The 12 Misconceptions About
The Right to Food
The following misconceptions must be addressed
by recognizing our economic human rights and using this knowledge to struggle
against economic oppression of the poor and future generations:
1. We do not need rights but food.
9 out of 10 hungry people suffer, not because of food scarcity but as a
result of people being deprived of food producing resources. Capital intensive,
free-trade policies have ruined rural systems of agriculture, making it
chemical intensive, reducing food quality and destroying sustainable development
aimed at feeding the poor. Hence, food is a questions of rights, the right
to have access to means of production and distribution of food.
2. Modern western agriculture will eventually produce enough food for
everyone.
In market based agriculture cost is not only determined by factors of production,
but also by government's attitude. In a market economy government infrastructure
tends to lean towards big agribusiness and the small farmer is excluded.
Another principal missing in the whole scheme of market based agriculture
is the states obligation for the Right to Food. Consequently every tenth
U.S. citizen relies on food stamps to get sufficient food, which implies
their reliance on social programs. Therefore we know that western agriculture
fails at supplying food to people in a market based economy.
3. If development based on a market economy will lead to growth, will it satisfy the needs of the hungry?
No, with the economic growth of $100 the rich 20% of the population pocket
$83 and the poorest 20% get $1.40. This is how economic growth can further
marginalize the poor. Eradication of hunger is not defined in the rules
for economic growth. Economic growth devours non renewable resources, causing
the environment to be destroyed and the rural communities which depend on
it to be victims of economic growth, all because of the absence of Human
Rights in the economy.
4. What does the Right to Food mean? Can the existence of this Right
cause laziness among people?
The Right to Food is about respecting, protecting and fulfilling access
to food producing resource and work. Therefore, the Right to Food doesn't
make people lazy but busy, enabling themselves to by fed through adequate
food producing resources.
5. Would the Right to Food be asking for too much from the government,
and advocating for big government?
The Right to Food in the context of Human Rights doesn't mean that the state
is a super-entrepreneur determining and carrying out economic activities
according to its own wisdom. It means the Right to Feed oneself, which emphasized
dignity and self-reliance, very different from command economics of big
government.
6. Does the Right to Food require a moral reevolution of society, allowing
human rights to become the foundation of interpersonal ethics?
The Right to Food does require a moral revolution. However, the moral revolution
should not only be about interpersonal ethics, but in the duty to operationalize
the state's obligations to economic and social Human Rights.
7. Is hunger a violation of Human Rights?
Lack of access to food can have many reason. Failure of the state as one
of these reasons can be termed as a violation of Human Rights. It is , however
crucial that the state investigates the real cause of hunger and then take
steps to prevent future food deprivation.
8. Is the Right to Food about good governance?
Good governance is negotiable, Human Rights are not. The central concept
for Human Rights is the concept of "breach", the concept for good
governance is about political theory and statistical indicators. If the
state has the resources, but does not use them to fulfill needs, such as
people's access to food, this is not bad government or neglect but it is
often the intentional allocation of resources.
9. Is the Right to Food realized if nobody is hungry anymore?
Not necessarily. The Right to Food not only means that huger and malnutrition
are eradicated, but that future malnutrition can be eradicated by court
action or other comparable mechanisms holding the state accountable on its
obligations under the Right to Food.
10. Is the nature of Human Rights of the first generation (civil and
political) and the nature of the second generation (economic, social and
cultural rights) any different?
There are no different "generations of rights". The reduction
of Human Rights to civil rights was a secondary phenomenon of the 18th century.
The break-up of social and economic Human Rights allowed for the denial
of these, effecting the majority of humankind.
11. Is the Right to Food justifiable, meaning, can it be legally enforced?
Economic Human Rights have been affirmed and codified in international law.
However, Human Rights in general, and economic rights in general can only
become legally enforced if they enjoy broad public recognition, are used
as common terms of reference, are brought to the top of political agendas,
and if people from many different backgrounds collaborate to make all this
happen. Only a few centuries ago torture to extract confessions was taken
for granted as a necessary means to obtain confessions from the accused.
The same holds true for the cruelest forms of detention and execution, which
were deemed necessary to maintain law and order. This involves making use
of existing UN mechanisms and building new ones. The existing instruments
and mechanisms in international human rights law can be used and further
strengthened by civil society.
12. Aren't Human Rights something mainly to be dealt with at the United
Nations level? Should the FAO and the World Bank deal with the Right to
Food?
Human Rights were included in the UN charter, agreements were made between
state and civil society. There is a danger however, that Human Rights could
be alienated from civil society and be used as a tool in the hands of government
or intergovernmental institutions such as the UN or the World Bank. Human
Rights are tools for the oppressed to secure personal and political economic
security, of which the FAO and the World Bank have been accused of violating.
Therefore, civil society must forcefully persue the Right to Food to permanently
eradicate hunger.
| 
