30 years supporting the struggle for the right to food and nutrition
Today, 30 years ago, FIAN International was founded with the strong conviction that effective and persistent action promulgating the right to food required the establishment of an international organization based on grassroots groups in the north and south alike. With no other similar setup at the time, the core objective was to work towards a world free of hunger. The institutionalization of right to food activism was seen as a means for the international community to assert and demand accountability with respect to this very fundamental right.
Back in the 1980s, incidents of hunger were mostly the result of unresolved historical root causes, such as landlessness (or land ownership by just a few elites), the discrimination of most marginalized groups, gaps in human rights international and national law, or just everything at once. And, with the consolidation of globalization a decade later, though the problems did not drastically change in nature, new governance structures and actors involved in abuses and violations of the right to food quickly started to emerge. The private sector, and more specifically, transnational corporations began to gain ground in global governance.
The role of colonial and post-colonial elites was slowly but steadily taken over by corporations throughout the 1990s. With time, corporations were not only allowed to grab natural resources that belong to the people, but also started to determine how we have to feed ourselves (our nutrition, so to speak). In the last two decades, the rise of authoritarianism and nationalism in a new guise has done nothing but contribute to the erosion of the human rights system. As some already foresaw at an early stage, this socio-political and economic transition placed us between the devil and the deep blue sea.
During the last three decades, FIAN International has been navigating these turbulent waters. And with such a complex and challenging context, the work of the organization has moved progressively towards a more comprehensive, all-encompassing approach of the right to food and nutrition. These years have reaffirmed a vision where the fulfilment of all rights is crucial to guaranteeing quality, culturally acceptable and quantity nutritious food for all. Working with the social movements and local communities and unifying scattered struggles by connecting groups affected by human rights abuses and violations is just underlining in every endeavor.
On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, and 50 years after the adoption of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, FIAN International will launch the monthly ‘The Struggle for the Right to Food and Nutrition’ series, which look into today’s world right to food. The series will review both current trends as well as the link between the realization of the right to food and all human rights.
For more information, please contact delrey[at]fian.org