Report by Special Rapporteur on Right to Food – GA Third Cttee debate – Press release (excerpts)

Third Committee

26^th & 27^th Meetings (AM & PM)

ANY SOLUTION TO GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS MUST BE GROUNDED IN ‘RIGHT TO FOOD’,

THIRD COMMITTEE TOLD BY HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SPECIAL RAPORTEUR

Presentations Also Address Foreign Debt, Right to Development,

Internally Displaced Persons, Transnational Corporations, Health

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Background

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met today to resume its two-week-long discussion on the promotion and protection of human rights and to engage in a dialogue with the Special Rapporteurs on the right to food, on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and the chairperson of the Working Group on the right to development.  It will also hear from the independent expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of human rights, the representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.

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Questions and Answers

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The representative of the Observer Mission of Palestine, referring to the food crisis affecting persons living under occupation in the occupied Palestinian territories, asked the Rapporteur to shed light on how access to food aid differed from the right to food.  He also asked the Special Rapporteur whether he would visit the occupied territories and what he would do to ensure that Israel complied with its international obligations to ensure the well-being of all persons living under occupation.

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 … Similarly, in response to the representative of the Observer Mission of Palestine, he said that he would work in partnership with other Special Rapporteurs to help resolve the worrisome food security situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

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For information media • not an official record