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Human rights pioneer receives Royal Norwegian Order for work on the right to food

Wenche Barth Eide was conferred the distinguished award for her contribution in consolidating the right to food as a human right. Having cooperated with the scholar for years, FIAN International expresses its congratulations and praises, once again, her work and determination in helping realize human rights.

Although the right to food is now well-established under international law, human rights pioneer Barth Eide along with FIAN International have witnessed how much its development has been contested. Barth Eide’s career has been consecrated towards positioning the right to food as a human right, by advocating for and working on key instruments that meet the pressing challenges and identify state obligations on the matter, like the General Comment 12 (GC12) on the right to adequate food.

Having worked hand in hand with FIAN for years, Barth Eide highlighted in her speech the strategic role that the organization has played in advancing the human right to food, and more particularly in the formation of the GC12, currently the most authoritative legal framework on the matter.  

Associate Professor Wenche Barth Eide has worked persistently to ensure the right to food is on the international agenda.  She has been instrumental in clarifying what the right to food entails, and in linking nutritional perspectives to international human rights standards and principles. Identifying herself as an academic activist, she has applied her expertise in health and nutrition to further the cause of economic, social, and cultural rights.