Human Right to Food
Bernd van der Meulen (2017)
The use of human rights in legal analysis and use of legal methods in analysing human rights
European Institute for Food Law working paper 2017/01
The legal context may not be the only context in which human rights are applied, but it certainly is an important one. With a view to assessing human rights in the context both of the courtroom and of legal scholarship, this paper sets out some of the basics of law and legal method.
Bernd van der Meulen and Ioana Rătescu (2017)
Food Prints on Human Rights Law Paradigms. Debates on food in general and the human right to adequate food in particular have fundamentally influenced the development on human rights theory
European Institute for Food Law working paper 2017/02
This paper discusses the interaction between the development of legal theory on human rights (HRs) in general and on the right to food in particular.
In international treaties HRs are often subdivided in two groups: civil and political rights (CPRs) on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) on the other. These two sets of rights have been treated in fundamentally different ways. A judicial practice developed only for the application of CPRs. This gave rise to a paradigm in legal theory stating that CPRs give negative obligations to the state (e.g., obligations not to interfere with the freedoms of citizens), while ESCRs give positive obligations (e.g., obligations to provide certain preconditions of life). Negative obligations can be enforced against the state. Positive obligations are unenforceable policy directives.
The UN considers HRs are indivisible. ESCRs should empower people just as much as CPRs do. The special rapporteur on the right to food, Asbjørn Eide, coined a new paradigm to this effect. It connects negative and positive state obligations to all HRs. This paper argues that it is time for the next step in HR theory: a paradigm that moves beyond state obligations.
Purabi Bose and Bernd van der Meulen (2014)
The Law to End Hunger Now. Food Sovereignty and Genetically Modified Crops in Tribal India—A Socio-Legal Analysis
PENN STATE LAW REVIEW Vol. 118:4 2014 p. 893-918
This Article takes a socio-legal approach to analyse tribal India’s current scenario related to genetically modified (GM) crops. The policies for GM crops play a critical role in India. The Article examines two recent legal frameworks: (a) the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2013, and (b) the Indian National Food Security Act, 2013. The analysis using the socio-legal framework explores the dilemma of the effect of the GM food crop (Bt Brinjal/Eggplant) and GM cash crop (Bt Cotton) through the lens of one of the Scheduled Tribes—Bhil tribal men, women, and children—of India. This Article takes the social exclusion and inclusion approach to analyse the linkages between the high suicide rates in India among smallholders and cultivation of GM crops. Indirect gender implications are significant; when men, who are generally heads of household, commit suicide, women then bear the burden of household food security. This Article highlights the significance of the legal dimensions of the right to food, and the need to reflect the social dynamics in the global discussion of GM food and cash crops vis-à-vis food sovereignty.
Bernd van der Meulen (2011)
Respect voor de rechter met de rechte rug
VAR Michiels column 2011
Het mensenrecht op adequate voeding kan alleen daadwerkelijk worden gerealiseerd wanneer de rechter de moed heeft het te handhaven. In Nederland was één keer een rechter die die moed heeft opgebracht. Hulde aan de kantonrechter te Heerlen, een rechter met een rechte rug!
Bernd van der Meulen (2017)
The use of human rights in legal analysis and use of legal methods in analysing human rights
European Institute for Food Law working paper 2017/01
The legal context may not be the only context in which human rights are applied, but it certainly is an important one. With a view to assessing human rights in the context both of the courtroom and of legal scholarship, this paper sets out some of the basics of law and legal method.
Bernd van der Meulen and Ioana Rătescu (2017)
Food Prints on Human Rights Law Paradigms. Debates on food in general and the human right to adequate food in particular have fundamentally influenced the development on human rights theory
European Institute for Food Law working paper 2017/02
This paper discusses the interaction between the development of legal theory on human rights (HRs) in general and on the right to food in particular.
In international treaties HRs are often subdivided in two groups: civil and political rights (CPRs) on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) on the other. These two sets of rights have been treated in fundamentally different ways. A judicial practice developed only for the application of CPRs. This gave rise to a paradigm in legal theory stating that CPRs give negative obligations to the state (e.g., obligations not to interfere with the freedoms of citizens), while ESCRs give positive obligations (e.g., obligations to provide certain preconditions of life). Negative obligations can be enforced against the state. Positive obligations are unenforceable policy directives.
The UN considers HRs are indivisible. ESCRs should empower people just as much as CPRs do. The special rapporteur on the right to food, Asbjørn Eide, coined a new paradigm to this effect. It connects negative and positive state obligations to all HRs. This paper argues that it is time for the next step in HR theory: a paradigm that moves beyond state obligations.
Purabi Bose and Bernd van der Meulen (2014)
The Law to End Hunger Now. Food Sovereignty and Genetically Modified Crops in Tribal India—A Socio-Legal Analysis
PENN STATE LAW REVIEW Vol. 118:4 2014 p. 893-918
This Article takes a socio-legal approach to analyse tribal India’s current scenario related to genetically modified (GM) crops. The policies for GM crops play a critical role in India. The Article examines two recent legal frameworks: (a) the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2013, and (b) the Indian National Food Security Act, 2013. The analysis using the socio-legal framework explores the dilemma of the effect of the GM food crop (Bt Brinjal/Eggplant) and GM cash crop (Bt Cotton) through the lens of one of the Scheduled Tribes—Bhil tribal men, women, and children—of India. This Article takes the social exclusion and inclusion approach to analyse the linkages between the high suicide rates in India among smallholders and cultivation of GM crops. Indirect gender implications are significant; when men, who are generally heads of household, commit suicide, women then bear the burden of household food security. This Article highlights the significance of the legal dimensions of the right to food, and the need to reflect the social dynamics in the global discussion of GM food and cash crops vis-à-vis food sovereignty.
Bernd van der Meulen (2011)
Respect voor de rechter met de rechte rug
VAR Michiels column 2011
Het mensenrecht op adequate voeding kan alleen daadwerkelijk worden gerealiseerd wanneer de rechter de moed heeft het te handhaven. In Nederland was één keer een rechter die die moed heeft opgebracht. Hulde aan de kantonrechter te Heerlen, een rechter met een rechte rug!