Second Session on the Right to Adequate Food

The first draft of the "Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security" were examined at the Second Session of the IGWG-RTFG from 27 to 29 October 2003 at FAO headquarters in Rome, where members and stakeholders decided that the document prepared by the Bureau should be the basis of future negotiations.

The Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Adequate Food Guidelines (IGWG-RTFG) during its First Session held in March 2003 (please read the April Update), entrusted its Bureau with the task of preparing a first set of draft "Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security", in time for its Second Session. This task was successfully accomplished.

During this second round the IGWG-RTFG discussed the legal implications of the draft Voluntary Guidelines, the structure and scope of the document, as well as individual draft guidelines.

Due to the relatively limited time remaining for the draft Voluntary Guidelines to be completed, the IGWG-RTFG established a mechanism for inter-sessional negotiations. This consists of an open ended working group with spokespersons from each of FAO's seven geographical regions as well as from NGOs and intergovernmental organizations, which will meet for four days in February 2004. The Third Session of the IGWG, likely to be held towards the end of June 2004, will then conclude the negotiations and submit the draft Voluntary Guidelines for approval to the September 2004 session of the Committee on World Food Security.

While FAO remains optimistic that the negotiations will be concluded within the allotted timeframe, a number of challenges remain to be overcome. These relate in the first instance to the legal status of the right to food, which not all FAO and UN members recognize as a legally binding norm. A second difficulty arises from the wording of the mandate of the IGWG, to focus on "the context of national food security". As Hartwig De Haen, FAO's Assistant Director-General of the Economic and Social Department, stressed in his opening remarks, "in the modern, globalized world no country is an island and policies in one country may affect the enjoyment of the right to adequate food in another. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also explicitly refers to the importance of international cooperation. It is, therefore, difficult not to address the international dimensions of the right to adequate food in the guidelines, while the competence of other forums must also be kept in mind."

The draft Voluntary Guidelines and other documents relating to the right to adequate food can be obtained by visiting the website of the IGWG-RTFG.