United Nations System
Standing Committee on Nutrition

Report of the Sub-Committee on Nutrition at its Twenty-Fifth Session

II.  Work in Progress:  Summary of Discussion and Conclusions

C. Reports of decisions taken in Working Groups

36. The following is a summary of main conclusions and recommendations. 

C.1  Nutrition, Ethics and Human Rights - Report of the Working Group

37. The Working Group noted a positive shift in the atmosphere of the meeting compared with five years ago. This was attributed in part to a shift in the UN within the reform process, to incorporate human rights approaches in all UN programme activities.  It was noted that human rights is a cross-cutting issue for all our work, and that the SCN should seize the opportunity to define how to measure the impact of this approach.
38. The Working Group recommended that the SCN:
    

• take steps to strengthen collaboration with the office of the UN High Commission for Human Rights in order to:  emphasize the human right to food and nutrition as an integral part of the new UNDAF, promote capacity building, and contribute to the process of monitoring the realization of the human right to food and nutrition;
• seek funding for preparation of an IEC strategy paper, which would propose IEC techniques for building awareness of international human rights norms;
• propose broad guidelines for national workshops on the right to food and nutrition and its obligations at the national level;
• facilitate the preparation of a draft Model Law on the human right to food and nutrition.

Full Report of the Meeting of the Working Group on Nutrition, Ethics and Human Rights

Saturday 28 March 1998, Oslo, Norway

Chair: Urban Jonsson, UNICEF
Rapporteurs: Wenche Barth Eide and Uwe Kracht

1.  Introduction and Highlights

The Chairman noted the growing interest in a human rights approach to food and nutrition among SCN members since the meeting two years ago in Accra. Today, there is a broadening understanding that moving from a basic needs approach to a human rights approach means that people can claim their rights to, not only express their needs for adequate food and nutrition.

The Working Group’s discussions were guided by a detailed resource and issues paper entitled "The Promotion and Protection of the Human Right to Food and Nutrition by ACC-SCN Members", prepared by the World Alliance for Nutrition and Human Rights (WANAHR). The paper recalls the origins and mission of the human rights system and the role of food and nutrition in the human rights framework. It offers an interpretation of the right to food in the light of modern scientific understanding and examines the additional value over conventional, basic-needs oriented strategies to be obtained from a human rights approach to food and nutrition. It then reviews significant developments in this regard within the UN system, the NGO community and at the country level. On this basis, it identifies challenges and opportunities for the SCN and its member agencies. Prominently among those figures the need for developing an IEC strategy (information, education, information) on the human right to food and nutrition.

In its discussions, the Working Group underlined, inter alia:

• the need to balance between an integrated approach to all human rights and the requirements to making priorities for action in practice, for example as regards the following-up of certain rights of children such as for food and nutrition;
• the need to promote and develop models of relevant legislation, including through national workshops;
• the desirability for undertaking country case studies on successful human rights approaches to food and nutrition, tentatively suggesting South Africa, Brazil, Mali and Argentina among possible candidates;
• the possibility for the SCN members to provide technical assistance to Member States in connection with their obligatory periodical reporting to the respective human rights treaty bodies, on the realization of the human right to food and nutrition in their countries, for example by helping to identify vulnerable groups within the countries and the effectivity of governmental programmes in this respect;
• the desirability for SCN member agencies as well as civil society organizations to have access to advance lists of countries that will present their reports and when, so that SCN members and civil society can actively contribute to this process including through the interagency FIVMS (Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Mapping System);
• the advantages offered by the human rights system with respect to openness to the public of information which enables civil society to either check on government’s accountability regarding what they report on, and/or produce parallel reports;
• the need to promote the empowerment of women in economic and other terms and at the same time create the conditions that will maintain or restore family coherence and a supportive environment for children, the elderly and the disabled;
• the need for improving knowledge and creating a shared understanding of the implications and application of a human rights approach through an IEC methodology directed both to UN and to people, but also to find out what nutritionists can do best and especially in a collaborative fashion: e.g. in helping create a relevant data basis for reporting on the realization of the human right to food and nutrition, and for use by academia in programming research towards a manual for assessing countries’ programmes in relation to respecting, protecting, facilitating and fulfilling food security and to the human right to adequate food;
• the need for all to "combine heart and head" in the promotion of human rights including the right to food and nutrition; this calls for "training by discovery" at all levels of the constraints to and opportunities for the realization of this right and how to ensure quality of the action towards it.

