 There may be an existing civil society partici- (PEI) for the region of Cuzco, framed within medium and long term regional pative body related to the implementation of strategic plans. these policies. Your organization could consi- The overall purpose of the PEI was to help the maternal and child population of der participation as means of influencing the the region to attain a healthy existence reducing the indices of chronic infant correct implementation of these policies malnutrition, maternal mortality and neonatal mortality by carrying out regional together with other civil society organizations. and local policies with multi-sectoral associations and with considerable citizen participation.

The specific objectives of the PEI were the following: POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 19 t To develop food security efforts though existing agricultural experience favouring families and the infant population in particular. In the case that no public policy of this kind t Strengthen the monitoring system and oversee growth and early development in infancy from gestation to the third year of life. exists, it would be important for your organi- t Strengthen the programme of safe maternity, care of the new-born and timely zation to identify which public administra- registration of live births tions are able to put it into action with the t Promote and contribute to the use of an efficient monitoring system and objective of directing advocacy work towards evaluation of the PEI. them. t Strengthen and promote participation mechanisms and multi-agency and multi-sectoral links.

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THE EU FOOD SAFETY POLICY

Is based on principles established in the year 2000 and then updated, applied with POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 20 the global focus on “from the farm to the fork”. The principles are the following: t Transparency. Policies that could have a negative impact on t Analysis and risk prevention. food safety are as important as those aiming t Protection of Consumers’ interests. towards it. Some civil society organizations t Free circulation of safe products. and networks monitor and draw up reports on t Quality both in the domestic market as trade with third countries. those public policies which might be contrary The EU Food Safety Strategy has three fundamental features: to the right to food, for example those relating t Regulation on food safety of food and animal feed. to biofuels, energy, mining, climate change, t Scientific assessment on which to base decisions. etc. t Implementation of the regulations and verification of compliance.

Added to the general regulations on food and animal feed are specific provisions respecting the particular protection of the consumer: the use of pesticides, food additives, colourants, anti-biotics or hormones.

Among other bodies, the European Food Safety Authority is in charge of guaran- teeing food safety in the European Union. POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 21

In March 2010, the European Commission approved a communication to the Council and European Parliament COM (2010) 127 entitled “An EU policy One area in politics that can be useful to do framework to assist developing countries in addressing food security challenges”. advocacy work in is in gender policy and Its overall objective is to provide a common political framework for the European access to land, as there are many countries in Union in the fight against hunger and malnutrition to contribute to the achieve- which women are discriminated against. To ment of the first Millennium Goal, specifically, goal 2. The approach given by the consult reports on specific countries and on EU considers the following aspects: the legal framework with regards to women’s t Organizing the fight against hunger with the focus on the right to food. t Supporting smallholder farmers. rights. t Giving priority to countries in the worst situations. t Highlighting the importance of achieving food safety. t Highlighting the need of having policy coherence within the EU.

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National and Regional Strategies on food security: inclusion of the POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 22 focus on the right to food. To go into depth into the content of food and nutritional security strategies, various reports The FAO suggests that all States, particularly those threatened by food insecurity, can be studied. To consult the database on should put in place a national strategy for the realization of the right to food, national food security strategies adopting appropriate institutional mechanisms in order to:

t Identify, at the earliest possible stage, emerging threats to the right to food, through appropriate monitoring systems.

t Evaluate the impact of legal or political initiatives on the right to food.

t Improve coordination between the different relevant ministries connected to the right to food. t Development and implementation based on the principles of responsibility, transparency and participation. t Improve accountability, with a clear allocation of responsibilities, and the t Identification of policy measures and activities based on the right to food setting of precise time frames for the realization of the dimensions of the right related to the obligations of States. to food which require progressive implementation. t Pay special attention to discrimination in the access to food and the needs of marginalized groups; for this, it is necessary make a systematic analysis of t Ensure the adequate participation, particularly, of the most food-insecure separate data on food insecurity, vulnerability and nutritional state of different segments of the population. population groups. t Consider all aspects of the (production, processing, distribution, According to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the exercise of the right marketing, consumption), as well as other areas such as health, water and to food requires the adoption of a national strategy to guarantee food and sanitation, education, labour, social security and access to information. nutrition security, based on human rights and with the following criteria: t Determine responsibilities and time frames for implementation. t Define institutional mechanisms, including coordination between ministries, and regional and local authorities. t Establish the necessary resources for the efficient fulfillment of objectives. t Determine the necessary means to guarantee that activities by non-State actors are in accordance with the right to food.

