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Agribusiness and the Right to Food

Report of Special Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter to the UN Human Rights Council

United Nations Human Rights Council, March 11, 2010

This report examines the role of commodity buyers, food processors and retailers in the realization of the right to food. These actors play a key role, as they connect producers to consumers, and as they transform raw commodities into edible food. But the vast majority of those who are hungry in the world today are part of the food system; small independent food producers or waged agricultural workers working on farms in the formal or informal sector represent over half of the billion who go hungry today. The report therefore asks how the sourcing, pricing, and wages policies of commodity buyers, food processors and retailers impact the right to food.

The report seeks to contribute to a better understanding, by agribusiness corporations and States alike, of their respective responsibilities and obligations under international law. It ends with 10 recommendations to States and the agribusiness sector to ensure that the current transformation of the food chain will contribute to the realization of the right to food. The recommendations relate to a range of areas, including codes of conduct and international framework agreements, cooperatives, marketing boards, public procurement, and competition law.

External Link: Agribusiness and the Right To Food [PDF]

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