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schemes Article 14 states that the State must ensure that “women have a right to own, use or
otherwise control housing, land and property on an equal basis with men, and to access necessary
resources to do so, and ensure that women have access to or control over means of food
production, and actively to address customary practices under which women are not allowed to
eat until the men are fully fed, or are only allowed less nutritious food.” The CEDAW also
guarantees adequate nutrition for women during pregnancy and lactation (art. 12).
Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of Child, 1989 states that children have the right to a
standard of living that is good enough to meet their physical and mental needs. Governments
should help families and guardians who cannot afford to provide this, particularly with regard to
food, clothing and housing.
Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 recognises that
people with disabilities have the right to an adequate standard of living including food, water,
clothing and housing, and to effective social protection including poverty reduction and public
housing programs. The right to an adequate standard of living is intrinsically linked with the
right to food.
The right to food is also recognized implicitly through other rights under human rights
instruments. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has interpreted the right to
food as being implicitly protected under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
(1981) through the right to life, the right to health, and the right to economic, social and cultural
development. The Rome Declaration on World Food Security reaffirm the right of everyone to
have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the
fundamental right of everyone to be hunger.
According to the Human Rights Committee under the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (1966), the protection of the right to life requires States to adopt positive
measures, such as measures to eliminate malnutrition. The Committee against Torture under the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(1984), has pointed out that lack of adequate food in prisons may be tantamount to inhuman and
degrading treatment.