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In 2008, the High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis proposed the In 2010, the High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis undertook a creation of the Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA)11 with the aim that programme of updating the CFA, with consultations with the relevant bodies of agencies and programmes of the United Nations address this crisis together. This the United Nations, Governments and civil society organizations and networks. is an initiative with relevant targets, such as: The Voluntary Directives for the progressive realization of the right to food in the t Identify who is hungry and who is not, at national food security level (average context of national food security propose specific measures in different areas to available calories per person per day), and family food security (specific create long-term favourable conditions and guarantee national food security. situation of every community in a vulnerable situation), and investigate condi- Included in these measures, are guidelines to develop national strategies on food tions creating vulnerability in people and/or communities who’s food security security that adopt the approach of the human right to food. These guidelines has worsened due to the crisis or is in serious risk of doing so. concern the definition of strategies and their content.

Furthermore, the CFA speaks of food and nutrition security, that is to say, it With reference to the process of the definition of strategy: focuses in a specific way on food security that implies going beyond access to food and to be also concerned with living conditions, access to water and t A national strategy for the fight against hunger from a human rights approach sanitation, health services, a healthy environment. (directive 3.1) must begin with an evaluation of current legislation, policy and administrative means as well as projects currently in progress. Identify existing t A multi-sectoral approach going beyond the area of agriculture and taking limitations and available resources for the development of the strategy. Deve- into account marketing, climate change, investment in agricultural products, lop an action programme (3.2) with objectives, goals, time-frames, people lack of social protection or the biofuels at the root of the World Food Crisis. responsible, the coordination of actors and monitoring system. For all this, the participation of civil society is required. t To work concurrently on the required short-term measures to respond to the immediate consequences of the food crisis and medium- and long-term to lay t Regarding the characteristics of the strategies, the directives state that they the foundations of sustainable food security, for which the causes of food must be transparent, general, wide, and give special attention to women and insecurity must be addressed. girls, combining short- and long-term objectives, developed and implemented with the obligation of accountability (3.9). t Focus on the human right to food taking into account the content of the right, the obligations of States, the protection of the right (Universal Declaration of t Strategies must also, on one hand, make provision for resources against the Human Rights, ICESCR, GC 12, Voluntary Directives, the Protocol to the national, regional and local fight against hunger (12.1), and on the other ICESCR). establish information systems on food insecurity that provide necessary facts for appropriate decision making at all times (13.1).

11. To access the complete text in Spanish of the CFA go to “artículos y documentos” at www.derechoalimentacion.org, and click on those relating to “Naciones Unidas”.

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Regarding the content of the strategy:

t When defining policy for action, the strategy must be based on the needs of the population (1.2). Therefore, one necessary element is a proper diagnosis of the malnutrition and food insecurity situation, as well as identification of POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 23 vulnerable groups and their problems of access (8.3). If your organization operates in a region or t Concerning the guarantee of food security for the population, the strategy country with an existing strategy for food must contain and combine means connected with domestic production, and nutrition security, it would be useful to marketing, reserves and distribution (2.3). analyze whether it is compatible with the

t With regards to production, the directives give a series of guidelines such as promotion of the human right to food, accor- beginning with a focus on conservation and sustainable management of ding to the discussed indications. In the natural resources, revitalizing the agricultural sector, particularly small rural contrary case, your organization’s advocacy producers, improving access to land, water, technology and resources, respec- work could be directed towards the proposal ting and protecting individual rights. and achievement of improvements in the

t With regards to commerce, the strategy must include non-discriminatory- strategy. access-to-market policies (4.2), bearing in mind that protective measures must not mean unjustifiable barriers to international trade (4.4).

t Resources. Food security calls for continuous availability, stable supply, access and utilization (15 and 16). The guidelines propose the foundation of social POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 24 and food security networks (14) as well as, when necessary, international food aid that supports national efforts on realizing food security without disrupting local production and local culture and without creating dependency by prefe- If there is no existing strategy, your organi- rence of local and regional markets (15.1). zation could contact other civil society orga- nizations interested in the subject to jointly t Contents must address both issues relating to production, such as processing, make proposals to the relevant administra- distribution, marketing, and consumption of food free from adverse substan- tions. ces (3.3). Good practices of production, processing and handling of food must be encouraged in order to guarantee inocuousness (9.5) while bearing in mind the need for nutrition education (10), dietary diversification, and improved household facilities to prepare the meals (11.6).

