The right to food
A/RES/71/191
37. Takes note with appreciation of the interim report of the Special
Rapporteur, 19 which addresses, inter alia, factors affecting nutrition, including
industrial food systems, unhealthy eating environments and the growing threat of
non-communicable diseases;
38. Recognizes the importance of giving due consideration to the adverse
impact of climate change and to the full realization of the right to food, takes note of
the Paris Agreement, adopted at the twenty-first session of the Conference of the
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in
Paris from 30 November to 13 December 2015, 20 and welcomes the organization of
the twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties in Marrakech, Morocco;
39. Also recognizes the impact of climate change and of the El Niño
phenomenon on agricultural production and food security around the world and the
importance of designing and implementing actions to reduce its effects, i n particular
on vulnerable populations, such as rural women, bearing in mind the role that they
play in supporting their households and communities in achieving food and nutrition
security, generating income and improving rural livelihoods and overall well -being;
40. Reiterates its support for the realization of the mandate of the Special
Rapporteur, and requests the Secretary-General and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to provide all the human and financial
resources necessary for its effective fulfilment;
41. Welcomes the work already done by the Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights in promoting the right to adequate food, in particular its general
comment No. 12 (1999) on the right to adequate food (article 11 of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), 21 in which the Committee
affirmed, inter alia, that the right to adequate food is indivisibly linked to the
inherent dignity of the human person, indispensable for the fulfilment of other
human rights enshrined in the International Bill of Human Rights and inseparable
from social justice, requiring the adoption of appropriate economic, environmental
and social policies, at both the national and the international levels, oriented to t he
eradication of poverty and the fulfilment of all human rights for all;
42. Recalls general comment No. 15 (2002) of the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights on the right to water (articles 11 and 12 of the
Covenant), 22 in which the Committee noted, inter alia, the importance of ensuring
sustainable access to water resources for human consumption and agriculture in
realization of the right to adequate food;
43. Reaffirms that the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive
Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security,
adopted by the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations in November 2004, 7 represent a useful tool to promote the realization of the
right to food for all, contribute to the achievement of food security, and thus provide
an additional instrument in the attainment of internationally agreed development
goals and to support national Governments in the implementation of food security
and nutrition policies, programmes and legal frameworks;
_______________
19
A/71/282.
See FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, decision 1/CP.21, annex.
21
See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2000, Supplement No. 2 and corrigendum
(E/2000/22 and Corr.1), annex V.
22
Ibid., 2003, Supplement No. 2 (E/2003/22), annex IV.
20
9/10