People are food secure in so far as they have sustainable access to adequate food for themselves and their families. In so far as their food security is legally secured, also their human right to adequate food is realised. The human right to adequate food is recognised in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and in several other international treaties and national pieces of legislation including some constitutions.
When international organisations or states regulate aspects of access to adequate food, including food safety and the cultural acceptability of food, they fulfil part of their obligations deriving from the right to food. In this sense the right to food could be seen as the constitutional basis of food law. However, to a large extent food law is technocratic in nature and human rights awareness seems to be relatively low. To a large extent scholars active on the right to food belong to a different group than scholars active in food law. In my view and practice, the two belong together.
At Wageningen University, we have set up a BSc course on Food, Nutrition and Human Rights.
We edited a book on the governance of food security in general and another on politics and policies regarding the right to food in the Netherlands.
Under my supervision Bart Wernaart wrote his PhD thesis on the legal enforceability of the right to food in the Netherlands and in Belgium. Also closely related to food security are the PhD thesis of Mohammed Hassena Beko on the making and implementation of seed policies in Ethiopia and the PhD thesis of Peter Munyi of flexible plant breeders' rights in Kenya.
While hunger and malnutrition are rampant in many developing countries, in my view the issues of food security and right to food are relevant anywhere in the world. Even in the richest countries, like my own, some people fall through the cracks of social security.
Beyond my professional activities I show my personal commitment to food security for all through volunteering at the Food Bank in Amsterdam.
When international organisations or states regulate aspects of access to adequate food, including food safety and the cultural acceptability of food, they fulfil part of their obligations deriving from the right to food. In this sense the right to food could be seen as the constitutional basis of food law. However, to a large extent food law is technocratic in nature and human rights awareness seems to be relatively low. To a large extent scholars active on the right to food belong to a different group than scholars active in food law. In my view and practice, the two belong together.
At Wageningen University, we have set up a BSc course on Food, Nutrition and Human Rights.
We edited a book on the governance of food security in general and another on politics and policies regarding the right to food in the Netherlands.
Under my supervision Bart Wernaart wrote his PhD thesis on the legal enforceability of the right to food in the Netherlands and in Belgium. Also closely related to food security are the PhD thesis of Mohammed Hassena Beko on the making and implementation of seed policies in Ethiopia and the PhD thesis of Peter Munyi of flexible plant breeders' rights in Kenya.
While hunger and malnutrition are rampant in many developing countries, in my view the issues of food security and right to food are relevant anywhere in the world. Even in the richest countries, like my own, some people fall through the cracks of social security.
Beyond my professional activities I show my personal commitment to food security for all through volunteering at the Food Bank in Amsterdam.