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THE FORUM ON FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION Focus on the right to food in development cooperation policy

In 2007, the Forum on Food Security was founded by the FAO’s Agricultural Many governments and non-state development actors have introduced the Development Economics Division. More than 2000 professionals from focus on rights, and specifically the right to food in their policies and around the World involved in food and nutrition security - academics, programmes of cooperation. In a preliminary overview, one can observe the researchers, development professionals, policy-makers - with the aim of following as principal achievements: there have been many national interacting and exchanging knowledge on food and nutrition via the projects on the promotion and defence of the right to food, which have had internet. Through the forum, the FAO attempted to gain the widest possible significant backing from non-governmental cooperation. Official bilateral participation using simple and efficient means of communication. and multilateral cooperation has increased its attention on national institu- tions related to the right to food. However, there has not been a major Currently, the subject under discussion is “Measuring the Impacts of advance in the cooperation of international financial institutions, which Bioenergy Production on Food Security”. The aim is to develop a set of have been generally unwilling to accept, for the most part, that all the criteria, indicators, good practice and policy options on the sustainable megaprojects financed by the World Bank or regional banks need to comply production of bioenergy that guarantees food security. Up until now, the with human rights standards. following set of indicators has been established: The key challenges in this area are: 1. Changes in production of, stocks of and trade in main staple crops. 2. Change in domestic use of main staple crops for food, feed and fuel. 1. Ensuring a real implementation of the human rights approach to policies 3. Changes in inflation-adjusted prices of main staple crops and resulting of development cooperation in all countries that have accepted this net welfare impacts on poor households. perspective to guide their respective programs. 4. Changes in agro-biodiversity due to bioenergy production and resulting 2. Ensuring that the right to food and ESCR are identified as priorities for effects on dietary diversity. UN agencies. 3. Encouraging other players in the international realm that have not To access the Forum website included this approach to date, particularly the multilateral banks, to To access a full list of topics discussed recognize responsibility to human rights as a condition sine qua non of the programs on which they cooperate. 4. Promoting a coherent agenda of all international policies relevant to the enjoyment of the right to food, with the obligations that States have assumed in fulfilling this right.

Source: Advancing the Right to Adequate Food at the National Level. Some Lessons Learned FIAN International

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.2 POLITICAL SPHERE INDICATORS

Indicators related to the right to food

In the Report on Indicators for Promoting and Monitoring the Implementation of Structural indicators reflect the ratification and adoption of legal instruments and Human Rights (United Nations HRI/MC/2008/3) prepared by the Office of the existence of basic institutional mechanisms deemed necessary for facilitating United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, the adopted conceptual and realization of a human right, in this case the human right to food. They capture methodological framework for identifying the relevant quantitative indicators is commitments or the intent of the State in undertaking measures for the realization outlined and the relevance of using the configuration of structure, process and of the concerned human right. outcome indicators discussed. Process Indicators relate State policy instruments with milestones or intermediate The indicators should be based on information relative to objects, facts or events targets that cumulate into outcome indicators. State policy instruments refers to that can, in principle, be directly observed or verified, rather than on perceptions, all such measures (public programmes and specific interventions) that a state is opinions, assessments or judgements made by experts or individuals. willing to take in order to give effect to its intent or commitment to attain outco- mes identified with the realization of the human right to food. Quantitative indicators should ideally be relevant, valid and reliable: simple, timely and few in number, based on objective information and data-generating mecha- Process indicators are more sensitive to changes than outcome indicators and nisms; suitable for temporal and spatial comparison and following relevant hence are better at capturing the realization of the right. international statistical standards; and amenable to disaggregation in terms of sex, age, and other vulnerable or marginalized population segments. Outcome indicators capture attainments, individual and collective that reflect the status of the realization of human rights in a given context. The primary objective in the choice of structural, process and outcome indicators is the consistent and comprehensive translation of the narrative on human rights standards with the help of indicators that can reflect the commitment, effort and results aspect of the realization of human rights through available quantifiable information.

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LIST OF INDICATORS ON THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD (UDHR, Art.25) Source: Report on Indicators for Promoting and Monitoring the Implementation of Human Rights. Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights (HRI/MC/2008/3)

INDICATORS NUTRITIONFOOD SAFETY FOOD AVAILABILITY FOOD ACCESSIBILITY AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

Structural International human rights treaties, relevant to the right to adequate food, ratified by the State. Date of entry into force and coverage of the right to adequate food in the Constitution or other forms of superior law. Date of entry into force and coverage of domestic laws for implementing the right to adequate food. Number of registered and/or active non-governmental organizations (per 100,000 persons) involved in the promotion and protection

RLMNR OCPS EA PEEPLTCLSHR SOCIALSPHERE POLITICALSPHERE LEGAL SPHERE PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS of the right to adequate food. Time frame and coverage of Time frame and coverage of Time frame and coverage of national policy on agricultural national policy on nutrition and national policy on food safety production and food availability. nutrition adequacy norms. and consumer protection. Time frame and coverage of national policy on drought, crop Number of registered and/or failure and disaster management. active civil society organiza- tions working in the area of food safety and consumer protection. INDICATORS Process Proportion of received complaints on the right to adequate food investigated and adjudicated by the national human rights institution, human rights ombudsperson or other mechanisms and the proportion of these responded to effectively by the government.

Net official development assistance (ODA) for food security received or provided as a proportion of public expenditure on food security or Gross National Income.

Proportion of targeted popula- Disposal rate or average time to Proportion of female headed Share of household consump- tion that was brought above adjudicate a case registered in households or targeted popula- tion of major food items for the minimum level of dietary a consumer court. tion with legal title to agricultu- targeted population group energy consumption in the ral land. met through publicly assisted reporting period. programmes.

Proportion of targeted popula- Share of public social sector Arable irrigated land per Unemployment rate or tion covered under public budget spent on food safety person. average wage rate of targeted nutrition supplement program- and consumer protection segments of labour force mes. advocacy, education, research Proportion of farmers availing Proportion of targeted popula- and implementation of law and extension services. tion that was brought above Coverage of targeted popula- regulations relevant to the the poverty line in the tion under public programmes right. Share of public budget spent on reporting period. on nutrition education and strengthening domestic agricul- awareness. Proportion of food producing tural production (e.g. agricul- Work participation rates, by and distributing establishments ture-extension, irrigation, sex and target groups. Proportion of targeted popula- inspected for food quality credit, marketing). tion that was extended access standards and frequency of Estimated access of women to an improved drinking water inspections. Proportion of per capita availa- and girls to adequate food source in the reporting period. bility of major food items within household. Proportion of cases adjudicated sourced through domestic under food safety and consu- production, import & food aid. Coverage of programmes to mer protection law in the secure access to productive reporting period. Cereal import dependency ratio resources for target groups. in the reporting period.

Outcome Prevalence of underweight and Number of recorded deaths and Per capita availability of major Proportion of population stunting children under-five incidence of food poisoning food items of local consump- below minimum level of years of age. related to adulterated food. tion. dietary energy consumption.

Proportion of adults with Average household expendi- bodymass index (BMI) <18.5. ture on food for the bottom three deciles of population or targeted population.

Death rates, including infant and under-five mortality rates, associated with and prevalence of malnutrition. 2.3 SOCIAL SPHERE FOOD SAFETY NETS

According to the FAO, “Food safety nets are a subset of social safety nets, and aim According to the FAO, social protection activities related to the right to food to assure a minimum amount of food consumption and/or protect households should bear in mind the following principles: against shocks to food consumption. Food-based safety net programmes have generally been created in direct response to devaluation, hyperinflation or cuts in t Non-discrimination. public social spending that threatened to have adverse social and political effects or as an attempt to alleviate some of the worst forms of poverty and social exclu- t Priority to vulnerable groups lacking food safety. sion. Some typically used types of food-based safety net programmes include: supplementary feeding programmes, emergency feeding programmes, food for t Transparency in eligibility criteria, ensuring the inclusion of the most needy. work and food stamps, vouchers or coupons”. t The channelling of assistance through women to ensure that the needs of the In accordance with the right to food, States should take measures to facilitate home are met in the best possible manner. economic and physical access to adequate food. Consequently, they are obliged to directly provide food or facilitate means to produce it for those who, for reasons t Establishing efficient systems of accountability. beyond their control, cannot maintain themselves or their families. To this end, food safety nets, a type of social safety net, are established to guarantee a t Assistance must be given taking into account the needs and priorities of rights minimum volume of food consumption or protection to households in case of holders. food crisis. t Programmes must be efficient and have a good cost-efficiency ratio.

