When former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro came to power in January 2019, one of his first acts in government was to abolish the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security (CONSEA), a body that had significantly reduced food insecurity and was universally praised. It was a major setback for the country that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) removed from its “hunger map” in 2014.
Bolsonaro’s decision immediately sparked a public protest mobilization that included the organization of large public banquets on the streets of many cities: the Banquetaço Nacional. At tables laden with healthy food, communities celebrated the resistance while demanding the right to adequate food and nutrition.
More information
Many people reiterated their political commitment and called for sustained mobilization during Bolsonaro’s four-year tenure through the People’s Conference on Food Sovereignty and Security, which meets every four years to oversee policy and develop proposals based on detailed analysis local and national analysis.
Immediately after taking office as Brazilian President in January, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reinstated CONSEA [dirigido por Elisabetta Recine, que firma este artículo]which will meet with the People’s Conference this year to hear proposals.
Deep inequality, structural discrimination and systemic violence have existed in food systems for too long. Today, citizens around the world are demanding change.
This spirit of resistance – if reproduced elsewhere – can transform food systems and alleviate the global hunger crisis exacerbated by the pandemic, climate change and war. In his capacity as UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri [otro autor de este artículo] attributed the increase in hunger indicators to “systemic violence and structural inequality in food systems”. According to him, this is “a central aspect of a global economy, which is sustained by interdependence relationships between individuals, countries, international financial institutions and companies.”
An estimated 258 million people were affected by acute food insecurity in 2022, the highest number since the Global Report on Food Crises began publishing data in 2017. In his introduction to this year’s report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the current crisis ” fundamental and systemic changes”.
To achieve this, the application of a human rights approach is essential. In Brazil, the shocking rise in food insecurity during Bolsonaro’s presidency was the result of policies that ignored marginalized people and violated their rights. For this reason, CONSEA promotes measures to fight hunger at its roots – for example structural racism and gender inequalities. We cannot continue to sustain unsustainable food systems that concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a few.
The UN guidelines on the right to food, adopted by the FAO in 2004, set out how the structural causes of discrimination and inequality in food systems can be tackled. These guidelines were the starting point for the implementation of various human, economic, social and cultural rights and have inspired countless legal and political reforms at the national level. They also promoted the development of a human rights-based set of standards and guidelines endorsed by the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), the UN General Assembly and other UN organizations including women, farmers, indigenous peoples, fishermen and others. groups were adopted.
The scandalous rise in food insecurity during Bolsonaro’s presidency was the result of policies that ignored marginalized people and violated their rights
In Brazil, national and international efforts have translated these principles into a set of policies and programs aimed at overcoming gender and racial discrimination, ensuring decent income and social protection, and the rights to land and water for women and farmers ensure. indigenous peoples, transhumanists and fishermen. These efforts have also spawned agroecology and food sovereignty initiatives that encourage the active participation of civil organizations and citizens, as well as school feeding programs offered on family farms.
Brazil is not unique: other governments are also implementing similar reforms. Local, regional and national food policy councils are being formed around the world, and in many countries parliamentary coalitions are working to pass legislation on the right to food.
Significantly stronger policy coordination between all levels of government is needed to enhance these efforts. The UN Human Rights Council and CFS have stressed the need for a coordinated response to the current food crisis. At the same time, civil society organizations, tribal peoples and scientists are warning against corporate cooptation of food policies and are calling for a UN-level corporate accountability framework.
Demands for change mount as we approach the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which will be celebrated in December. And the right to adequate food and nutrition is likely to be one of the most important issues (…)
With the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights proposing a human rights-based economy and Brazil gearing up to take over the rotating presidency of the G-20 in 2024, we could see ambitious proposals to promote the right to international food.
Deep inequalities, structural discrimination and systemic violence have existed in food systems for too long, and citizens around the world are demanding change. A transformation of this magnitude requires close collaboration between diverse people engaged in creative forms of resistance and progressive governments willing to listen and represent their interests. Respect for human rights must underpin all efforts to reduce acute food insecurity. This is the only way to create a sustainable and fair system that offers everyone enough food.
Michael Fakhri He is the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food.
Elisabetta Recine is President of the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security of Brazil (CONSEA).
Sofia Monsalve is Secretary General of FIAN International, an organization that defends human rights.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2023
Translation by Esteban Flamini
You can follow PLANETA FUTURO on TwitterFacebook and Instagram and subscribe to our “Newsletter” here.