NGOs and the right to adequate food - Hunger and malnutrition: the human rights approach
Despite the recognition of the right to adequate food in the UDHR, and subsequently in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), economic, social and cultural rights were not given adequate attention at the national and international levels for several decades. Fortunately, this situation is changing and several factors are now contributing to a better understanding of the interdependence, indivisibility and universality of all human rights.
One of the most important reasons for this change is the increasing emphasis that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are putting on economic, social and cultural rights, at both national and international levels. More and more, NGOs and social movements (community-based organizations) are demanding the full implementation of the right to food from their respective authorities; for example, landless peasants in Latin America call for access to land, indigenous peoples seek security for their traditional land titles and fishers in Asia struggle against the destruction of local fishing grounds by industrial fleets. The "rights approach" is becoming important to many groups in their daily struggles and this is having a knock-on effect on other strategies to end hunger and malnutrition. This does not mean that adopting the rights approach is always going to be enough to solve the problems that cause hunger and malnutrition; not every hungry or malnourished human being is a victim of human rights violations. However, violations occur when states fail in their obligations to respect, protect or fulfil the right to food, and such state failure is one of the major causes of the persistence of hunger and malnutrition. The rights approach, therefore, helps civil society organizations to deal with this type of problem and policy. [author]