The Voluntary Guidelines provide practical tools for putting food safety nets into action. According to the Guidelines, before developing a specific safety net, the Furthermore, the involvement of the food-insecure must be taken into account in following information must be obtained: the design, operation and monitoring of programmes. Those people who have the right to assistance must be informed of their rights and the assistance must be t Geography, political situation and climatic conditions. adapted to local circumstances, respect human dignity and the autonomy of the rights holders. The FAO also recommends that social policies employ multi-sectoral t Local food production, market, employment opportunities and goods. strategies to include, aside from food security in the long term, access to primary education, basic health care, access to water and sanitation and to justice. t The need of parallel measures in the matters of health, education, infrastructu- re, agriculture and financial services. It is debatable whether food assistance should be given financially or in kind. Money transfers are appropriate when local markets are functioning and the root t Budgetary limitations to establish, operate, and maintain a food safety net. cause of hunger is access to food; when insufficient supply is the root cause of hunger, the FAO recommends the supply of food. t Administrative ability to provide services by those obliged to do so.

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administrative proceedings, and complaint mechanisms available to victims by national human rights institutions can be included among claim mechanisms. MINIMAL CONDITIONS FOR DEMANDING THE RIGHT TO FOOD Increasingly, domestic courts are hearing cases related to breaches to the right to There exist three minimal conditions under which people threatened by food; however, legal proceedings tend not to be the easiest route as they are time hunger are able to demand their right to adequate food. First, they need to consuming, costly, and of difficult access for people. Despite this, within national know their rights and what, precisely, is implied by the obligations of the legislation, the judicial system is often the ultimate guarantor of human rights, State; second, they need a legal advisor and an human rights advisor who, including the right to food, and plays a key role in its protection. in addition to knowing the standard contents of the right to food and the obligations of the State, also knows the paths of demandability and justicia- The implementation of the right to food is not undertaken solely at national level, bility of the right to food which the administrative, legal, and national there are also regional and international mechanisms of accountability that judicial systems allow him/her. The third condition, which is the most complement the national. At international level, there are two main avenues: difficult variable to change, is that the people believe in their rights and are individual and collective complaints before treaty bodies, and inter-state in the position to exercise pressure on the respective entity of the State. The complaints before the International Court of Justice. skeptical attitude of the people toward the State concerning their rights, for example of indigenous or farming communities, and persons impoverished Treaty bodies are control bodies established to protect the human rights recogni- by the urban and rural boundary, comes from a long history of exclusion zed in treaties; such bodies can receive individual or collective complaints in the and discrimination to which they have been subjected. Conscientization case of the violation of enshrined rights, however few treaties have such bodies and social mobility are key factors for strengthening the right and transfor- set up, therefore up until now difficult to bring complaints to. The International ming the policies and structures, which have impeded its realization. Court of Justice is the main judicial body of the United Nations and individuals do not have direct access, but through their own State.

Source: Advancing the Right to Adequate Food at the National Level. Some Lessons Learned FIAN International POSSIBLE ADVOCACY ACTION 25

In the event that your organization has identi- When a person is, or group of people are victim to the violation of the right to fied, studied and documented a case that could food, they should have access to effective judicial – or other – remedy. According to the FAO “The right to food is violated when the correlative obligations of States constitute a breach to the human right to food, are not respected. Violations of the right to food, as with violations of other you can present a complaint to the United human rights, may, therefore, be the result of an act of commission or omission by Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to a State”. According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Food by e-mail: [email protected] Human Rights: tribunals, administrative courts, complaint mechanisms through

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.3 SOCIAL SPHERE ADVOCACY AND COMMUNICATION

Communication is a basic tool for advocacy. Normally, advocacy strategies rely on THE BASIC ELEMENTS FOR COMMUNICATION ARE: THE COMMUNICATOR, a communication strategy which can anticipate one or various communication THE RECIPIENT, THE MESSAGE AND THE MEANS activities targeted at one or more audiences, to whom our messages are aimed. 1. The communicator makes the message known. It is very important to take care The Media are key players in advocacy strategy because, for the most part, they of the communicator to ensure that, in turn, the organization or group of shape public debate and define the public agenda. organizations taking part in the advocacy strategy. The communicator (spokesperson) must transmit the message in a clear way so that it reaches the For UNICEF, action for advocating in social life by communicators is based on: receiver without constraint. 2. The recipient. We must be clear about who we are addressing, why are we t The defence of causes of public interest. targeting such and such audience and what is the reason for the communica- t The auditing and monitoring of power structures and public decision-making. tion, with the aim of reaching the audience that has most influence on t Advocacy and creation of social impact to change a situation and to give value decision-makers. to the interests of a community or group with a common interest. 3. The message must be appropriate for the audience and for the means we use t The accentuation of a collective, participative and consensual effort to achieve to transmit it. The message must be clear, thorough, coherent, relevant, changes in the public sphere directed to balancing power relationships so that pertinent, and propose changes. all have a place and that traditionally excluded sectors are included. 4. The means. The Media have common characteristics and specific features which we must take into account when approaching them. Today we must add the Internet and social networks to traditional Media (both the press and radio and television), as they daily gain in importance.

