THP perspective: Everyone has a right to a life of dignity and self-reliance. The persistence of hunger represents a profound failure of humanity to protect human rights.
THP has always drawn a clear distinction between traditional top-down service delivery approach, which treats people as “beneficiaries”, to our empowerment approach which recognizes people as the principal authors and actors for their own development. Such a paradigm shift has subsequently become known as a the human-rights-based approach to development.
Key interventions:
- 1945: in the preamble of the Charter of the United Nations, members “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women…”
- 1948: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDR).
- The UDR contains Article 25 which states: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”
- The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food defines the right to food as “The right to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensure a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life free of fear.”
- In 1986, the UN General Assembly adopted the declaration on the Right to Development.
Key messages:
- “Eradicating extreme poverty is not only a moral duty but also a legal obligation under existing international human rights law.”
Global campaigns and initiatives:
- Right to Food Campaign (India)
- Right to Information
Key governmental agencies:
Key reports and data sources: