Human Rights
The UNSCN Strategic Plan (2016-2020) states that UNSCN is guided by the human rights framework, particularly the right to adequate food and nutrition and it acknowledges that gender equality and realisation of women’s rights are central to achieve nutrition goals. Human rights should be respected, protected and promoted at all times, including in fragile and emergency contexts.
Agenda 2030 addresses malnutrition explicitly in Sustainable Development Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. However, it also includes a specific goal on inequalities, Goal 10: Reduce Inequalities within and among countries. ‘Leaving no one behind’ is a key principle of the post-2015 framework. It calls for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda to target all people, without bias or discrimination, to go beyond ‘averages’ and address inequalities of opportunity and outcome. The idea is to meet the Agenda’s goals for everyone, regardless of gender, race, caste, ethnic group, class, religion, disability, age, geographical location, sexual orientation and identity, health or any other status.
Agenda 2030 is designed to prompt action towards realizing food and nutrition for all, meaning that everyone should have access to an adequate diet that is healthy, nutritious, affordable and culturally appropriate. These global commitments to tackle malnutrition are rooted in the conviction that every human being has a right to adequate food and nutrition, and that not realizing this right makes other fundamental rights more difficult to uphold (right to survival, right to development, right to health). While there has been significant progress on reducing poverty and hunger at the global level in recent decades, malnutrition remains a day-to-day crisis, with one in three people malnourished in one form or another.
Latest content relevant to Human Rights
School Nutrition Inventory
20/12/2020 - School Nutrition Inventory, edition 1-2020 Schools offer an opportune and favorable setting to accelerate action and contribute to the systemic action required to end malnutrition in all its forms. [...]
Webinar: Critical Action for Nutrition Equity
23/07/2020 - Thrusday 23rd July, 10:00-11:30 (EDT) Register here Recent developments – including the COVID-19 pandemic – have highlighted that our food and nutrition systems have not treated [...]
Reducing Inequalities: SDG 10 Progress and Prospects
02/04/2019 - 2-3 April, 2019Geneva, Switzerland This two-day conference will look at the progress made on SDG 10, which calls for reduced inequalities. The outcomes from this conference will be used as inputs in [...]
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63)
11/03/2019 - 11-22 March 2019United Nations HQ, New York (USA) The sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) will take place at the UN HQ, New York from 11 to 22 March 2019. [...]
Independent Civil Society Report on the use and implementation of the Right to Food Guidelines
04/10/2018 - The CFS’ monitoring of the use and application of the RTF Guidelines comes at an important moment. The protection, promotion, and realization of human rights – including the [...]
UNSCN News 43: Advancing equity, equality and non-discrimination in food systems: Pathways to reform
01/09/2018 - Inherent barriers exist in food systems that prevent people from overcoming persistent and intergenerational malnutrition and poverty. To overcome these barriers and ensure that no one is left behind, [...]
A Child Rights-Based Approach to Food Marketing: A Guide for Policy Makers
21/06/2018 - Evidence gathered over the past 20 years indicates that marketing of unhealthy food is a key contributor to the growing rates of child overweight. New marketing channels, ever-evolving techniques, and [...]
Can a human rights based approach accelerate reduction of undernutrition and obesity?
26/04/2018 - Can a human rights based approach accelerate reduction of undernutrition and obesity was an international, interdisciplinary seminar hosted by the Department of Nutrition, University of [...]
UNSCN Discussion Paper - By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition and leave no one behind
18/04/2017 - The paper aims to present the centrality of nutrition in the current sustainable development agenda. It provides an overview of the numerous and inter-related nutrition targets that have been [...]