The task of communication is not limited to providing information, but to also to Communication is an exercise in information and persuasion. To be able to try and include social issues within the content of the information that appears in convince and influence those who make decisions or who influence the Media. Knowing journalists is very important in order to have allies in the decision-makers, we must look to efficient communication to help us achie- Media. Following up on Media coverage is useful for evaluating the coverage, ve two core results to gain influence: strengthen our image and convince amending mistaken action, identifying sympathetic journalists and issues of the largest possible number of people. To this end, the questions we must interest to journalists. ask ourselves are: BASIC OUTLINE OF A STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PLAN t What and who influences those that make decisions? And therefore SITUATION OBJECTIVES AUDIENCE MESSAGE MATERIALS what audiences are useful for us to reach? Context analysis What we want to Who are we What do we What materials are t What are the most appropriate messages to convince those groups or Whether the issue is achieve: inform, addressing, want to we going to use to people? known or not mobilize, generate what type of transmit back up the debate… group messages: facts, t What forms of media are the most convincing to reach that audience? Are we known or not? Ideas, strength comparative t What material do we need? Are we a point of and main and analysis, secondary testimony, cases, t When is the best time to communicate? reference or not? Whether the communi- messages photos Source: Curso de incidencia política para el desarrollo. (Political Advocacy for Development Course) cation is proactive or Coordinadora de ONG de Desarollo España (Coordinating Committee of Development NGOs), Spain reactive

Source: Curso de incidencia política para el desarrollo (Political Advocacy for Development Course) 88 Coordinadora de ONG de Desarollo (Coordinating Committee of Development NGOs), Spain 89

PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE 2.3 SOCIAL SPHERE AWARENESS AND ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS

One of the areas of work of civil society organizations to advocate for the human right to food, are social awareness, consciousness and advocacy campaigns. Below we intro- duce some awareness and/or advocacy campaigns.

“The Right to Food – Urgent” Campaign www.derechoalimentacion.org

Campaign launched in 2003 by a group of Spanish Development NGOs with the aim of promoting the recognition of the human right to food. The campaign has worked on advocacy efforts over the years for a human rights approach in coope- ration policy geared towards the fight against hunger. Women of Cuzco demanding food security. (Prosalus)

These organizations have fostered many activities and developed various publica- tions and material. “HungerFREE” Campaign

Currently, the campaign is mainly involved in monitoring international policy http://www.hungerfreeplanet.org related to the fight against hunger, the promotion of food security and the right to food. HungerFREE is the global campaign by ActionAid to make governments fulfill their commitment to reduce hunger by half and to try and keep the issue of hunger on the political agenda.

Among the issues they are involved in the following are highlighted: support for family farming, the impact of biofuels, the consequences of climate change, gender issues, market control and social protection measures.

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“More and Better” Campaign The Right to Food Watch in Guatemala

http://www.moreandbetter.org/en http://www.observatoriodsan.org

More and Better is an independent international campaign made up of social movements, non-governmental and civil society organizations from more than 50 The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch (ODSAN) is a project seeking to advocate countries, and a core of national unified campaigns. for the realization of the right to adequate food in Guatemala by means of action to motivate the State into being effective in the fight against hunger. More and Better backs the fight against hunger and poverty and the increase of the quantity and quality of aid given to agriculture, rural development and diet, as The Watch encourages the involvement of those demanding their right to food these play an important role in the eradication of extreme cases of hunger and and improves knowledge and relationships between social, political and govern- poverty. All are associated with the Millennium Development Goals, which serve ment representatives, through a constant analysis of food security and the enfor- as a point of reference for the campaign. cement of the Law on the National System of Food and Nutritional Security.

At the same time, it aims to put pressure to achieve change in national and It will ensure that decisions in food policy permanently achieve more and better international policy related with: food for the population particularly afflicted by poverty and food insecurity, such as indigenous peoples and women. t The substantial decrease in the number of the hungry and malnourished and those who live in poverty.

t The increase in support to agriculture, rural development and food in develo- ping countries.

t Significant improvements in the quality of aid in agriculture, rural development and food.

