Statement of the Members and Friends of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition
Statement of the members and friends of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition
Annual meeting, Kathmandu, 20 to 22 July, 2015
We, the members and friends of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition (GNRtFN) from social movements and civil society organizations (CSOs), met in Kathmandu for the third global meeting of the network.
Even as we discuss ways to achieve the full realization of the human right to adequate food and nutrition, the threats to food sovereignty and people's control over resources increase with each passing day.
We are meeting at a moment when the struggle against the corporate capture of the food system, where global trade agreements undermine the rights of people and the capacities of governments to respect, protect and fulfill the human right to adequate food and nutrition, has intensified.
It is a period in which traditional and local indigenous knowledge, practices and foods are replaced by low-quality, ultra-processed food that perpetuate hunger and malnutrition in all of its forms.
The land, water, forests, other natural resources, livelihoods, identity and physical existence of many communities and indigenous peoples are threatened. In many cases, people have paid with their lives in their struggle to secure the right to adequate food and nutrition.
A period in which women continue to have to fight patriarchy in every sphere of their life resulting in the disproportionate load of unpaid care responsibilities at home and affecting their access to education, health care, fair wages, natural resources, and even control over their own bodies and lives.
A period when conflicts, instability, land, ocean, fisheries, rangelands, forests and other resource grabbing, climate change, injustices and economic uncertainties have resulted in unprecedented numbers of people being displaced and migrating to seek livelihoods and security.
But there is hope, as Nepal, which is recovering from a devastating earthquake, had the first public consultation on July 20th, 2015 in hundreds of locations across the country, to debate and deliberate the draft Constitution, which enshrines food sovereignty.
Read more: English | French (FIAN website)
The Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition was launched in 2013 and is facilitated by FIAN International. SID has joined the network in 2015. Read more here about the network and the annual meeting.
Photo: Himalaya, Michael Foley, Flickr