2024 marked the 20th Anniversary of the CFS Voluntary Guidelines on the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security (2004). The CFS 52 Plenary Session held a Global Thematic Event as a stocktaking session dedicated to monitoring the progress on the use and implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines.
The event began with a keynote video message by Volker Türk, UN Commissioner on Human Rights, followed by a moderated discussion featuring Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food; Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN Special Rapporteur on Water and Sanitation; and representatives from the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Mechanism (CSIPM), the Private Sector Mechanism (PSM), CFS Member States, FAO, the Latin American and Caribbean Parliamentary Front against Hunger, the East African Legislative Assembly, and the World Organization of United Cities and Local Government (UCLG), among others. Finally, Member State delegates were invited to share reflections on experiences, best practices, and challenges in implementing the Voluntary Guidelines, along with identified priorities for advancing the right to adequate food, in a session moderated by the CFS Chairperson.
CSIPM Coordination Committee members Taily Terena (Brasil/Indigenous Youth and IITC), and Hala Barakat (Egypt/ Habitat International Coalition) participated in the Global Thematic Event.
What is your perspective on the realization of the right to food for Indigenous Peoples? What would be required to improve the realization of the right to food for Indigenous Peoples?
Unati Yuponiti – Good morning
I will start answering your question, by rephrasing what it has been said yesterday by the HLPE- FSN representative. FOOD SECURITY IS MORE THAN FOOD. The right to healthy food for Indigenous Peoples is intrinsically linked to healthy territories. When I talk about territory, I mean everything that surrounds it, soil, water and air. The failure to guarantee our healthy territories brings food insecurity to our peoples and with it a lack of prospects for the children and young people who live there. As we celebrate 20 years of the Volunteer Guidelines, we need to recognize the challenges that still exist and the problems we are facing, so that we can end world hunger.
We Indigenous Peoples are still being threatened, raped and murdered for fighting for our territory, for our well-being. Our native seeds are still under threat and the contamination of territories by pesticides and chemicals such as mercury continues to grow. The climate crisis is already a reality for everyone in the world, but those of us who live close to the land are experiencing it the hardest. I come from a territory that is known as the largest humid region in the world and due to human action, it is drying up. We are without water for our crops and our food security.
However, resilience is something I learned from my elders and even with all these challenges we still have hope that we can collaborate to find a solution together. We therefore urge States to scale up their efforts to ensure the respect, protection and promotion of equitable tenure rights, including through the recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ territories. We support Colombia’s Initiative to organize a second International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development -ICARDD and the Brazilian initiative for the Global Alliance Against Poverty and Hunger, and call on States and the FAO to engage in this process, respecting and promoting civil society and Indigenous Peoples participation in decision-making process.
What would be required to improve the realization of the right to food for Indigenous Peoples?
For me, the most key factor is the acknowledgment and implantation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and therefore recall the states to promote and protect a sustainable use of land and the ones that are taking care of her. It is also important that the free prior and informed consent shall be respected as a collective right for Indigenous Peoples in all decision-making processes that can affect us, but unfortunately is not what we have been seeing in the negotiations. I wanted to remind the people who are here, making decisions on behalf of the people who are hungry, that access to quality water and healthy food is a right and not a privilege and it can not be used as a weapon of war. We already produce enough food to feed everyone in the world, what we lack is the political will to produce it in a healthier way and distribute it to those who don’t have it. I conclude by saying that there is no way to guarantee the right to food for Indigenous Peoples with other nations facing violence and hunger, so all the solidarity to our brothers and sisters in Palestine, and ceasefire now.
Ainapoyakué – Thank you.
What is the significance of constitutional reforms or national framework laws for achieving the right to food as discussed in the CSIPM?
- The right to food and food sovereignty in Egypt’s Constitution: A victory for civil society
In the Egyptian Constitution of 2014, Article 79 reads:
¨Each citizen has the right to healthy, sufficient amounts of food and clean water. The state shall provide food resources to all citizens. It also ensures food sovereignty in a sustainable manner, and guarantees the protection of agricultural biological diversity and types of local plants to preserve the rights of generations.¨
During the 2013 drafting process of the new constitution, we created the Working Group on the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty in Egypt, a civil society-based initiative committed to achieving progressive language and commitments on the right to food and food sovereignty. We came together and proposed the article which was adopted in January 2014. This is a victory for civil society in Egypt. It makes explicit reference to the right to food and food sovereignty. It is important to note that Egypt is the first Arab country, and one of seven globally, to constitutionalize food sovereignty. Together with provisions that oblige the state to abide by international agreements and treaties signed by Egypt, Article 79 is an important step in holding the state accountable, and also to engaging civil society.
This is key in carving the future to the implementation of the Right to Food: it fosters empowerment of the citizens, the ownership of the cause and its various implications, and involvement of civil society in raising awareness, putting the article to good use, especially where it becomes jeopardized. I refer to cases of wars, conflicts, occupation and extreme climatic events, where more than ever, the Right to Adequate Food is needed, and where civil society can play a role in enforcing the Right to Food, food as a right and not as a weapon.
2. So Right to food does not stop at constitutions, the implementation, democratization of processes and spaces, bringing everyone on board under a human rights approach. For us as CSIPM we see we need to do this on different levels: national, regional and also global. For example here at FAO, we are experiencing a shrinking space for us as part of CFS. The FAO council inspite of recognizing the need to strengthen the operational support for CSIPM, we are still facing difficulties, and we need more participation, in practical terms accessing spaces, interpretation services, etcetera. The FAO still does not have formal direct participation mechanism in its governing bodies.
3. We also have a call for action. As we are celebrating the anniversary of the Right to Food Guidelines, We recognize that the work on Right to Food does not stop here. Yes, there have been achievements, guidelines, and expansion of the normative framework, but there is still much that needs to be done. That is why the CSIPM has prepared a Manifesto on the Right to Food. It is on our website. It outlines clearly our vision and proposals for ending the use of food and starvation as a weapon of war, combating inequality, redistributing land and transforming global food systems to achieve the Right to Food and Nutrition for all.