Seeing Everything from Nowhere: A Human Rights Assessment of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Data Governance
This case study FIAN International critically examines the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) data governance framework, assessing its alignment with human rights principles and its implications for marginalized groups, including Indigenous Peoples, peasants, women, and workers.
The case study, Seeing Everything from Nowhere: A Human Rights Assessment of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Data Governance, evaluates whether FAO’s digital initiatives, particularly its digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI), uphold equity, transparency, and participatory decision-making in agri-food systems. The analysis reveals significant gaps in FAO’s current data governance model.
A central concern is FAO’s growing dependence on US-based technology corporations for cloud services and digital infrastructure. The research also highlights how FAO’s DPGs and DPIs fail to meet key public interest criteria. The study concludes with concrete recommendations to align FAO’s digital transformation with human rights and public interest principles and food sovereignty.
Read the executive summary here.
Read the full case study here.