The right to food is the human right of every person to have continuous access to resources that enable them to produce, earn, or purchase enough nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable food for an active, healthy life.2 The right to adequate food not only means that one has the right to be fed, but to feed oneself and one’s family with dignity. Ensuring the right to food does not mean that the government must feed its people; rather, the government must respect and protect the rights of individuals to feed themselves. No government will make the right to food a reality unless it pursues with equal resolve the realization of other human rights with which the right to food is inseparably connected, among them the universal rights to freedom of assembly and expression, to safe drinking water, to information, education, and the highest attainable standard of health. The right to food is guaranteed under numerous United Nations documents including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
FOOD MUST BE:
AVAILABLE - everybody should be able to obtain food either through the market system or have the means to produce it him or herself. Food should be available in quantities that are needed to satisfy one’s physical needs.
ADEQUATE - the food available for consumption has to be adequate to the social, cultural, and environmental conditions of the person, and it must be free from harmful substances. The diet has to contain the mixture of nutrients that are necessary for physical and mental health and growth.
ACCESSIBLE - food must be physically and economically accessible. The price of food should be at such a level that it will not prevent the realization of other rights. Physical accessibility means that everyone should have access to food, particularly disadvantaged groups such as children, the disabled, and the elderly.
SUSTAINABLE - providing food for the current needs of the population should not jeopardize the long-term availability of food. Practices such as overgrazing, deforestation, and pollution of soil and water by pesticides are detrimental to the future availability or security of food.1