WOMEN'S UN REPORT NETWORK - WUNRN WOMEN – RIGHT TO FOOD FOOD SECURITY & FOOD SOVEREIGNTY United...

WOMEN'S UN REPORT NETWORK - WUNRN

WOMEN – RIGHT TO FOODFOOD SECURITY & FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

United Nations Human Rights CouncilMarch 9, 2011

Geneva, Switzerland

WOMEN’S UN REPORT NETWORKWUNRN®


INDIA - INFANT GIRLS & CHILDREN DYING FROM MALNUTRITION

India - A malnourished 3-month-old girl is fed at a rehabilitation center in Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh. Photo: Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

According to the Save the Children's statistics, around 3.5 million children die in a year because of malnutrition. In India alone, one million children's lives could be saved every year if they were not malnourished.


For every starving child, there is a mother, hopefully alive, also hungry, likely poor, and in deep despair that she cannot provide her child with adequate food and nutrition for

health, for survival.


SOMALIA - CONFLICT - WOMEN - HUNGER - DESPERATE FOR FOOD AID

Jehad Nga for The New York Times

Somalia Women and children waited for food from the United Nation's World Food Program.


THE HUMAN RIGHT TO FOOD

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural RightsArticle 111. 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. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.

2. The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international co-operation, the measures, including specific programmes, which are needed:

(a) To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources; (b) Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need.


The right to adequate food (Art.11) : . 05/12/1999. E/C.12/1999/5. (General Comments)

COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIALAND CULTURAL RIGHTS

Twentieth session

SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES ARISING IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THEINTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS:

GENERAL COMMENT 12 The right to adequate food

(Art. 11) (Twentieth session, 1999)

Introduction and basic premises 1. The human right to adequate food is recognized in several instruments under international law. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights deals more comprehensively than any other instrument with this right. Pursuant to article 11.1 of the Covenant, States parties 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”, while pursuant to article 11.2 they recognize that more immediate and urgent steps may be needed to ensure “the fundamental right to freedom from hunger and malnutrition”. The human right to adequate food is of crucial importance for the enjoyment of all rights......Normative content of article 11, paragraphs 1 and 2 6. The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement. The right to adequate food shall therefore not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with a minimum package of calories, proteins and other specific nutrients. The right to adequate food will have to be realized progressively. However, States have a core obligation to take the necessary action to mitigate and alleviate hunger as provided for in paragraph 2 of article 11, even in times of natural or other disasters.......


PAKISTAN WOMEN & CHILDREN REFUGEES - FOOD SECURITY?

Photo: Kate Brooks/Rapport, for The New York Times


FOOD SECURITY

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and

nutritious food that meet dietary needs and food preferences for an active and health life.

FAO World Food Summit 1996


IRAQ - WOMEN ON FRONTLINES OF WAR - FOOD SECURITY?

© Panos Pictures / M. Saman

Additional International Standards on the Right to FoodUniversal Declaration of Human RightsArticle 25 1. 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 event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Food Aid Convention, 1999

Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition, 1974Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against WomenArticle 122. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph I of this article, States Parties shall ensure to women appropriate services in connection with pregnancy, confinement and the post-natal period, granting free services where necessary, as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy and lactation. Article 142. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, that they participate in and benefit from rural development and, in particular, shall ensure to such women the right:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)Rome Declaration on World Food Security, 1996 Plan of Action of the World Food Summit, 1996Declaration of the World Food Summit: five years later, 2002

http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm


WOMEN & THE RIGHT TO FOOD - INTERSECTIONALITY OF RIGHTS ISSUES

*Nutrition/Malnutrition*Health - Physical & Mental *Reproductive Health*Maternal & Infant Mortality*Poverty*Water & Sanitation*Education*Child Labour*Child Marriage & Motherhood*Forced Marriage*Preference for Males*Land, Housing/Shelter*Land-Grabbing, Forced Evictions*Homelessness – Slums*War & Conflict

*Refugee Status*Internal Displacement*Safety - Violence – Rape*Foraging for Food, Firewood +*Prostitution*Trafficking*Migration*Minority & Indigenous Issues*Culture & Traditions*Climate Change Issues*Natural Disasters*Widows Discrimination*Lifespan - Ageing Women - Survival*Exposure to Environmental Hazards


GIRL CHILD BRICK WORKER IN INDIA - SCHOOL - FOOD SECURITY?


