Third Committee Approves 11 Drafts Covering Use of Mercenaries, Women in Rural Areas, Unilateral Coercive Measures amid Sparring over Right to Food | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases

9 November 2021

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The Committee approved a draft on the right to food by a recorded vote of 180 in favour to 2 against (Israel, United States), with 0 abstentions, expressing alarm that in 2020, the number of people lacking access to adequate food rose by 320 million - to 2.4 billion - amounting to nearly a third of the world's population, and that between 720 million and 811 million people faced hunger.

"Hunger is a violation of human dignity", Cuba's delegate asserted. Presenting the draft, he voiced concern that the United States has blocked consensus on the text for four years. The United States representative — highlighting conditions in the Lake Chad Basin, Yemen and Somalia ‑ said the draft contains unbalanced and inaccurate positions that her delegation simply cannot support. The concept of food sovereignty could justify food protectionism, negatively impacting food security, she explained, adding that the United States does not recognize the right to food, as it lacks a definition in international law.

  • Mike_Penis [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    do these votes even result in anything though?

    • JuneFall [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      They result in people dunking on the US and with each one that gets publicized the image of the US and its factual effect gets chipped away more and more.

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_food

      The right is derived from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which has 170 state parties as of April 2020. States that sign the covenant agree to take steps to the maximum of their available resources to achieve progressively the full realization of the right to adequate food, both nationally and internationally. In a total of 106 countries the right to food is applicable either via constitutional arrangements of various forms or via direct applicability in law of various international treaties in which the right to food is protected

      What does this amount to in practice? No idea. But I have to assume some degree of policy is following from these agreements, if for no other reason than local leadership has an interest in keeping food supplies available to their supporting constituencies.