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The Right to Food: A Global Overview

Author

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  • Susan Randolph

    (University of Connecticut)

  • Shareen Hertel

    (University of Connecticut)

Abstract

Access to food is essential to human survival and the “right to food” is a fundamental human right whose fulfillment impinges on the realization of most other human rights. Yet the pervasiveness of human hunger worldwide starkly illustrates the ongoing failure to fulfill the "right to food." This chapter defines the right and analyzes its evolution in international human rights law. It then examines the extent to which commitments to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to food at the international and national levels are upheld in practice. The chapter finds that failure to fulfill the right to food in part reflects old challenges including the failure to integrate human rights law with the commitments, agendas, and laws governing international financial institutions, transnational corporations, trade agreements, and other aspects of the international economic governance architecture. Additionally, however, it reflects new challenges posed by climate change, increased meat consumption on the part of a growing global middle class, and the shift toward biofuel production.

Suggested Citation

  • Susan Randolph & Shareen Hertel, 2012. "The Right to Food: A Global Overview," Economic Rights Working Papers 19, University of Connecticut, Human Rights Institute.
  • Handle: RePEc:uct:ecriwp:19
    Note: We gratefully acknowledge the support of NSF grant # 1061457 in the preparation of this article. A revised version of this paper will appear in: Minkler, L. (Ed), 2012. The State of Economic and Social Human Rights: A Global Overview, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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    Cited by:

    1. David Forkuor & Veronica Peprah & Abdul Mumin Alhassan, 2018. "Assessment of the processing and sale of marine fish and its effects on the livelihood of women in Mfantseman Municipality, Ghana," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 1329-1346, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Hunger; human rights;

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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