Congressional Briefing on the Right to Food


June 24, 2011

Cheryl Morden (IFAD) and Olivier de Schutter (U.N. Special Rapporteur). Photo: Karen Hansen-Kuhn, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Cheryl Morden (IFAD) and Olivier de Schutter (U.N. Special Rapporteur). Photo: Karen Hansen-Kuhn, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

On June 2, 2011 the Interfaith Working Group on Global Hunger and Food Security and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy sponsored a Congressional briefing on the right to food and sustainable approaches to food security.  Hosted by Congressman Jim McGovern (MA), the participants and attendees included staff from congressional offices, development and faith-based agencies and family farm organizations.

The Right to Food is a human right recognized in international law.  It is defined as the right of all people “to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural traditions of people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensures a physical and mental, individual and collective fulfilling and dignified life free of fear.”

Food security exists when “all people, at all times, have physical and economical access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary requirements for an active and healthy life.”

Yet approximately one billion people worldwide are hungry, and six million children die each year because of the lack of adequate food.

Speakers at the June 2 Congressional briefing included Olivier de Schutter, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Cheryl Morden, Director of the North American Liaison Office of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Susan Bradley of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and Timi Gerson, Washington Office Director of American Jewish World Service.

Mr. Schutter told the group assembled that the volume of available food is not the problem.  Rather, people living in poverty do not have money to purchase the food that is available.  Nor do they have the political power to influence food prices.  Furthermore, many farmers cannot afford the inputs required by unsustainable, agrochemical-based agriculture.  Such farming practices degrade the land, creating further production problems.  Adding to the challenges, getting adequate nutrition is a major issue, especially for young children.

Susan Bradley said that Feed the Future, the Obama Administration’s new global food security program, was seeking to improve analysis of the difficulties women farmers face, in order to take into account positions of power and to increase women’s access to extension services and financial resources.

Cheryl Morden stated that existing agrochemical-based approaches to intensifying agricultural production do not work and have major detrimental environmental consequences.  She indicated that IFAD focuses on community empowerment and capacity building, since the underlying problem is political and economic marginalization.

Timi Gerson reiterated the commitment of faith-based organizations to U.S. international aid programs that assist the efforts of local communities throughout the world to achieve food security and make the right to food a practical reality.

The Interfaith Working Group on Global Hunger and Food Security is a coalitional effort of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish organizations, including Church World Service.  It was formed in early 2010 to address a variety of global hunger concerns.  These include promoting agro-ecological approaches to agriculture development with an emphasis on small producers, helping shape the developing the Feed the Future program, advocating for Congressional support for Feed the Future and similar programs, working to reform food aid to include more local and regional purchase, and seeking a U.S. Farm Bill that supports rather than undermines small-holding farming in developing countries as well as in the United States.

Church World Service works around the world with partners to eradicate hunger and poverty.  It promotes food security with programs that provide inputs, protect land rights, support nutrition education and food diversification, and value indigenous knowledge.