Right to Food an Instance to Human Rights

After reading the extensive “The New Face of Hunger” (Tracie McMillan), my eyes became more open to the overall issue of hunger, faced by many people today. In a few words, I was absolutely shocked by the true meaning and examples provided of what exactly food insecurity is. Honestly speaking, when I hear the word “hunger” I think of a human who has no food, living on the streets. “The New Face of hunger” brought to my attention that food insecurity is much more than simply having no food. In fact, “In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t have enough food to eat” (The New Face of Hunger). Not only was I able to see the harsh

Importantly, it deeply explores many factors of the hunger problem, from subsides to health effects but it everything to the central issue of

The second part of Megan Carney (2015) focused on the various different food assistance programs and solutions for food insecurity. Across the country there are countless of organizations and programs that aim at assisting and improving food insecurity among marginalized communities. The truth of the matter is, that there are structural issues in the government that prevent individuals from making enough to support themselves and their families. It is hard to comprehend how the United States disagrees in recognizing food and its access to food as an inalienable human rights (Carney 2015). No one should be denied access to nutritious food.

Nutrition is important for healthy life. Many people are still hungry around the world even though there is mass production of food. This is because of unhealthy food production. In today’s world we see many obese people because of high intake of high fat and cholesterol containing food. It is important to have a healthy diet/ nutritional intake for individuals to have good foundation for physical and mental health. Now a day’s healthy food is getting more expensive rather than unhealthy food. Poor people are forced to eat unhealthy food, while the rich can afford to eat whatever the please. Food insecurity is caused by individuals not having healthy food for their families due to their low income or political and

Many moral theories have been proposed to understanding our obligations and responding to the perceived injustices present in the world such as world hunger and world poverty, two of the most prominent of these theories are utilitarianism, and human rights. In her essay ‘Rights, Obligations, and World Hunger’, Onora O’Neill critically examines these theories and highlights their inadequacy towards understanding our obligations towards alleviating world poverty, then goes on to propose a third alternative theory to the aforementioned theories, which she believes is better suited. The theory she proposes is that of the Kantian ethical theory developed by 18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant. This theory is indeed the best suited to understanding our obligations to alleviating world poverty. Before expounding on the Kantian theory that O’Neill proposes, and why it is the optimal approach for understanding our obligations to those suffering from world poverty, I will very briefly summarise the other two moral theories, and explain why O’Neill is correct in her assessment that they are inadequate to dealing with the problem at hand.

Richard Robbins explores and analyzes the creation and the upkeep of hunger in his book “Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. Each day, over a billion people in the world lack basic food needs. Common misunderstandings about world hunger are that it is the result of insufficient food production, famine is the common reason for hunger and that hunger is caused by overpopulation. Robbins argues against that theory and says that famines is not the leading cause of hunger and hunger is not due to overpopulation or insufficient food production. “Food production is not determined by the global need for food; it is determined on how many people have the means for it” (page 176). The documentary “The End of Poverty” reinforces Robbins belief that food is a commodity.

The reality of hunger is one that is often suppressed and denied around the world. One huge misconception is that everyone who is hungry does not have a job. People argue that hunger is the fault of the person who cannot afford food. If they were really hungry, then they would have done something about it right? Surely, they aren’t actually hungry otherwise, they would have gotten a real job. Sadly, the victims of food insecurity not only have to face the challenges of hunger but also have to listen to the biting criticism of other citizens. Just as Quindlen said, the first step to ending hunger is recognizing

Food is a necessary part of ever individual’s daily life. Without food, the body cannot function properly, resulting in poor health, exhaustion, and even death by starvation. Therefore, food insecurity continues to be an international global epidemic. The journal article by Harrigan suggests that the citizens of the Sub-Saharan African country of Malawia are in further poverty due to their lack of food and agricultural resources. The newspaper article from the Guardian tells the real life story of African citizens struggling to farm and find food due to the crop shortages that have spanned Africa for the past two years. This is a current global issue, and the journal and news article prove that there is much to be done in order to help restore

