Food Sovereignty – An Appropriate Approach to Ensure the Right to Food?

Abstract

The article reviews the food sovereignty concept, comparing it with the legally recognised human right to food. It is found that there are certain elements of Article 11(2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which have not been properly emphasised in the context of food trade and new technologies in food production. The article argues in favour of strengthening the right to food approach when faced with these challenges. While acknowledging the mobilising potential that the concept food sovereignty has among civil society actors, it is nevertheless argued that the right to food is both more precise, has stronger support among states, and is on a much higher level with regard to legally binding obligations compared to the food sovereignty concept.

The Plant Variety Protection Law in Malaysia: Issues on Protection of Farmers’ Rights

“…Haugen argues that the aggressive expansion of biotechnology in the agricultural sphere transfers power and decisions in food production and farming away from farmers into the hands of large seed producing corporations. Trade agreements and national policies which incorporate exclusive monopoly rights to these large corporations further undermine the rights of farmers to seeds and directly threaten food sovereignty of the small farmers and rural communities (Haugen, 2009;Haugen 2014).…”

Food sovereignty or the human right to adequate food: which concept serves better as international development policy for global hunger and poverty reduction?

“…Until now, there is no universal agreement on who exactly is the target group-individuals, communities, peoples and/or nations (Haugen 2009)-or on whether ''migrants'', ''consumers'' and ''urban movements'' should be integrated in the definitions, or indeed on what exactly constitutes a peasant or a family farmer. Patel (2009) points out that the theoretic unification of farm workers and farm owners within one concept will not be easy in practice.…”

“…Yet, as Boyer (2010) stated, food sovereignty is a very complex concept and could lead to a situation in which not all farmers' movementswhich are the core target group of the concept-accept the concept with its holistic approach in the long term. For public policy directed toward international development, the lack of specificity can be of disadvantage as without a fixed (international) agreement about the concept, it is in danger of being diluted by different interests (Haugen 2009;Pimbert 2008).…”

“…Research on food sovereignty is still scarce and focuses mainly on discussing the concept of food sovereignty and its benefits as such, how it might be implemented and its role for civil society movements, including peasant movements (McMichael 2008;Menezes 2001;Pimbert 2008;Rosset 2006;Rosset 2008;Windfuhr and Jonsén 2005). With the exception of Boyer (2010) and Haugen (2009), the concept of food sovereignty has not yet been specifically compared to other concepts targeting food security, poverty reduction and (rural) development.…”

Kampen om matfatet og matproduksjonen

“…Storbritannia uttrykte reservasjon, med den begrunnelsen at det ikke eksisterer en internasjonal definisjon av matsuverenitet (Holt-Gimenéz 2010: 12). Begrepet matsuverenitet kan kritiseres for ikke å inneholde en tilstrekkelig klar definisjon av hva som inngår i begrepet, og hvem som er subjekter og rettighetshavere (Haugen 2009). Likevel, ved å legge vekt på rettigheter for folk og kontroll over ressurser er forståelsen av matsuverenitet i stor grad sammenfallende med innholdet i folks rett over sine naturressurser, som anerkjent i artikkel 1.2 i ØSK-konvensjonen (FN 1966).…”