AHRC: Sixteenth session, Agenda Item 3

Human Rights Council

Sixteenth session, Agenda Item 3, Interactive Dialogue with the SR on
the right to food

A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre
(ALRC), a non-governmental organisation with general consultative
status

SOUTH ASIA: Poor governance and corruption in Bangladesh, India and
Nepal leading to child malnutrition and widespread hunger

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to highlight failures
by the Bangladeshi, Indian and Nepalese governments in ensuring their
citizen’s right to food. All three are State Parties to the
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR), which guarantees the right to food as a fundamental right
under article 11, but also have amongst the highest rates of child
malnutrition and maternal mortality in Asia. These governments are
depriving vulnerable groups from accessing resources, land and food;
in particular landless Dalits (low caste communities in South Asia)
and indigenous groups.

India
The Prime Minister announced in 2010 that the child malnutrition and
starvation was not acceptable. However, the government has not given
priority to food security and in fact contributes to many of the
causes of widespread hunger. The National Food Security Act drafted in
January 2011 fails to cover all of the poor in rural areas and
introduces a weak mechanism for punishment of corrupt officials, which
has been the root cause of the failure of the enforcement of various
previous policies and programs related to the right to food for the
poor. Rotten food grains found in several states in 2010, that should
have been delivered to the poor, shows that poor governance is another
important aspect that contributes to the government’s failure to
fulfill the right to food.

Child malnutrition cases documented in Madhya Pradesh expose the lack
of government systems to ensure redress and lack of political will to
ensure food self-sufficiency for the poor. In districts such as
Sahariya, Rewa, Satna, Jhabua and Khandwa, more than 60% of the
children are undernourished, and around 20 percent face severe acute
malnutrition. High levels of child malnutrition have persisted for
years here. Communities facing child malnutrition belong to tribes or
Dalits confronting discrimination and corruption. The government's
responses has been pitiful, and do not address the main causes of
child malnutrition, instead often resorting to denial about the fact
that malnutrition is behind the deaths of children. Emergency
distribution measures typically fail to reach many malnourished
children and the State is failing to put in place community-based
health care systems that could prevent the recurrence of such
emergencies.

Farmers are being forced to cultivate ever-smaller areas of land or
even evicted from their land completely, engendering poverty and
hunger. The government and third parties are taking over natural
resources, including land, in the name of development’ leading to
scarcity of food. Poor villagers are being excluded from
decision-making process and do not get any benefits from development
projects, in violation of domestic laws.

Chutka village, located in Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh, is one of
38 villages predominantly occupied by tribes, where the government and
the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited have been planning to
establish a power plant since 1984. The villagers had previously been
displaced during the building of the Bargi dam and now face
displacement once again. The villagers were supposed to be provided
with electricity following the building of the dam but this has not
happened. Some could afford to buy agricultural land in other areas
with the compensation provided, however they got much less land than
before due to rising land prices.

The recent decision by the Indian Ministry of the Environment and
Forests allowing Korean subsidiary Pohang Steel Company (POSCO)’s
steel plant, mining and port project, launched in Orissa, also
presents a number of problems including concerning the right to food.
In the land acquisition process, over 40,000 villagers were completely
excluded from their land and many were also assaulted by the police
during a peaceful protest in May 2010. The decision to allow the
project to go ahead went against the advice of four out of five
committees formed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. These
committees suggested the withdrawal of the project due to its serious
impact upon environment and violations of law tribal lands and
livelihood. The Ministry chose to go with the recommendation of the
one committee that gave the plan a positive response. In addition, the
Ministry accepted the statement by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs
concerning a land claim by the tribes in the affected areas, which
stated that there was no land claim from six villages. This has led to
criticism of both ministries.

Nepal
Nepal currently stands at a crossroads in its history and has the
opportunity to create new policies and laws, and implement an
effective system to guarantee the right to food for all, in particular
the most vulnerable groups, such as Dalits and indigenous groups. Key
policies concerning land redistribution, construction of
infrastructure and food distribution have not been effective to date.
Cases documented suggest that the main causes for this are
discrimination against Dalits and indigenous groups, and
non-transparency and corruption in enforcing policies and laws.

The Lands Act and other laws related to land and agrarian reform have
been launched since the early 1960s, but the government has failed to
implement them in practice. The government has instead succeeded in
nationalizing forestlands that were home to indigenous people,
depriving them of the resources that they have been depending on for
generations. This has been accompanied by failed land redistribution
to the landless. Official data shows that 30 percent of Nepal’s
rural population are landless, most of whom are Dalits who live in
extreme poverty and starvation, whereas 54 percent are tenants on the
land. ‘Untouchability’ has been abolished by law, but remains
deeply rooted in a society and the main obstacle in implementing laws
and policies aiming at guaranteeing the right to food to vulnerable
groups.