However, there is a presently marked difference between the right to be free from hunger and the right to food. Where the right to be free from hunger recognizes an arbitrary quantity of food required for survival, the right to food must conceptualize the humanity in its populace. There has to be a careful consideration for the people who the law affects, "people in statistical or abstract and idealized economic systems need only ingest sufficient calories, proteins, vitamins, etc. They just need a certain 'intake' of food. But for real human beings the quality of the access to food is what always counts" (Künnermann and Epa-Ratjen 3). Food quality and cultural suitability for its consumer is significant, in addition to a right to food, people also have a right to dignity. To deny one's dignity is to deny their citizenship to the state, as well as their humanity. Consciously thinking about hungry peoples' personhood is multifaceted, it is not just about considering their calorie intake, but recognizing both the nutritional and cultural aspects of eating. Moreover, a person's right to food should not negate any of their other rights, including the right to religious freedom. Hungry individuals should not have to compromise their convictions to eat. While

World Food Summit defines food security as: “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. (World Food Summit, 1996) On the contrary, the food insecurity means the situation people who are lack of food or nutrition. A person who lives in such situation for a very long time cannot access enough nutritious food to be healthy. Additionally, food insecurity can be chronic, seasonal or transitory (FAO, 2000). At present, the

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (2012), defines food security as “when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (para. 1). The human right to have access to food is fundamental. There are many meal assistance services within Australia that aim to improve food security and fight hunger. FairShare is a food charity organisation that rescues and accepts donated food to cook nutritious meals each week for those in need. FairShare’s vision is “a society where food is not wasted and hunger is minimised” (FairShare, 2014).

Food security is historically defined as the overall regional, national as well as global food supply and shortfalls in supply as associated to requirements (Foster, 1992). The same author contended that, even though, the increased observation of differences in the sufficiency of food intake by certain groups despite overall adequacy of supply, the term has been applied recently at a local, household, or individual level and it has been widened beyond notions of food supply to include elements of access (Sen, 1981), vulnerability (Watts and Bohle, 1993), and sustainability (Chambers, 1989). Different organizations, scholars and institutions define food security differently. However, basic concept remains the same.

Cases of relief foods or deaths associated with hunger have been witnessed. This is a situation which directly interprets to violation of human rights. Every individual in a nation that upholds the human rights of its people should be well protected to live a respectable life. Poverty eradication can be eliminated efficiently by involving the affected people. They have knowledge on what they are lacking based on violation of rights. They should also be involved in all development projects to ascertain that all the hindrances that affect development are eliminated (Chong, 45). Governments and stakeholders ought to avoid capitalizing on the enlightened and already established people. Instead, they should ensure that people enjoy all their rights. For instance, people’s right to religion ought to be respected to allow them worship without any

The food supply should, at least, cover the nutritional needs that provide most of the essential nutrients. In terms of quantity and quality, having access to adequate food is extremely fundamental in the rights to adequate food. This is clearly defined with the lack of nutrients, protein, and calories leading to hunger and malnutrition. This is a consequence of food deprivation. Lack of both quantity and quality of food is a result of poverty within certain parts of the world. According to Yolanda Williams, “Absolute poverty refers to a condition where a person does not have the minimum amount of income needed to meet the minimum requirements for one or more basic living needs over an extended period of time.” The necessities involved with absolute poverty, but not limited to, are food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, and health. Adequate food is also a fundamental right with the standard right to adequate living. “An adequate standard of living is either a result of a transfer or seen as something earned in return for eco­nomic activities, like wage labor, self-employment, providing goods, services or means of production” (The Right to Adequate Food ). In many circumstances, lecturing the right to have food means that we (and our government) would need to address whether or not families can afford to feed themselves. This is ensured by the family or even a

Food is one of the basic needs of a human being to survive. All of us depend on food for having a good health, therefore with the lack of food many people will be starving and malnourished.