“As the authors of this enlightening volume of the Watch make clear, nutritional adequacy and well-being are integral dimensions of the right to adequate food—and must be dealt with as such. Peoples’ nutrition and food sovereignty risk being undermined by predatory agri-business practices that relentlessly pursue maximum profit at all costs.”
Hilal Elver, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch report "Peoples Nutrition Is Not a Business" places the spotlight on nutrition and the impact of business operations on people’s livelihoods. In doing so, their assessment goes beyond the measurement of nutrients in food and human bodies to considering the socio-economic and cultural context in which human beings feed themselves. The paper also provides recommendations for states to prevent and punish initiatives that hamper the enjoyment of the right to adequate food and nutrition.
October 9, 2015 | Right to Food and Nutrition Watch
Peoples’ Nutrition Is Not a Business
Read the full paper here
Commonly referred to as ‘corporate capture’, the increasing control of businesses over food systems and resources, institutions, policy spaces and governance structures, is putting human rights at great risk. The world is witnessing this reality from the Americas to Asia, particularly since the 2008 world food crisis that shook societies across the globe. It is clear that the present economic model cannot guarantee the conditions for national governments to fulfill their human rights obligations, including the right to adequate food and nutrition.
Corporate-based approaches have led to an artificial separation of nutrition and sustainable food systems, resulting in vertical, technical and product-based solutions that ignore social, economic, political, environmental, health and cultural determinants. In a world where hundreds of millions go undernourished while half a billion suffer from obesity, communities worldwide see the prevention of corporate capture as a critical issue. Peoples’ nutritional sovereignty and core human rights principles are unalienable pillars in tackling inequity, oppression and discrimination and democratizing national and global societies.
The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2015 places nutrition under the spotlight and exposes the impact of business operations on peoples’ livelihoods. The concept of nutrition is assessed from a human rights perspective, going beyond the mere measurement of nutrients in food and human bodies to considering the socio-economic and cultural context in which human beings feed themselves.
“Peoples’ Nutrition Is Not a Business” explores the competing visions of nutrition, the causes of malnutrition and the policy responses, which often affect women disproportionately, both behind the scenes and in the public sphere. It uncovers pervasive corporate abuse and impunity, and puts forward recommendations for states to prevent and punish initiatives that hamper the enjoyment of the right to adequate food and nutrition.
Read the full paper here
