Abstract

PIP:

This article presents an overview of the recurring themes presented at the 26th Session of the Administrative Committee on Coordination/Sub-Committee on Nutrition (ACC/SCN) symposium entitled ¿The Substance and Politics of a Human Rights Approach to Food and Nutrition Policies and Programmes¿, held on April 12-13, 1999. The symposium consists of speeches delivered by High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland, and other senior officials from various international organizations. Among the main topics discussed were the adoption of human rights perspective and food and nutrition related indicators. This article also focused on the need to develop an explicit conceptual and legislative framework to clarify what constitutes a violation and develop mechanisms to obtain information on violations. Issues involving enforcement and allocation were some of the questions that emerged from the ACC/SCN symposium. As an end result, the symposium demonstrated the potential of the human rights approach in accelerating the decline in malnutrition rates. The challenge, therefore, is on the way to make this approach a reality for all parties concerned.