WOMEN & SLUMS - NAIROBI, KENYA


WOMEN IN PRISON - FOOD & NUTRITION ISSUES


WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME

Women are the world's primary food producers, yet cultural traditions and social structures often mean women are much more affected by hunger and poverty than men. Seven out of 10 of the world's hungry are women and girls. While around 25 percent of men in developing countries suffer from anemia caused by an iron deficiency, 45 percent of women are affected. Lack of iron means 300 women die during childbirth every day. As a result, women, in particular, expectant and nursing mothers, often need special or increased intake of food.

Maternal stunting and underweight are also among the most prevalent causes of giving birth to a low birth weight child.

____________________________________________________________

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION Nutrition is a fundamental pillar of human life, health and development across the entire life span. From the earliest stages of fetal development, at birth, and through infancy, childhood, adolescence and on into adulthood, proper food and good nutrition are essential for survival, physical growth, mental development, performance, productivity, health and well-being.


AFGHANISTAN - SAMIA - AGE 7 - STARVED & ABUSED GIRL


INDIA - POVERTY & HUNGER HAVE A WIDOW'S FACE

WUNRN Photo - Poverty stricken widows in City of Widows, Vrindivan, India

The Indian widow experiences compounded discrimination and marginalization - as a woman, as a widow, often as an elderly woman, and as a POOR widowed woman. Many widows chant in Hindu temples to be given small bowls of rice. Guild of Service-India


UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Eradicate Extreme Poverty & HungerTarget 1.A:Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day 1.1 Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per day a*1.2 Poverty gap ratio 1.3 Share of poorest quintile in national consumption

Target 1.B:Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people1.4 Growth rate of GDP per person employed1.5 Employment-to-population ratio1.6 Proportion of employed people living below $1 (PPP) per day1.7 Proportion of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment

Target 1.C:Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger 1.8 Prevalence of underweight children under-five years of age1.9 Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption


FEMININE FACES OF HUNGER & POVERTY

*She is the mother in Guinea who has lost her husband, was raped by the enemy, and now trudges along a dirt road to an unknown destination, knowing she is malnourished and losing her milk to feed her underweight fifth child in her arms. *She is the adolescent girl in Colombia, who is conscripted by the rebels, and forced to fight, to work, and to be a sexual slave at their demand. She is the last to eat, needing medical care. *She is the young woman in a Palestinian refugee camp, born there, never knowing peace, always hungry, wondering if she should consider marriage as she sees no hope and considers suicide. *She is the young Afghan woman, told she could go to school after liberation, then captured on the route to school and raped and now pregnant and with HIV/AIDS. Her family wanted to force her into early marriage, but is now ashamed of her, and she is vulnerable to an honor killing. *She is an American woman, deserted by her husband, without a pension or income, ashamed at her poverty, living in one-room, surviving on cat food and food stamps.

*She is everywoman, trying to provide for her children, her family, herself, reeling in the storms of war, conflict, refugee status, internal displacement, political and social insecurity, lack of basic services as health care, unaware of her human right to food, safe water, sanitation.


FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

Food Sovereignty is the right of peoples, communities, and countries, to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food and land policies which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances. It includes the right to food, and to produce food, which means that all people have the right to safe, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food and to food-producing resources and the ability to sustain themselves and their societies. IPC - International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty The International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty is an international network that brings together several organizations representing farmers, fisherfolks and small and medium scale farmers, agricultural workers and indigenous peoples, as well as NGOs, providing a common room for mobilization that holds together local struggles and global debate.


WOMEN & FOOD SECURITY - CRUCIAL ROLE - INSEPARABLE

ISIS International - Women in Action - Harvest Reaped but Hard to Reach


UN REPORT HIGHLIGHTS DISADVANTAGES FACED

BY WOMEN IN AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT

Rural women face increasing inequality in agricultural employment.

21 January 2011 – Women continue to reap less benefits from employment in agriculture than men in rural areas, and the recent global financial and food crises have slowed down progress towards gender equality in farming-related labour. According to the report, compiled by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), women face discrimination that limits both their economic productivity and their personal development.


IRAQ - HOMELESS WOMEN & CHILDREN - SQUATTER CAMPS

Half a million displaced Iraqis face grim futures in squalid squatter camps.

