Going Hungry? The Human Right to Food in the UK

Going Hungry?The Human Right to Food in the UKA Case Study of ICESCR Monitoring in the UK

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Article 11(1) ICESCR… recognises the right of everyone to an adequate

standard of living, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.

Article 11(2) guarantees the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger

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UK Right to Food ObligationsThe UK has signed and ratified, and is therefore

legally bound by, the ICESCR.

The UK reports to the CESCR on a five yearly basis regarding implementation of the ICESCR, including the right to food, in the UK.

The UK Government will submit the state report for the sixth CESCR periodic review in June 2014, with the last review having taken place in 2009.

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Human Right to Adequate, Accessible and Available FoodAccording to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), Article 11 ICESCR guarantees the right to adequate, accessible and available food.

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Human Right to Adequate Food

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Human Right to Adequate FoodAdequacy: food must satisfy dietary needs, taking

into account the individual’s age, living conditions, health, occupation, sex, etc.

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Positive StepsThe Government have introduced policies to tackle modern malnutrition and obesity:Free school meals plan, ‘Healthy Lives, Healthy People' action plan on

obesity, Improved food labelling and new guidance on

physical activity

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From 2007 to 2012, expenditure on food in the UK rose by 19.9%, but the actual volume of food consumed declined by 7.3%(Centre for Economics and Business Research, 2013)

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Average calorie density of households’ purchases increased by 4.8%, on average, between 2005–07 and 2010–12(Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2013)

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Number of malnutrition related admissions to hospital in England has increased by 74% since 2008-09, in correlation with food bank usage (British Medical Journal, 2013)

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Human Right to Adequate Food CONCLUSION: Available evidence highlights a worrying

trend of backward steps (i.e. retrogression) with regard to the right to adequate food

RECOMMENDATION: Review and revise policies for tackling malnutrition, taking into account the correlation between rising food bank usage and increased malnutrition related hospital admissions.

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Human Right to Accessible Food

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Human Right to Accessible FoodEconomic accessibility: food must be affordable.

Individuals should be able to afford food for an adequate diet without compromising on any other basic needs, such as school fees, medicines or rent.

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Positive Steps

March 2014, raise minimum wage to £6.50 per hour (and call for £7) to tackle ´cost of living crisis´

Sept’ to November 2013, the percentage of people in work reached 72.1%, up by 450,000 a year earlier

Real wage growth averaged 2.9% in the 1970s and 1980s, 1.5% in the 1990s, 1.2% in 2000s, but has fallen to minus 2.2% since the first quarter of 2010

(Labour Market Survey, 2013)

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Food prices have risen by 22% in the UK between January 2007 and May 2013

(Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2013)

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Fall in Real Food Expenditure (Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2013)

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Trussell Trust food voucher distribution by type of crisis – 18.45% due to low income (Trussell Trust, 2013)

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170% Rise in Food bank Usage (Trussell Trust, 2013)

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UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food (The Guardian, 2013)

“... Food banks should not be seen as a "normal" part of national safety nets … Food banks depend on donations, and they are often run by volunteers: they are charity-based, not rights-based, and they should not be seen as a substitute for the robust social safety nets to which each individual has a right.”

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DEFRA “Household Food Security in the UK: A Review of Food Aid” (DEFRA, 2014)

While "food aid may provide immediate relief for household members ... [it] has a limited impact on overall household food security status", and "is not able to address and overcome wider determinants (root causes) of household food insecurity."

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Right to Accesible FoodCONCLUSION: While the Department for Work

and Pensions policy of food bank ´signposting´ may help to provide immediate relief against hunger, by providing a minimum package of calories, proteins and other specific nutrients, it fails to achieve progressively the full realisation of the right to adequate food

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Right to Accesible Food1. RECOMMENDATION: While taking into account

the rising costs of living, including food, fuel and housing prices, investigate whether incomes are inadequate to guarantee the right to food for all.

2. RECOMMENDATION: Take immediate steps to ensure that food banks are not used as a substitute for a comprehensive social security system administered by the state.

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National Human Right to Food Strategy

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Human Right to Food Strategy

CONCLUSION: Individual right to food-related policies, such as the free schools meals plan, though progressive in their own right, cannot guarantee the right to adequate food for everyone in the UK, unless they are connected through an overarching national rights-based food strategy.

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Human Right to Food Strategy

RECOMMENDATION Formulate a national right to food strategy and action plan, which incorporates indicators, benchmarks and time-bound targets. This strategy should include the following: Urgent assessment of the state of enjoyment of the right to

food in the UK; Monitoring of DWP ´sign-posting´ to food banks; Right to food impact assessments for all new legislation.

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