April 27, 2022, Rome, Italy. As part of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) negotiation process on the Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls in the Context of Food Security and Nutrition which begins in May, representatives of civil society organizations and indigenous organizations In a public briefing, the peoples stressed the urgency of reaching strong and inclusive voluntary guidelines that can eradicate violence gender and discrimination in all its forms in order to ensure food security and nutrition for all.
The rights of women, girls and LGBQTI people are inextricably linked and interdependent with their right to food, health, land and other natural resources, water, decent work and employment and to self-determination. In this sense, CSIPM speakers shared experiences that show the long way to go to ensure that gender-based inequalities and discrimination are no longer a limiting factor in realizing the right to food, and how key actions could deal with the current scenario.
“After the experience of the COVID-19 crisis, it is NOW time to put in place clear public policies, instruments and frameworks against sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination. There is an urgent need to tackle the structural violence created by the current economic system, by war, conflict, occupations and the current climate crisis must ensure the right to food of these hard-hit communities,” explained Glorene Das, Executive Director of Tenaganita, member of the Asian Rural Women’s Coalition and coordinator of the CSIPM’s Women and Gender Diversity Working Group.
The Voluntary Guidelines must also take into account the obstacles faced by women living in the occupied territories and under particular land tenure systems, and how these impede the realization of their right to food while leaving their role unrecognized. play in food systems, as expressed by Souad Mahmoud of the World March of Women, who added that “in a context of growing inequalities, access to key resources such as water, land, forests , fishing areas and rangelands are the target of violations of the human rights of women and peoples”.
One of the main objectives of the guidelines, as expressed in the draft negotiation, is to help Member States and other actors to eradicate hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition. In this sense, the promotion and protection of local food systems and territorial markets are essential to achieve this objective. According to Gertrude Kenyangi of Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment in Uganda: “To ensure women’s economic empowerment, the governance of food systems must be based on human rights. Food systems cannot continue to be reshaped to serve private profits, nor can they be reshaped to focus solely on productivity. Territorial markets must be protected against the flooding of imported foodstuffs, especially in situations of conflict, political instability and occupation.
Intersectionality is key to combating racism and combating multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination due to caste, ethnicity, age, social class, religion, identity of gender, sexual orientation, migration status and disabilities that deprive women, girls and LGBQTI people. right to food.
As Vivian Motta of the Brazilian Association for Agroecology shared, racism has a historical and negative impact on the lives of racialized women, in response “Women gather in collectives of struggle, occupy the spaces of transformation , are fighting to change the current government and state for one that supports women, we want to build a country and a territory that reproduces life and that recognizes women as important subjects and our work is fundamental for the protection of the society. The society we want values diversity and women and understands that women’s work is essential to its sustainability.”
Further, Paula Gioia of La Via Campesina, said: “Around the world, LGBTIQ people often remain marginalized and denied their political and civil rights, as well as their economic, social and cultural rights. Structural discrimination leads many of them to live in an environment of social exclusion in which basic rights such as food, housing and life are not guaranteed. and called for the inclusion and explicit recognition of gender diversity in the Voluntary Guidelines.
Speakers expressed clear demands that should be addressed in the Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls in the Context of Food Security and Nutrition, if these are to have an impact on the lives of people in the territories:
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A world free from sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination of any kind.
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Intersectionality perspective
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A fair and sustainable food system centered on the realization of human rights, with agroecology at the heart of our work and our daily lives.
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Guarantee and protect the right to land and access to water and natural resources for women, girls and LGBTQI people from different constituencies.
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Promote and encourage local food systems and territorial markets.
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Inclusion and explicit recognition of gender diversities.
The first round of negotiations on the Voluntary Guidelines will take place from May 4-6. Find here the calendar of the process and the draft negotiations in six different languages.
The comments of the CSIPM Women and Gender Diversity Working Group on the draft negotiation, as presented during the CFS Open-Ended Working Group on April 21, 2022, can be read here.
The public information video is available here.
Media contact
Betsy Diaz betsy.diaz.millan@csm4cfs.org
Giulia Simula giulia.simula@csm4cfs.org
