20
dangerous products.60 For example, States should prevent third parties from destroying sources
of food by, for instance, polluting land and water with hazardous industrial or agricultural
products or destroying the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples to clear the way for mining, or
construction of dams, highways or industrial agriculture.61 The obligation to protect also includes
ensuring safe food in the market and and for this purpose, States must establish and enforce food
quality and safety standards, and ensure fair and equal market practices. Furthermore, States
should take the legislative and other measures needed to protect people from advertising and
promotions of unhealthy food.62
11.3 The obligation to fulfill the right to food
The obligation to fulfill incorporates both an obligation to facilitate and an obligation to provide.
The obligation to facilitate means the States must take proactive measures for strengthening
people’s access to and use of resources and means of ensuring their food security such as the
implementation of agrarian reform program or minimum income regulations.63
On the other hand, States have the obligation to provide, when individuals or groups are unable,
for reasons beyond their control, to enjoy the right to food. In such cases, states must provide
food assistance directly or ensuring social safety nets for the most deprived and for victims of
natural or other disasters.64
According to the ICESCR, the right to food will have to be realized progressively. However,
States have a core obligation to take the necessary action to mitigate and alleviate hunger even in
times of natural or other disasters.65
11.4 Progressive and Immediate Obligations
The ICESCR permits States to achieve the full realization of the right to food progressively.
Article 2 (1) of the ICESCR provides:
60
Christine Breining-Kaufmann, ‘The Right to Food and Trade in Agriculture’, in: Thomas Cottier, Joost Pauwelyn,
and Elisabeth Burgi, (eds.), Human Rights and International Trade, Oxford University Press, New York, 2005, p.
263.
61
Ibid, p. 18.
62
Ibid, p. 18.
63
Ibid p. 18.
64
Ibid, p. 19. See also General Comment, Para 15.
65
Para 6.