The new Ecuadorian Constitution would recognize food sovereignty as means to realize the right to adequate food
On September 28th , a referendum regarding a new constitution will take place in Ecuador. The proposal of a new constitution is the result of the resistance and the decade’s long struggle of the social and indigenous movements and of the diverse other sectors of the Ecuadorian population.
The historic demands for plurinationality, interculturality, collective and environmental rights, the human right to water, free education until the secondary level, universal social security etc. are now being discussed in the new proposal thanks to the political lobbying of the peasant’s and indigenous peoples’ movement and the social organizations of Ecuador before the National Constitutional Assembly.
The proposal of the new constitution is, undoubtedly, a large advance with regard to the right to sufficient food. In Article 13, the proposal recognizes the right of all Ecuadorians to have access to sufficient resources to feed themselves in a sustainable manner with respect to cultural differences between people and communities. A priority is local food production, recognizing implicitly that the right to adequate food represents, among many things, the right of the small food producers, harvesters and fisherpeople to acquire appropriate resources and the right to rely on the laws, measures and programs that assist them in providing food to the Ecuadorian people.
Concurrently, Article 281 of the proposal for the new constitution establishes that food sovereignty is a strategic objective of the State. This principal is fundamental for the realization of the Right to Adequate Food and other rights compiled in the Rights of Adequate Living Standards. In this sense, the proposal suggests the initiation of a paradigm shift from the agrarian and food model that has been applied in Ecuador and that has generated a dependence on the large transnational corporations, food insecurity and systematic violations of human rights.
The recognition of Food Sovereignty will guarantee that the legal and political framework related to agrarian issues, food and commerce would be applied through new, more just, principles. According to Natalia Landívar, from FIAN-Ecuador “the recognition of food sovereignty also forces the revision of current agrarian policies such as the agricultural mandate that was implemented by the government in June 2008 that led to the crisis in food prices and that fostered the agrobusinesses, in order to guarantee coherence between the principles consecrated in the Ecuadorian constitution and international norms.
“It is essential that future policies concerning food sovereignty guarantee the self-determination of people, cities and communities that produce our basic food supplies through mechanisms of effective participation and having the opportunity to demand your rights when they are violated”, she added.