Global hunger and the right to food
The human right to food should shape efforts to combat global hunger.
The human right to food should shape efforts to combat global hunger, according to United Nations representative and academic Professor Olivier De Schutter.
Professor De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, will present the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law/King and Wood Mallesons Annual Lecture lecture, ‘The role of the right to food in combating global hunger’, in June.
Castan Centre Director Professor Sarah Joseph, from the Faculty of Law, said it was an honour to have Professor De Schutter deliver the lecture.
“Without doubt, Professor De Schutter is the world’s leading expert on the right to food, and this is an important moment in history for access to food,” Professor Joseph said.
“In recent years, even more people than usual have found food too scarce or expensive to feed themselves and their families and Professor De Schutter’s work sheds important light on what must be done to redress this problem.”
Professor De Schutter will also be teaching an intensive postgraduate law unit at the Monash University Law Chambers in June.
The course will provide an overview of economic, social and cultural rights, with a focus on the human right to food, which is recognised under international law.
“Monash is very fortunate to have such an esteemed expert in the area teaching in the postgraduate human rights law degrees. Those who take the class will be getting the best possible overview of economic, social and cultural rights,” added Professor Joseph.
Professor De Schutter teaches at the University of Louvain in Belgium and the College of Europe in Poland, and is a visiting professor at New York’s Columbia University and Sciences Po in Paris.
His title of Special Rapporteur is one given to experts appointed to work on particular topics by the UN Human Rights Council.
Before his UN appointment, Professor De Schutter was the general secretary of the International Federation for Human Rights.
Between 2002 and 2007, he chaired the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights, a high-level group of experts providing advice on fundamental rights issues to the European Parliament and European Commission.
The 2012 Castan Centre for Human Rights Law/King and Wood Mallesons Annual Lecture lecture ‘The role of the right to food in combating global hunger’ will be held from 5.45-7pm on 19 June at the State Library of Victoria Conference Centre and Theatrette, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne.
The lecture is open to the public. RSVPs can be made to Castan.Centre@monash.edu or by phoning +61 3 9905 3327.