The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch in Guatemala. Photo by Carla Caxaj and Alejandra Rodríguez

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Observatorio del derecho a la alimentación The “International Year of Family y nutrición Farming” Campaign

http://www.rtfn-watch.org/ http://www.familyfarmingcampaign.net/campana/default.asp?id=en

Is a periodic international report that monitors action by the state actors involved The Campaign was developed on different levels, coordinated by the World Rural in the realization of the right to food and nutrition, developed and published by a Forum Secretariat, in order to get the greatest number possible of organizations consortium of civil society organizations. and governments to give their support so that the United Nations declare the International year of Family Farming. The Watch calls for the invocation of the obligations of States and international institutions under international human rights law, evaluating the effects of policy, The celebration of this Year is seen as a unique opportunity to establish the means and national and international investment. to assure, medium and long term, a prosperous and sustainable development of Family Farming and the rural environment in all continents, especially in develo- Published annually, The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch is an instrument to put ping countries. pressure on authorities responsible in drafting national and international policy so that they take into account the right to food and nutrition. It provides a platform The International Year was based on a positive and powerful approach, demons- for human rights experts, civil society, social movements and Media exchange their trating to civil society and the totality of its institutions, not only the challenges experience on how to better carry out their work in the right to food and nutrition, and difficulties of farming at family level, but also its real and potential contribu- including lobbying and advocacy work. tion to feeding the world, to the battle against poverty and the fulfilling of the Development Objectives of the Millennium. The Watch is published by Brot für die Welt, FIAN International, the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation, in partnership with of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, Habitat Interna- tional Coalition, DanChurchAid, Rights and Democracy, People’s Health Move- ment, Observatory – Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the World Organization against , the Inter-American Platform for Human Rights for Democracy and Development and the African Network on the Right to Food.

Indigenous Guarayo couple from the municipality of Urubichá, department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia; cutting cocoa pods.

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PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE ORGANIZATIONS AND NETWORKS

http://www.theaahm.org/ Organizations, Institutions and Networks The Alliance against Hunger and Malnutrition aims to eradicate world hunger and poverty by fostering the necessary political will and adopting necessary involved in the Right to Food measures. It is made up of National Alliances against hunger – governmental and (by alphabetical order) non-governmental organizations that play an active role in the fight against hunger and poverty. www.donorplatform.org/ Global Donor Platform for Rural Development is a network of 34 bilateral and http://ieham.org/ multilateral donors, international financing institutions, intergovernmental organi- El Instituto de Estudios del Hambre (IEH -The Institute for Hunger Studies) zations and development agencies. Founded in 2003, the Platform aims to impro- is a diverse and independent, not-for-profit organization founded in 2001 with the ve the quality of support in agricultural and rural development. aim of fighting against hunger and contribute to the improvement of diet in developing countries. www.fao.org/righttofood/ The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has a www.ifad.org website dedicated to issues related with the right to food, in which the realization The International Fund for Agricultural Development is a specialized agency of the human right to adequate food is considered by means of respecting, protec- of the United Nations established with the objective of allocating funds and mobi- ting and fulfilling it throughout the world. lizing additional resources for programmes specifically designed for the economic progress of poor inhabitants of rural areas. http://www.fian.org/ FIAN - the Foodfirst Information & Action Network was founded in 1986 as www.ifpri.org a not-for-profit international human rights organization with no political or International Food Policy Research Institute seeks sustainable solutions for religious affiliation, which fights for the realization of the right to adequate food. ending poverty and hunger. It is one of 15 centres supported by the Consultative It has consultative status to the United Nations Group on International Agricultural Research, an alliance of 64 governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations. http://www.foodfirst.org/ FoodFirst - The Institute for Food & Development Policy analyses the root www.actionaid.org/what-we-do/food-rights/international-food-security-network causes of global hunger, poverty, and ecological degradation and develops The International Food Security Network was born from the International Civil solutions in partnership with movements working for social change. Society Network for Food Security and is a project co-financed by the European Commission and implemented by ActionAid International in association with other international organizations.

