Brazilian Congress approves incorporation of the Right to Food to national constitution
On February 3, 2010, the Brazilian Congress approved the Constitutional Amendment Project (PEC in Portuguese) 047/2003, to incorporate the Right to Food as a fundamental right in the national constitution. The Right to Food will be included in article 6 of Brazil's supreme law that already contemplates other social rights such as the right to work, health, education, and social security.
The project was first presented by Senator Antônio Carlos Valadares in 2003. As a constitutional amendment requires, it went through a long process of debates in commissions to be approved in two instances in each house of the Congress. The project was also promoted by the on line campaign “Food is a right for all”, supported by FIAN Brazil and other civil society organizations, which collected over 50,000 signatures from people throughout the country.
The Brazilian Constitution recognizes a wide range of economic, social and cultural rights. Since 2003, the country has advanced significantly the legislation regarding the Human Right to Adequate Food with the Organic Law on Food and Nutritional Security, the new law on school feeding, the Food Acquisition Program, among others. By giving constitutional status to the Right to Food, the PEC goes in line with these policies that have contributed to the implementation of the Right to Food and a decrease in poverty in the country, in accordance with the several international human rights instruments ratified by Brazil.
Above all, the incorporation is of great juridical and political relevance to the realization of the Right to Food in Brazil, as it places this human right above changes in government and reaffirms the obligation of the Brazilian State to respect, protect, and fulfill the human right to adequate food.
FIAN compliments the Brazilian Congress and the Brazilian people for this achievement, which, although not the solution to eradicate the problem of widespread poverty and inequality in the country, constitutes an important step in the fight against poverty and hunger. FIAN Secretary General, Flavio Valente, states: “This is another achievement of the strong Food and Nutritional Security movement in Brazil. The challenge now is to consolidate people’s access to recourse mechanisms and to the justiciability of the right to adequate food in the country”.