Photo: Tracey Shelton


TO UNDERSTAND WOMEN, FOOD SECURITY, FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

*FOLLOW THE MONEY

*FOLLOW THE POWER & PRIVILEGE

*NOTE LAND & PROPERTY RIGHTS

*CONSIDER GLOBALIZATION

*SEE IMPACT OF AGRIBUSINESS

*LOOK AT CORRUPTION MULTILEVEL

*STUDY TRADE AGREEMENTS

*SEE POLARIZATION OF THE POOR, SPREADING OF THE CLASSES

*LOOK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS


BANGLADESH - WOMEN - CLIMATE CHANGE - CYCLONES +


WOMEN'S ASSEMBLY DECLARATION-PEOPLE'S FOOD SOVEREIGNTY FORUM

WOMEN’S ASSEMBLY ON FOOD SOVEREIGNTYNovember 2009

Rome, Italy

FINAL DECLARATION

We, women and members of the Women’s Assembly on Food Sovereignty during the People’s Forum on Food Sovereignty in Rome held November 14-16; 2009 , after intense discussions have seen the systematic oppression and exploitation of women through the processes of globalization and corporatization of agriculture intensified by patriarchy and traditional and cultural oppression. These have brought untold sufferings and indignities in the lives of women. They have lost control of land and productive resources particularly seeds. They do not have access to education, health care, work in hazardous conditions and get low wages and face increasing hunger and malnutrition. We, participants of the Women’s Assembly commit towards to: 1.Equality and equal representation in policy and decision making.2.Advance genuine agrarian, fisheries, pastoral reforms that ensures gender justice and rights of women to land including common property rights.3.Ensure and enforce women’s rights over seeds as well as productive resources such as water and protecting and conserving women’s knowledge on innovative and ecological approaches.4.Protect the rights of women agricultural workers and their communities and ensure safe working conditions and fair wages.5.Stop the use of food as a political weapon.6.The impact of climate change on women food producers should be recongnised and their contribution to enhance resilience should be valued.7.Strengthen women’s organization, coalitions and networks. We call for gender justice and world peace.


GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX 2010

The Challenge of Hunger: Focus on the Crisis of Child Undernutrition.


HAITI SLUM GIRL - TOO THIN - HUNGRY - WALKING BAREFOOT THROUGH MISERY

Alice Smeets - UNICEF Prize Photo


PAKISTAN - INTERNALLY DISPLACED WOMEN & CHILDREN

IRIN Photo


POOR, HUNGRY MIGRANT FARM WORKER MOTHER - USA HISTORY

Farm Security Administration Collection - Photo by Dorothea Lange


GIRL CHILD SOLIDERS - NEPAL - FOOD SECURITY?


INDIA - PROSTITUTES OF MUMBAI

Bombay - Falkland Road - Prostitution Cages at Night Poverty and need to buy food for self and family, drives many girls and women into prostitution. Poor families also sell daughters to brothels or traffickers.

Photo: Mary Ellen Mark


PALESTINE-GAZA - POVERTY, HUNGER, LOSSES

Meriam tries to give her children nutritious food, but can hardly afford it. Half of Gaza's population rely on the UN for their staple foods. Many families have had to sell their

personal belongings to keep going.


AFGHANISTAN - REFUGEE GIRL CHILD


UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ADVISORY COMMITTEE STUDY

ON DISCRIMINATION IN CONTEXT OF RIGHT TO FOOD


Mama, I'm hungryMy tummy hurts, also at night,My hair and skin are now so dry.I am only 8 years old. My baby brother cries.He is hungry, too.You say your milk has stopped.You need food and safe water. Daddy died some months ago.Villagers say he killed himself.There were so many debts.He tried to buy food for us. You say I can't go to school.I want to be a teacher.You send me work with bricks.I am so tired, so very hungry. The men look at me strangely.They offer me food, candy.They are rude. I am afraid.But I am so hungry, Mama.

You married off my big sisterNow one less mouth to feed here.But I know she's not happy.Her eyes are sad and full of fear. Will we lose our house as well?Without home and land, can we survive?I am so very hungry, Mama.Can we really stay alive? Will I grow up? I am not so sure.I get very sick. I cannot play.You talk about the big city.But where there would we stay? I have hopes and I have dreams.They seem so far away.Like our food, dreams disappear.I can only hope and pray. Mama, I'm Hungry!

MAMA, I'M HUNGRY

WUNRN - 2011

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