Author: Heselhaus, Sebastian

Source: Archiv des Völkerrechts, Volume 47, Number 1, March 2009 , pp. 93-133(41)

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Abstract:

The recent strategy on biofuels by the European Union has been challenged as being an infringement of the right to food since it has detrimental impacts on food prices. The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food has called for a 5 year moratorium on biofuels until further research on the effects of biofuels has been carried out. Although a considerable number of States protects elements of the right to food in their constitutions the right is not yet established under international customary law. However, it is accepted as a binding human right according to Art. 11 ICESCR. It comprises core obligations of State parties as well as aspects of a more programmatic character. Thus, it has to be considered a part of the rising number of hybrid international norms. To be effective in the clash of fuel and food an international dimension of its scope has to be accepted. This approach quite unfamiliar for human rights can be deducted from an interpretation Art. 11 ICESCR in the light of several soft law provisions aiming at the concretization of the right to food. Consequently, a duty to consider the negative impacts of a State's measures on individual's human right to food in other countries can be established. This duty is short of a proportionality test. A moratorium on biofuels would only be required under the right to food, if their impacts would lead to severe hunger in countries affected. The concept of a human right to food serves considerable functions. In respect to the principle of sustainable development it fosters the relevance of social aspects vis-à-vis the economic and environmental needs. By turning to entitlements of individuals it is able to penetrate the shield of sovereignty and to put the focus on safeguarding especially vulnerable groups.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1628/000389209788075257

Publication date: 2009-03-01

More about this publication?

• Archiv des Völkerrechts (Archive of Public International Law - AVR) has been founded as a quarterly journal in 1948. With its scientific papers, reports and book reviews, the journal covers the full spectrum of developments in public international law. AVR is a forum for the German-language community of scholars engaged in public international law and aims at entering into a dialogue with its international peers. AVR's content reflects dogmatic and theoretical essentials of public international law as well as developments in international jurisprudence. Legal fields covered range from traditional core questions of public international law as law between states, the laws of armed conflict and the law of international organisations to human rights law, international environmental law, world trade law and international administrative law.
  
  In the recent past, the comprehensive analysis of particular and universal legal orders as well as the creation of a material international legal order based on principles have been in the spotlight besides contributions on today's conflicts with a public international law angle.
  
  AVR is published on a quarterly basis with contributions in German, English and French.
  
  
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