2. The recognition and obligations related to the concept
of the right to food
The recognition of the right to food is essential in allowing
States to put it into action. This recognition was first given by the United
Nations and then taken up by the regional and national bodies in different
ways.
a. The recognition of the concept: a step towards
achieving food security
i. The United Nation: the pioneer of the concept
The right to food is a fundamental human right that is
recognized at every level of governance. The most recent document acknowledging
it is the FAO in the Voluntary guidelines to support the progressive
realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food
security. But the first most important body to recognize the right to food
was the UN General Assembly through a series of documents complied in the
International Bill of Human Rights of 1948. The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights was the first document to recognize the right
to food and gave it momentum for years to come. In its Article 25.1 the UDHR
reads:
«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» (UN
1948)
The strength and advantages of the UDHR lies in the fact that
it is accepted by all States, including Sierra Leone. Some 20 years later the
UN reaffirmed the right to food through the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of 1966 through the Article
11 `Right to an adequate standard of living'. States Parties to the ICESCR
acknowledge the existence of economic, social and cultural rights amongst which
the right to food. By signing and ratifying the ICESCR State Parties committed
to do everything in their power to ensure:
«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» as well as
«the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger»
(UN 1966)
The treaties above-mentioned are legally binding and all State
Parties are obliged to implement and put them into action.
63
30 years later, the Committee on economic, social and
cultural rights (CESCR) General
64
Comment n°12 added the dimension of dignity to the
definition, stating that it was inseparable from the intrinsic dignity of human
beings and is imperative for the realization of other fundamental human rights
(CESCR 1999).
The international recognition of the right to food led
regional and national bodies to take notice and also recognize and implement it
in their constitution, treaties or agreements.
ii. The indirect recognition of regional and national
bodies
The right to food was recognized at different levels on the
African continent, as well as in Sierra Leone. The African Commission on Human
and Peoples' Rights, the specialized body of the African Union, produced two
documents concerning fundamental human rights: the African Charter on Human
and Peoples' Rights (ACHP)38 in 1981 and the
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) of
1990. The government of Sierra Leone ratified both Charters, respectively in
1983 and 2002. Unfortunately, both of them do not explicitly reference to the
right to food but instead to other fundamental human rights that can be
assimilated to it. However, the Article 60 of the ACHP stipulates the
obligation for its State Members to respect their international commitment.
This obligation automatically leads to the recognition of the right to food as
all States are States Members of the UDHR (Ziegler, Golay et Mahon 2011).
In Sierra Leone the right to food is recognized in the 1991
Constitution using 3 different ways. First, through other fundamental rights
such as «the opportunity for securing adequate means of livelihood as well
as adequate opportunities to secure suitable employment» in the Article 8.
Second, through the integration of international treaties and agreement
directly in their internal legal order. The Article 10 of the Sierra Leonean
Constitution expressively stipulates «the respect for international law
and treaty obligations» (GoSL 1991), which means that as a State party to
the UDHR and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights the
government of Sierra Leone indirectly recognizes and is committed to implement
the right to food. To this day, the only clear reference to the right to food
by a Sierra Leonean official statesperson or document was in 2002 when former
president Alhaji Dr Ahmad Tejan Kabbah addressed the citizens of Sierra Leone
following his re-election. He stated:
38 Also known as the Banjul Charter, in
reference to Banjul, Gambia, the headquarters of African Commission on Human
and Peoples' Rights.
65
«Fellow Sierra Leoneans, my own principal objective on
this second leg of our journey
together is also centred on a basic human
right Ñ the right to food. So, today, with the new
mandate you have
given me I should make another pledge. This time I pledge to work
even
harder, and with greater resolve, to do everything in my power to
ensure that within the next
five years no Sierra Leonean should go to bed
hungry» Alhaji Dr Ahmad Tejan Kabbah Oath
of office, 2002
Despite this statement and the subsequent creation of a Right
to Food Secretariat in 200539, the right to food is absent from the
PRSP or any other important official document since 200840 and the
right to food of fisherfolks continues to be violated through the many forms of
ocean grabbing.
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