Human Rights Online Philippines

End Hunger in the Philippines, adopt a Right to Adequate Food Framework Law

Quezon City -Super Typhoon Yolanda (also known by its international name as ‘Haiyan’) has caused unprecedented devastation in the Philippines.

“It is therefore necessary for the Philippine Government to consider climate change from a human rights-based perspective, and, in the process, to align its climate policies, with the right to adequate food. Climate change-induced super typhoons and other similar events, compromise food production and supply, and interfere with the enjoyment of the right to adequate food”, the National Food Coalition said in a statement.

The NFC, a group calling for the adoption of a right to adequate food framework law in the Philippines, has also expressed solidarity with the victims of the typhoon. “We express our deepest sympathies for those who have lost relatives and friends. We likewise express our heartfelt gratitude to the local and global community, which have provided humanitarian aid, accompanied by words of encouragement in our time of need. This has given us much reason to hope. Everyday, with the ongoing search and rescue operations, as we sift through the debris, and the death toll mounts, we realize more and more the extent to which we are subject to Mother Nature’s power, and being at the mercy of her fury.”

The NFC is composed of over 50 organizations and federations with more than 10,000 members from the urban poor, peasants, indigenous peoples, fisherfolk and the middle class. The NFC has highlighted the main drivers of hunger in the country like poverty, inequality and the resulting failure of the poor to access available resources.

“We appreciate the Philippine Government’s ongoing disaster and relief efforts. Certainly, fulfilling the right to adequate food of those affected is central to these efforts. Super Typhoon Yolanda has interrupted the people’s enjoyment of this basic human right, taking its toll especially on the most vulnerable in our midst,” the NFC statement.

But the group also stressed that “the time for the Philippine Government to act could have been sooner. For the Philippine Government, disaster risk reduction is essential. It includes protecting people’s livelihoods from shocks, and strengthening their capacity to recover from disasters, such as super typhoons.”

“Concrete and meaningful steps must be taken early on to prevent a crisis from happening, or at least, to mitigate its effects, to save precious life. There is an urgent need for the Philippine Government, in embarking on disaster risk reduction, and in considering climate change from a human rights-based perspective, to ensure the right to adequate food. This is the right of the people to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access, either directly or through purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food, which corresponds to their cultural traditions, and which ensures a physically and mentally, individually and collectively, fulfilling and dignified life that
is free of fear” said Aurea Miclat-Teves NFC Convenor.

“Clear and comprehensive polices that promote the right to adequate food are urgently needed. In this context, we reiterate our call for the immediate adoption in the Philippines of a right to adequate food framework law”, the NFC statement added.

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