Freedom From Want

by Kent, George; Ziegler, Jean

• ISBN13: 9781589010550
• ISBN10: 1589010558
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-06-01
• Publisher: Georgetown Univ Pr

Summary

"Freedom from Want makes it clear that feeding people will not solve the problem of hunger, for feeding programs can only be a short-term treatment of a symptom, not a cure. The real solution lies in empowering the poor. Governments, in particular, must ensure that their people face enabling conditions that allow citizens to provide for themselves. In a wider sense, Kent brings an understanding of human rights as a universal system, applicable to all nations on a global scale. If, as Kent argues, everyone has a human right to adequate food, it follows that those who can empower the poor have a duty to see that right implemented, and the obligation to be held morally and legally accountable, for seeing that that right is realized for everyone, everywhere.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	xiii
Foreword	xv
Jean Ziegler
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction: Taking Rights Seriously	1	(6)
PART I FOUNDATIONS
Food and Nutrition	7	(18)
Malnutrition	7	(2)
Causes of Malnutrition	9	(3)
Growth Measurement	12	(2)
Numbers of Malnourished People	14	(1)
Malnutrition and Mortality	15	(2)
Comparative Mortality	17	(4)
Food and Nutrition Security	21	(2)
Varieties of Government Action	23	(2)
The International Human Rights System	25	(20)
Historical Foundations	25	(1)
International Humanitarian Law	26	(2)
The International Bill of Human Rights	28	(4)
Children's Rights	32	(1)
Regional Human Rights Agreements	33	(1)
Human Rights Agencies	34	(3)
United Nations Charter Bodies	37	(3)
United Nations Treaty Bodies	40	(1)
Civil Society Organizations	41	(1)
Informal Civil Society	42	(3)
Adequate Food Is a Human Right	45	(18)
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights	45	(2)
Food in International Human Rights Law	47	(2)
Food in International Humanitarian Law	49	(1)
Global Declarations and Commitments	50	(4)
General Comment 12	54	(2)
The Special Rapporteur	56	(2)
The Voluntary Guidelines	58	(5)
PART II HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEMS
Human Rights, Governance, and Law	63	(17)
Human Rights and Governance	63	(3)
Studying Human Rights in National Governance	66	(4)
The Role of National Law	70	(7)
Universal Human Rights and the Role of International Law	77	(3)
Rights and Entitlements	80	(18)
Definition	80	(1)
Moral versus Legal Rights	81	(2)
Soft versus Hard Rights	83	(2)
Rights as Goals	85	(6)
Rights Imply Entitlements	91	(3)
Determining Local Entitlements	94	(2)
Having versus Realizing Rights	96	(2)
Obligations and Commitments	98	(28)
Moral Responsibilities	98	(3)
When Do Governments Do Human Rights Work?	101	(2)
Levels of Government Obligation	103	(7)
Economic Rights	110	(3)
The Obligation of Good Governance	113	(3)
Obligations of Nonstate Actors	116	(4)
Questionable Charity	120	(6)
Accountability Mechanisms	126	(17)
Varieties of Accountability	126	(3)
Justiciability	129	(3)
Remedies for Rights Holders	132	(2)
National and Local Human Rights Agencies	134	(3)
Accountability through Public Action	137	(6)
PART III APPLICATIONS
India	143	(8)
The Supreme Court Case	144	(1)
Starvation Is Not the Problem	145	(1)
The Missing Piece in India's Rights System	146	(1)
The Tamil Nadu Integrated Nutrition Project	147	(4)
Brazil	151	(5)
The United States	156	(7)
Feeding Infants	163	(10)
Breast-Feeding Rights	164	(1)
Infants' Human Right to Adequate Food	165	(2)
Principles	167	(3)
Women's Right to Breast-Feed versus Infants' Right to Be Breast-Fed	170	(3)
Feeding Infants of HIV-Positive Mothers	173	(14)
Official Guidance on HIV/AIDS and Infant Feeding	173	(1)
Issues	174	(6)
A Court Case	180	(2)
Informed Choice	182	(3)
Principles	185	(2)
Water	187	(6)
The Household Water Problem	187	(2)
Water Rights Are Different	189	(2)
General Comment 15	191	(2)
Trade	193	(8)
Issues	193	(3)
The Human Right to Adequate Food in Relation to Trade	196	(1)
Reconciling Different Frameworks	197	(2)
Food Sovereignty	199	(2)
Refugees	201	(13)
Issues in Refugee Nutrition	201	(1)
Explanations and Justifications for Uneven Services	202	(3)
The Human Right to Adequate Food	205	(1)
The Adequacy Question	206	(3)
Specifying the Obligations	209	(2)
Limiting the Obligations	211	(1)
The Work Ahead	212	(2)
International Humanitarian Assistance	214	(7)
Issues	214	(3)
Rights to Assistance	217	(1)
The Provider's Motivation	218	(1)
Implementation	219	(2)
Global Human Rights	221	(12)
Global Rights and Global Obligations	221	(3)
Global Accountability	224	(1)
Strategic Planning	225	(8)
Sources	233	(4)
References	237	(20)
Index	257