New publication which makes the link betwen healthy diets and human rights.
Poor diets constitute the leading cause of early deaths, accounting for 1 in 5 deaths globally. Undernutrition continues to take its tolls among young children, including by contributing to deaths from common infectious childhood diseases. With obesity on the rise, including in childhood, people are becoming further predisposed for non-communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes 2, and cardiovascular diseases.
Which obligations do governments have to protect their populations from unnecessary poor health? And what responsibility do food companies have with regards to promoting healthier diets?
Together with the research and action network FoHRC (Food, Human Rights and Corporations) and Norway’s National Nutrition Council, we have compiled a paper with contributions from a seminar we held at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights. With the title Human Rights and Healthy Diets, the seminar was pre-announced by asking: Does the food industry have a responsibility to respect the human right to adequate food and diet-related health. The paper has the same focus, and explores how human rights instruments and mechanisms can be used to promote corporate respect for human rights in the food sector and how to strengthen governments’ protective obligations vis -á-vis the human rights to adequate food and health.
The paper, which has been published by the Norwegian Centre for Human Right through its Occassional Paper Series, is available here.
