Food security and global security - IEEE

Julia Gifra and Susana BeltránThe human right to food and waterfrom hunger amongst their citizens since, above all else, it is a legal obligationand hunger is the main violation and incompliance.■■An ius Cogens Approach (a value for the InternationalCommunity as a Whole)A second proposal linked to the above is to re-establish the status of waterand food as a public good. As gathered from General Comment 15, the finalrecipient of the right to water transcends the individual and covers humanity; itstates that water is a «public good fundamental for life» and that States should«facilitate realization of the right to water in other countries». In this way, theright to food and access to drinking water should be included in the categoryof mandatory regulations of international law and their respect enforced as ahuman right.54This position carries specific legal consequences, especially in the priorities forwater access and food distribution:––Water for human consumption is a top priority as is having enough water sothat farming is able to fight hunger.––With regard to the doubt over which products to grow, countries shouldchoose those that ensure the population’s basic needs.■■Final SummaryIn short and by way of conclusion, any strategy or policy to eradicate hungerand comply with the right to food and water should respect, on the one hand,its fundamental regulatory content and, on the other, respond to certainrecommendations that arise from the United Nations supervisory bodies.––Food and water are, above all else, human rights. States therefore are legallyrequired to provide everybody, regardless of their nationality, with food thatis sufficient, available and appropriate for their needs and circumstances, aswell as access to clean drinking water. (Universal Declaration of HumanRights, Art. 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and CulturalRights, article 11, General Comment 12 on the right to food, GeneralComment 15 on the right to water.)––In order to meet the requirements and needs of the right, any public policyor global strategy on food and water should not only aim to reduce theamount of people but also guarantee that people have food that is available(sufficient resources), accessible (financially and physically) and adequate(quantity and quality), and access to drinking water. In turn, the real needsof each individual should be taken into account, respecting their circumstancesand cultural identity. (General Comment 12 on the right to food.)––Public authorities have three fundamental obligations regarding the right towater and food, and these should be priorities for public policies: respect,