International Obligations and the Right to Food : Clarifying the Potentials and Limitations in Applying a Human Rights Approach When Facing Biofuels Expansion

Despite an enhanced emphasis on the human right to adequate food in the last decade, this has not had a measurable effect on the number of undernourished persons around the world. Rather, the number of hungry persons has increased from 800 million in 1996 (the year of the World Food Summit) to more than 925 million today. Acknowledging that enough food is produced globally to enable everyone to have an adequate food intake, the article analyzes the international dimensions of the right to food as recognized in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), particularly the international obligations that can be read out from the relevant provisions. The ICESCR recognizes the right to food by applying strong wording, and some of its provisions have not been adequately observed in order to provide for alternative policies. It is the lack of political will of the States which explains the increase in the number of hungry persons globally, not the human rights system per se. Moreover, the ICESCR is not formulated in a manner which provides for a substantive overhaul of the international economic system, even if the States must change their conduct to comply with the ICESCR