2. Major recent developments in the human rights field of relevance to food and nutrition

The Working Group noted the accelerating attention to human rights within the United Nations system since the past SCN session, triggered by several coinciding events:

• the renewed emphasis on human rights by the Secretary General as part of his reform programme for the organization and his emphasis that all UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies should be guided by the international human rights framework;
• the call for greater co-ordination at country level through the new United Nations Development Assistance Programme (UNDAF);
• the setting up, by the Executive Committee of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) of an ad hoc working group, chaired by the High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR), with the mandate to incorporate the right to development in the UNDAF Guidelines;
• the preparations for the 50th Anniversary in 1998 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

and, more particularly:

• the recommendations made by the Heads of States and Governments at the World Food Summit in 1996, particularly Objective 7.4 of its Plan of Action to further clarify the meaning of the right to food and nutrition and the steps needed for its realization;
• the simultaneous recommendation to place the initiative for follow-up of this objective with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in collaboration with all other relevant human rights and development bodies of the organization;
• the High Commissioner’s prompt follow-up of this mandate, initially supported especially by FAO and some international NGOs, in ways that have brought up a range of opportunities for the SCN and its member agencies to add a new dimension to its work, for greater advocacy and more effective and co-ordinated action to help improve nutrition around the world;

and also

• the standing or emerging commitment to human rights as guidance for development of some other UN agencies, especially UNICEF and UNDP; and
• the response by NGOs to the WFS Objective 7.4, notably the preparation of a Draft Code of Conduct on the right to food and nutrition, an initiative by FIAN, WANAHR and Jacques Maritain International, with the endorsement so far by over 800 NGOs.

The Working Group sees the need for the SCN to respond to these new developments and wishes to draw the attention of members and observers to several concrete opportunities to that end. The participation of the OHCHR in the ACC, effective as of this year, greatly enhances the prospects for succesful interaction and collaboration between the human rights and development bodies of the UN family.

3. Challenges and opportunities for action by the SCN and its member agencies

3.1 Assisting the HCHR in clarifying the content of the right to food and nutrition and ways of its realization

The SCN is uniquely placed to assist the HCHR in fulfilling its mandate received from the WFS concerning the further clarification of the content of the right to food and nutrition and ways of its realization. A co-operative arrangement between the SCN and the HCHR should receive high priority from both parties concerned.

3.2 Integrating the right to food and nutrition into UNDAF

The institution of the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) together with the Secretary’s General renewed human rights - both important elements of his reform programme - provides a unique opportunity for SCN members to seek to apply a human rights approach to development co-operation in general and food and nutrition policy and programme assistance in particular. So far, UNDAF is mandatory for UN funds and programmes only, but other SCN members should join on a voluntary basis. The WG also noted the need for greater clarification of the role of concerned governments.

3.3 Capacity building throughout the UN system

Given the novelty of applying a human rights approach to development, and food and nutrition in particular, most UN institutions and their staff are ill prepared for the task, necessitating a major human capacity building effort. Suitable entry points for the SCN in such an effort would include:

1. identifying relevant human rights core modules for subsequent integration into agency-specific capacity-building programmes;
2. assisting agencies in their internal orientation and capacity-building activities tailor-made to their mission and specific mandate;
3. suggesting an orientation on the human right to food and nutrition for the ongoing staff training programme for UNDAF at the UN Training Centre in Turin.
4. continuing its involvement in the process of clarifying the content of the right to food as mandated by the World Food Summit.

