From Land to Food / From Values to Rules Colloquium
We must understand that these "factors" are just a small part of an extraordinarily complex global problem for which there seems to be no ready solution. Human rights do not appear to be of much use in stopping global speculation on agricultural commodities, illegal deforestation, the brutal impact of global trade on the most vulnerable populations, the lack of agrarian reform, global warming, and the selfishness of all those who place their personal interest above the common good.
Can we reverse this tide? Can we make progress by increasing the scope of human rights and ensuring that they are enforceable?
Human rights actually serve more as guidelines for action than as solutions in themselves. It will require bold new thinking in the areas of politics, economics and law before human rights will have sufficient substance to enable access to food, water and farming land.
Some of the political and/or economic solutions proposed are already the subject of debate. Other ideas are gradually taking shape, such as those to be discussed in the FAO’s Global Summit on Food Security to be held in Rome in November 2009. But there are practically no potential legal solutions to be discussed. Although the need for more regulation is often expressed, what is generally referred to are the rules that govern economic activity, markets, ethics, science and technology.
And yet we have had sufficient proof in our time that if the law is not used to regulate activity the results can be catastrophic for the environment, society, health and the financial system. No real solution is possible without a legal approach, because the law is the only means of regulating relationships and trade between human beings that is considered legitimate by all citizens and which takes the common good into account. Although policy decisions and economic choices will obviously be able to provide many solutions, it is through the language, resources and coercive force of the law that these solutions must be prepared and enforced.
If we sincerely want to help the hundreds of millions of people who are caught in the iron grip of hunger and malnutrition, we must succeed in combining political action, trade, social cohesion and law-based regulation into a coherent whole.
By putting political, economic and legal approaches into proper perspective the Lascaux programme seeks to advance this cause and ensure that the Earth and its food resources are not just simply another form of merchandise.
With this goal in mind, the World Forum on Human Rights will be bringing together the imaginations of researchers, NGOs, political leaders and concerned citizens over the first two days of the Forum, on June 28 and 29, 2010.
More on http://www.droit-aliments-terre.eu/Pages/evenements.html
