Constitutional and Legal Dimensions of the Right to Food in Taiwan: The Long March Toward Normative Internalization and Realization

The right to food has long been recognized in a number of international instruments. Faced with the evolving form and substance of the right to food, Taiwan has nonetheless encountered various challenges in its efforts to normatively internalize and realize this right. Because the country has been unable to formally participate in most international human rights treaties, Taiwan has incorporated numerous key elements of international human rights law into its domestic legal system through a myriad of approaches. Yet the manner in which Taiwan has opted to interact with international human rights law arguably raises more questions than it answers. This chapter reviews the development of the right to food in the context of international human rights law and highlights the key elements constituting the current form and substance of this right. It further assesses the many faces of the right to food in Taiwan, from constitutional to legislative to executive practices, and it identifies various challenges faced by the country in realizing the right to food. Noting the lack of a rights-based discourse in constitutional and legal settings in Taiwan due to numerous underlying issues, this chapter proposes a legal framework approach to address the normative challenges and to create an enabling environment for the progressive realization of the right to food.