3.4 Monitoring the realization of the right to food and nutrition

The monitoring of the right to food and nutrition falls under the purview of the existing human rights machinery, in particular the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), which reviews the obligatory and periodic reports by State Parties on ESCRs. There is a need to strengthen both contents and processes of these reviews in relation to food and nutrition. Important entry points for action by the SCN would include:

1. contributing to the strengthening of the content of the Guidelines for the obligatory and periodic reports by States Parties under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), with regard to the provisions dealing with food and nutrition relevant rights (especially Articles 10, 11 and 12);
2. encouraging communication between the WG/NEHR and the other SCN Working Groups in order to examine the implications of a human rights approach to food and nutrition in their areas of specialization, with a view to strengthening the reporting review process in these areas;
3. providing specific inputs to the reporting review process by all relevant treaty bodies (ICESCR; Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination of Women (CEDAW), on the basis of the work of the SCN technical working groups and of activities of individual SCN member agencies;
4. providing technical assistance to governments in the preparation of their reports in the field of food and nutrition;
5. participate, in a technical advisory capacity, in the meetings of the relevant treaty bodies based on information obtained through SCN member agency representatives at country level.

An additional avenue to be explored is the monitoring and evaluation of the impact of agency development activities on the realization of the right to food and nutrition. Initial priority should be given to international financial and trade institutions, e.g. IMF, World Bank and the WTO. The SCN may also explore to what extent it could fruitfully join efforts with NGOs in the entire monitoring related process.

3.5 Facilitating the development of relevant national law

Realization of the human right to food and nutrition will require support to the development of national law and institutions for its implementation. The SCN could facilitate the preparation of a Draft "Model Law", the text of which would suggest formulations that could be adapted by national legislators in accordance with national circumstances.

3.6 Development of an IEC strategy

Lack of a common understanding remains a key impediment to the effective application of a human rights approach to food and nutrition and related development problems. Such lack of understanding needs to be addressed at all levels: governments and policy makers, bilateral and multilateral development assistance agencies, NGOs and CBOs and civil society at large. There is an urgent need for the development of a general strategic framework for activities in all these segments of society, which the SCN may consider to develop jointly with the HCHR. This framework would seek to:

1. clarify the goals, audiences and instruments for raising the awareness of the international human rights system of norms, monitoring and remedies, and the opportunities embedded in this system for strengthening food and nutrition advocacy, analysis and action;
2. propose IEC techniques that allow for the building of shared understandings of the meaning of the international human rights norms relevant to food and nutrition in given contexts.

Even prior to the completion of a full strategic framework, the following immediate actions would be important:

• Short-term piggy-backing activities in connection with the 50th UDHR Anniversary, for example: (i) the preparation of a brochure on the human right to food and nutrition as part of the OHCHR Information Kit series; and (ii) the substantive contribution by the SCN to various policy fora and panels scheduled for this year;
• the organization of national workshops as both an IEC tool and a means to gather information on country experiences;
• "best practice" or case studies of successful approaches to the realization of the human right to food and nutrition.

In the longer run, there are opportunities for pursuing IEC efforts in the framework of the UN Decade on Human Rights Education 1995-2004 and the People’s Decade on Human Rights Education (PDHRE).

4. Recommendations from the Working Group to the SCN

4.1 Symposium on "The Substance and Politics of a Human Rights Approach to Food and Nutrition"

Above all, the Working Group recommends, in view of the SCN’s collective obligation to respond to the call by the Secretary General, to make "The substance and politics of a human rights approach to food and nutrition" the theme for the symposium at the twenty-sixth session in 1999, as proposed in 1997 in Kathmandu, preferably to be held in Latin America.

4.2 Collaboration SCN-HCHR

Arrangements for close collaboration between the SCN and the HCHR in the fields identified in section 3 above should take a priority position on the SCN’s agenda.

4.3 IEC strategy

Given the complexity inherent in an IEC campaign, the development of a strategic framework will require a major, consistent effort by the SCN in collaboration with the HCHR and many other partners. This can not be a "shoe-string budget" effort in term of time and substantive inputs and financial support. This may well be the litmus test for the SCN’s seriousness and determination in assuming a leading collaborative role in advancing the realization of the human right to food and nutrition.

4.4 Financial resource mobilization

Above all, the preparation of the proposed symposium and the IEC strategy development - but also several of the other proposed activities - will require an all-out resource mobilization effort, reversing past SCN trends in this regard. The Working Group asks the SCN for a fully adequate response to these requirements, in the interest of living up to its reputation as one of the best organized and most effective mechanisms of institutional articulation within the United Nations.