ENHANCE RIGHT TO FOOD, UPND URGED

THE United Party for National Development (UPND) Government should actualize and put in place measures and policies that guarantee the realization of the human right to food, FIAN Zambia country Coordinator Vladimir Chilinya has said.

Mr Chilinya said that this is based on the fact the majority of Zambia’s population is unable to afford a “minimum food basket” or a diversified diet.

He said that according to the 2016 Global Nutrition Report, Zambia is the seventeenth largest burden of undernutrition out of 132 countries.

“As the Republican President opened Parliament on 10th of September 2021, we urge the Law makers and government to prioritize and ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” he said.

He said that law makers should also honor the obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women by taking immediate action to implement principles that protect the livelihood of rural women and eliminate their vulnerability.

“Guarantee the inclusion of the explicit recognition in the Republican Constitution of the Economic Social and Cultural Rights including the right to food;

“Strengthen protection against forced evictions, in accordance with the criteria established by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and promote organic farming and agro ecological methods, and provide them with support, including financial mechanisms and the introduction of training programmes on agro ecological agriculture, “he said.

Mr Chilinya called for reforming the Farmers Input Support (FSIP) Programme to address both food security and nutrition by increasing seed varieties in addition to maize.

He also called on the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to increase crops which they purchase from farmers to include crops which respond and are necessary to fighting malnutrition, poverty and hunger.

FIAN is an international human rights organization that advocates for the realization of the right to food and nutrition.

Since it was founded in 1986, FIAN International has been advocating for the right to food and nutrition.

It also supports grassroots communities and movements in their struggles against right to food violations.

Through its national sections and networks, FIAN works in over 50 countries around the world.