Thread: human rights and charges

FOOD IS A HUMAN RIGHT

















George Kent


FOOD IS A HUMAN RIGHT

George Kent
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights advocates have
focused most of their energy on civil and political rights. Now, in the second half-century of
post-World War II human rights advocacy, economic, social and cultural rights are gaining
increasing attention.
Economic, social and cultural rights include the right to an adequate standard of living. Article
25, paragraph 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-
being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical
care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of
unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of
livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
This was elaborated in article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights. Paragraph 1 says:
The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an
adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food,
clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.
The human right to adequate food is explicitly recognized as part of the broader human right to
an adequate standard of living. While the focus here is on food, we have much to learn from the
work that has emerged on health, education, housing, and other issues relating to an adequate
standard of living (see, for example, Hunt 1998; Kothari 1997; Leary 1994; Leckie 1989; Toebes
1998).
Individuals and organizations working to end hunger and malnutrition sometimes use the slogan
"food first". The concept expresses their feelings that the food issue should be given high
priority. However, it should be recognized that food and nutrition constitute just one of the
dimensions of adequate livelihood, and it would be inappropriate to argue that nutrition is more
important than, say, housing or education. All aspects of livelihood are interrelated, and should
be kept in balance (Eide 1995, p. 91).
The point may be clarified by asking: can the human right to adequate food be fulfilled by an
authoritarian regime?
It is certainly possible to assure that individuals' biological nutritional needs are fulfilled through
authoritarian measures. Even chained prisoners can have their minimum required daily
allowances of nutrients delivered to them. But fulfilling one’s need for food in the biological
sense is different from fulfilling one’s right to food. It is true that many human needs can be met

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by authoritarian powers without consulting with the people. Certainly one can provide food for
individuals that will meet their basic nutrient requirements, as in a prison or an army. However,
if people have no chance to influence what and how they were being fed, if they are fed
prepackaged rations or capsules or are fed from a trough, their right to adequate food is not being
met, even if they get all the nutrients their bodies need. Serving pork to a Muslim prisoner would
violate his human rights, even if it contained the nutrients he needed.