Food Banks in Germany: Right to Food Must Not be Privatized
24 April 2013, Heidelberg/Geneva - On the occasion of the Universal Periodic Review of Germany under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council on April 25, the international human rights organization FIAN calls for a public debate on the growing presence of food banks in Germany.
Food poverty must be recognized as a human rights issue and the German government must ensure the adequacy of income from employment and social protection schemes, so that no one need become dependent on food banks.
“We expect the German government to clarify before the UN Human Rights Council that food banks should not develop into a parallel system of social protection. Rather the government should announce that it will investigate the reasons behind the growing number of users of food banks and that it will take the necessary political action”, said Ute Hausmann, Executive Director of FIAN Germany.
According to information provided by the Bundesverband Tafel, approximately 1.5 million people use food banks in Germany. In the government’s reporting on poverty, however, the issue is not raised. FIAN International cautions against the outsourcing of state obligations to private food banks.
“Securing a dignified level of existence is a human right and constitutional obligation. Increased utilization of private food banks must be seen as a failure of the state to comply with these obligations”, said Flavio Valente, Secretary General of FIAN International.
Qualitative studies by the university project “Tafel-Monitor” demonstrate that users of food banks often experience stigmatization and intensified social exclusion.
FIAN Germany therefore calls upon the German government to adopt policies to increase individual income through employment and social protection benefits, in order to enable all people to feed themselves and live a life in dignity.
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Contact:Ute Hausmann
FIAN Germany
T: +49-1736074973