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http://www.rapda.org/ The African Network on the Right to Food is a pan-African network created in 2008 with the objective of the recognition of the right to food across the entire African continent. http://www.roppa.info/ Réseau des organisations paysannes & de producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (The Network of Farmers’ and Agricultural Producers’ Organiza- tions of West Africa) is a network of peasant and producers organizations with the aim of improving the situation of families in rural areas, not limited to the field of agricultural activity.

http://www.uco.es/catedrasyaulas/cehap/ La Cátedra de Estudios sobre Hambre y Pobreza de la Universidad de Córdoba (CEHAP – the Chair of Hunger and Poverty Studies of the Univer- sity of Cordoba) has as its aim to provide a space for multidisciplinary research, training, awareness and technical assistance in the fields related to food and nutritional security and the fight against hunger in developing countries. http://www.ibfan-alc.org/ The International Baby Food Action Network, Bolivia is made up of groups and people who defend public interest worldwide and seek to improve the health and wellbeing of children, mothers, and families by the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding and best practice in infant feeding.

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Legislative database on the Right to El hilo de Ariadna. Manual de incidencia Guía práctica de incidencia política para Programa Multisectorial Desnutrición Food política para organizaciones de mujeres. organizaciones intermedias en y con Cero. Comité Técnico del Consejo http://www.fao.org/righttofood/knowle Paloma Jimena Medina. 2009 organizaciones de base. Programa de Nacional de Alimentación y Nutrición de dge-centre/legislative-- http://www.mueveteporlaigualdad.org/ Alianzas de la Sociedad Civil de América Bolivia. 2008 database-on-the-right-to-food/en/ n_public_matedu.asp Latina. 2008 http://www.bvsde.paho.org/texcom/nut ricion/pmd9.pdf Database for on national strategies for Ejercer el derecho a la alimentación con “The Zero Hunger Program: Main the Right to Food dignidad e inclusión. Ayuda en Acción. Lessons” The Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) Advancing the Right to Food at the http://www.fao.org/righttofood/inaction 2008 www.ayudaenaccion.org Program. The Brazilian Experience FAO National Level. Some lessons learned. /aj ustice_strategylist_es.htm 2006 FIAN International. 2009 Estrategias de desarrollo, políticas www.rlc.fao.org/es/prioridades/segurida www.fian.org Campaigns for Social Mobilization. públicas y seguridad alimentaria en d/fomezero/pdf/fomesp.pdf ISF-APD. 2010 América Latina y el Caribe. José Reflexiones acerca de la exigibilidad y www.isf.es Graziano da Silva. 2008 FAOSTAT justiciabilidad de los derechos económi- http://faostat.fao.org/site/291/default.aspx Informe final de la Conferencia cos, sociales y culturales. Graciela From the Farm to the Fork. For a Interparlamentaria sobre el derecho a la Romero. healthy diet for European consumers. Right to Food Glossary FAO. 2009 seguridad alimentaria. Panamá. 2009 European Union 2004 http://www.fao.org/righttofood/knowle Screen state action against hunger! http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consum dge centre/glossary/en Right to Food Assessment Checklist How to use the Voluntary Guidelines on er/information_sources/docs/from_farm FAO. 2009 the Right to Food to monitor public _to_fork_2004_en.pdf Guía de incidencia. MBA Alberto Mora policies? FIAN Internacional.2007 Portuguez. ACI Américas Right to Food and Nutrition Watch Various materials from the “Derecho a The Right to Food and Access to Justice: www.aciamericas.coop 2010 la alimentación. Urgente” Campaign Examples at the national, regional and http://www.rtfn-watch.org/en/home/wa (publications, work documents, position international levels. Christophe Golay Guía de incidencia política. Red Perú. tch-2010/the-right-to-food-and-nutritio papers…) which can be downloaded FAO. 2009 Instituto de la Democracia Participativa. n-2010/ from: Centro Ideas. ACS Calandria. Care www.derechoalimentacion.org The Right to Food and Access to Natural Fortalece. Policies and actions to eradicate hunger Resources. FAO. 2009 and malnutrition. 2009 www.fao.org Guía metodológica para la elaboración www.eradicatehunger.org de un plan de incidencia política. The Right to Food in Practice. Imple- Alianza Cambio Andino. mentation at the National Level. FAO. www.cambioandino.org 2006 Guide on Legislating for the Right to The Right to Adequate Food. Fact Sheet Food. FAO 2010 No. 34 United Nations Office of the http://www.fao.org/righttofood/publicat High Commissioner for Human Rights - ions/publications-detail/en/c/129278/ FAO www.ohchr.org

PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS LEGAL SPHERE POLITICAL SPHERE SOCIAL SPHERE