Seven further states to ratify instrument vital for economic and social human rights

The Optional Protocol introduces a complaint mechanism that allows victims of human rights violations, such as violations of the right to health, education, food, and housing, to address the United Nations in the case of not receiving relief in their own countries

FIAN International, by means of its affiliates and partner organizations around the world, has communicated with several governmental authorities petitioning the States to sign and ratify the Protocol and thus make this justiciability mechanism an effective tool fundamental for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights.

Flavio Valente, Secretary General of FIAN International, has declared that “This instrument is vital to the defense and promotion of the right to adequate food, in a world where 925 million people are condemned to hunger and malnutrition, with the majority of those people being women and minors, that is, those who feed families and our future generations”.

For FIAN, human rights must be an essential part of measures directed towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals, among these the reduction of poverty. By ratifying the Protocol, governments demonstrate that they are willing to empower those who suffer from hunger and malnutrition, so that they can demand accountability from their representatives regarding the realization of their human rights.