The Gandharva community, which numbers 21,000 individuals, is one
such Dalit communities facing chronic hunger. 70 percent of the
Gandharva are landless. Some have settled along the Manahara river
bank in Bardiya district, with only 0.08 acres having been allotted to
each household by the government in 1993. The villagers could build
houses but struggle to cultivate food on this land. Women are forced
to migrate to the Gulf countries as domestic workers and face many
serious violations of their rights there, whereas the men migrate to
neighbouring countries, as they cannot get jobs due to caste-based
discrimination at home. Their wages are not sufficient to support
their families, leading to a lack of nutrition and serious health
issues, including paralysis amongst their children. Safe drinking
water is not available, affecting food safety and health.

The government budget for 2008-9 enabled the establishment of a High
Level Scientific Land Reform Commission in order to abolish feudal
land ownership. As with many other human rights issues during the
current period of political logjam in the country, the government has
yet to adopt the recommendations made by the Commission. The 2010-11
budget targets food insecurity zones in Karnali and Mahakali, located
in the far western area of Nepal but nothing has happened as yet.
Villagers there go through food scarcity every year from February to
June. The land is not productive enough to enable self-sufficiency.
Earlier, they could cultivate medical plants and apples to get food by
trade. However, the government has since blocked the trade route
without providing alternatives for their livelihood, leading to
starvation and suicides.

In 2010, villagers in Karnali again suffered from hunger during the
traditional festival in October, since the government failed to
provide subsidized food in time. The price of rice subsidized by the
government and delivered by the National Food Corporative is 1.5-2
times higher than in Kathmandu (at 80 Nepali rupees per kilogram) due
to transportation difficulties, for which the poor villagers have to
pay. The 2010-11 budget earmarked for infrastructure in Karnali has
not materialised. The government has also failed to identify the
poorest in the regions and instead distributes rice on a
first-come-first-served basis. It is more difficult for the poorest,
Dalits and the villagers living in the most remote districts, such as
Karnali-Jumla, Humla, Kalikot, Mugu and Jumla, to reach towns where
rice is disseminated. Dalits often have to wait for all non-Dalits
villagers to have collected rice first, resulting in them often
returning home without food.

Bangladesh
Bangladesh announced in its official statement on the budget for
2009-10 that the State was self-sufficient in terms of food
production. The government, however, violates the right to food of
vulnerable groups such as landless farmers, indigenous groups,
minorities and women. Paddy farmers account for 69% of the population
are the largest occupational sector in country, but many of them are
landless and face child malnutrition and food insecurity. For some
five months before and after harvest season each year, villagers do
not have work and floods or droughts seriously affect cultivation, in
particular in Northern Bangladesh.

Mr. Md. Rafiqul Islam has been living without sufficient resources in
Gaibandha district, Northern Bangladesh, which is officially known to
be the most vulnerable area in terms of food security. He is paid
around 80-120 BDT (1.12-1.68 USD) per day for agricultural work only
during the working season. The government has yet to set up a minimum
wage. The price of staple rice has increased, and is now at around
35-40 BDT per kilogram in this area. His two sons and daughter face a
lack of nutrition and his daughter is even deprived of the right to an
education. The mostly landless elderly in the district also face a
lack of food and healthcare. Cases documented in the district show
that corrupt officials do not allow them to enjoy government food
distribution and other policies and programs unless they pay bribes.

The budget for basic healthcare facilities has not been sufficiently
allocated. Community clinics suffer from a lack of medicine. Social
security programs targeting the elderly do not function effectively.
Rafiqul’s family does not enjoy any support from the government and
has to pay bribes to officials and public representatives. Those who
can afford to pay bribes often get the benefits although they are not
eligible for them. Corruption is amongst the biggest obstacles that
hampers food security for the poor here. The local government has
responded that they would remedy this by identifying those in greatest
need and ensuring government programs reach them, but this has not
been witnessed yet.

The Asian Legal Resources Centre calls upon the Human Rights Council
to:

(a) Demand that the governments of Bangladesh, India and Nepal
establish mechanisms to clearly identify the poorest persons in the
country, and effectively target food aid in their direction, in order
to fulfil their right to food with a transparent system that is open
to public scrutiny.

(b) Encourage these governments to establish complaints mechanism for
the poor who are being denied their right to food, in order for them
to receive redress.

(c) Suggest that the Special Rapporteurs on the rights to food,
health and water work together to propose a comprehensive approach
that these governments can adopt to tackle child malnutrition and the
wider problem of hunger and related disease and deaths in Bangladesh,
India and Nepal, as these three State face similar challenges.

ENDS

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