Enacting a Law to secure right to food

FIRST ever South Asia Right to Food Conference was held in Dhaka during May 30-31 and June 1, 2015. The Conference brought forth issues immensely important for the people of the region to protect their right to food and to promote their human rights. Experts on the issue and concerned persons discussed and emphasised wide range of issues encompassing social, economic, administrative and political aspects of the right to food. Naturally, discussions often centered round the problem of poverty which itself is one of the main violators of human rights and human dignity in the South Asia Region.

By FAO statistics, of nearly 795 million people of the world who do not have enough food at present to eat, about 281.4 million live in South Asia. These figures, however, underestimate the real picture of food insecurity, because there are countless cases of hidden hunger, nutritional deficiency and unsafe food. Although economic underdevelopment, underproduction and resource constraints are the reasons for food and nutritional insecurity, this is not the whole story. 

History witnessing, despite sufficient food production and availability of resources, there took place at different time and different places acute food shortage for many people, even famine disrupting life of an entire nation. Bengal famine in 1876 and 1941 are grim examples. This led Professor Amartya Sen to come with his famous theory on Entitlement to find out the causes of food crisis and famine. His main focus is the man-made factors of reaching food to those who need them most. Problem is transportation, communication and other physical facilities of carrying and reaching the food, as well as the people responsible for administering and arranging these facilities. When food does not reach the people, they are deprived of their right to entitlement to food. This problem needs to be addressed.

In spite of substantial increase of food production and near self-sufficiency in food, we are yet to provide for full food and nutritional security. We still have many empty stomachs and hungry mouths. Besides increasing food production, Bangladesh, therefore, relentlessly continues her programs of Vulnerable Group Feeding, Vulnerable Group Development, Food for Work, Test Relief etc. The problem of food security more or less prevails in other countries of our region as well. Regional cooperation and sharing the experiences as well as collective efforts to resolve the problem are necessary. Move to create a SAARC Food Bank is a commendable step taken. Pledges to contribute to the Bank have already been made by the member states. The Bank is expected to be operational sooner than later to help face food-crisis situation anywhere in the region.

Can any legal obligation be imposed on the government to guarantee food security or to provide for right to food for its people? Perhaps it cannot be in absolute sense. But certain concrete legal obligations can definitely be put on the government to undertake measures to minimize problem of food security in general and to compulsorily reach food to certain categories of people or to certain age groups.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 have bound the states to secure for their citizens economic and food rights. Although ICESCR has made this right contingent upon the availability of resources, this condition is to be understood in a qualified way as to make the government of the state responsible for making all out efforts and take compulsory measures to make good for resource constraints.

Article 15 of the Constitution of Bangladesh provides for fundamental responsibility of the state to secure to its citizens basic necessities of life including food. It may be argued that this provision being merely one of the state policies is not justiciable and hence not enforceable by any court of law. However, right to life as a fundamental right entrenched in the Constitution is justiciable and enforceable. But what would right to life mean if a person has no access to adequate food?  So the courts in the countries of South Asia especially in India have explained and qualified right to life to include right to food.

India has adopted a special law in 2013 to secure right to food, making this right justiciable and legally enforceable. The law applies only to special categories of people who do not have sufficient food for their subsistence. Other countries in the region are also considering various legal frameworks to make sure one's life is not at stake for want of food. Considering present level of food production and government's concerns and priority for making the society free from hunger, it is desirable and possible Bangladesh go for such an enactment. Of course, it would be applicable to the most-needy and specified categories of people and age groups.

A special law to provide for right to food and nutritional security would invariably lead to the following obligations and imperatives on the government:

1.    To oblige the government to intensify its efforts to further increase production of food;

2.    to take necessary steps to prevent wastage of food;

3.    to take special care to enhance transport, communication and other physical facilities to reach food to those who need them most;

4.    to build more infrastructural facilities to increase storage of food to face any crisis of food specially during natural calamities.

Enactment of a special law to provide for food and nutritional security and to ensure right to food specially to the most vulnerable and make the right legally enforceable is likely to intensify the government efforts for more production of food, reduction of wastage and improving transport and  communication net-work for carriage of food.

The writer is Professor of Law at University of Chittagong currently on deputation as Member, Law Commission, Bangladesh.