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 even of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25, Paragraph 1 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. International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, Article 11, Paragraph 1

... the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food... Some things to think about: 1) This is a “positive” right, and different from civil and political rights Taking economic, social, and cultural rights seriously implies a commitment to social integration, solidarity, and equality. This includes especially a concern for vulnerable groups (the poor, disabled, elderly, children, ethnic minorities, etc.).

... the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food... Some things to think about: 2) Human rights are primarily about dignity. “The right to adequate food is not about charity: It is the right to be able to feed yourself in dignity. Hunger will never be solved by charity or by food aid. It must be solved by creating the conditions in which all human beings can live a decent life, providing for themselves.” --Jean Ziegler, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food One implication of this is that an authoritarian regime cannot fulfill a right to adequate food. “Fulfilling one’s need for food in the biological sense is different from fulfilling one’s human right to food.” --George Kent, Freedom from Want, pp. 46

... the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food... Some things to think about: 2) Human rights are primarily about dignity. “If people have no chance to influence what and how they are 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.” Human rights are about upholding human dignity, not about meeting physiological needs. --George Kent, Freedom from Want, pp. 46

... the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food... Some things to think about: 3) The aspiration for human rights is that they serve to guide governance at local, national, and international levels. Governance refers to steering, controlling, regulating, etc. social processes and activities. Governments govern... but also need to be governed. To effectively govern, rights must be effective. To be effective, rights holders must know their rights, duty bearers must be obligated to act according to those rights, and agents of accountability must assure that duty bearers meet their obligations.

... the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food... Some things to think about: 4) Having a right to adequate food is not the same as realizing a right to adequate food. The right holder may not know what her or his rights are and how to seek remedies. How do we (as observers) know whether a right as been realized? Look at national law, local law, institutional arrangements in place, and how people are living. The fact that most people in any given country are well fed tells us nothing about whether they have a right to adequate food and if so whether it will be realized if conditions decline.

... the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food... Some things to think about: 5) The primary responsibility for the implementation of human rights rests with the states, although they are not the only ones with obligations (legal, moral). Rights come into being when, typically, UN-led negotiation leads to collective drawing up of a treaty or covenant that is adopted by the General Assembly. States then sign (an intent to ratify) and ratify (approved by national legislature). Ratification establishes the state’s legal commitment to honor the agreement.

... the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food... Some things to think about: 6) Politics and democracy are the ultimate accountability mechanisms Human rights do not come as a gift from above but as a result of political struggle. Primary movements define rights, secondary movements protect/enforce them. Sen’s “democracy thesis” Political movements are needed to “infuse” economic rights into the set of rights that are “considered sufficiently important that they are guaranteed by political process... a set usually confined to civil and political rights.” --Alex DeWaal, Famine Crimes, p. 11

... the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food... Some things to think about: 6) Politics and democracy are the ultimate accountability mechanisms Human rights do not come as a gift from above but as a result of political struggle. Primary movements define rights, secondary movements protect/enforce them. Political movements are needed to “infuse” economic rights into the set of rights that are “considered sufficiently important that they are guaranteed by political process... a set usually confined to civil and political rights.” --Alex DeWaal, Famine Crimes, p. 11

... the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food... Some things to think about: 7) Do US citizens have a right to adequate food? Is that right realized? Not really... “If there are no accepted [and legally encoded] national obligations, there is no meaningful right... While the food status of most people in the United States is quite good, the situation with the right to adequate food is quite bad... The US government... does not want to accept any obligations relating to that right, both internally and externally. --Kent, Freedom from Want, p. 162 There is little to no obligation of the US government to feed people directly if/when they are unable to provide for themselves.

... the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food... Some things to think about: 7) Do US citizens have a right to adequate food? Is that right realized? Regarding the 1996 World Food Summit’s concluding document, the US asserted that it interprets the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food “to mean that governments should not interfere with the effective opportunity or ability of their citizens to obtain safe and nutritious food.” --US Department of Agriculture Also, the US government has stated that it “believed that the attainment of the right to food... did not involve any national responsibilities on the part of the Government.” --United Nations, General Assembly The US has been in the forefront of a movement to characterize these as not rights but objectives or goals to be pursued “progressively”

... the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food... Some things to think about: 7) Do US citizens have a right to adequate food? Is that right realized? Sort of... Annual Food Security Survey—an innovative means of monitoring the nutritional status of the US population Food Stamp program—a national program that was established as a result of democratic/political processes; it is an “entitlement” program