The Right to Food in Europe and Central Asia: A Call for Stronger Commitments

The right to food is a fundamental human right, involving not just access to food or the means of its procurement, but access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, and culturally acceptable food. Enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to which all European and Central Asian states are parties, realization of this right today remains too distant for too many. 

This year we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food, which the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been instrumental in promoting. FAO has played a crucial role in advancing the progressive realization of the right to adequate food globally, joining forces with international organizations, the civil society and the private sector, and offering guidance and technical support to Members, including those in Europe and Central Asia, in implementing policies and programs that align with this right. This anniversary makes it an opportune moment to reflect on progress and the challenges that remain across the region. 

The Right to Food guidelines offer a vast array of recommendations to foster the progressive realization of this right in the context of national food security. While governments bear a primary responsibility, taking steps to ensure that their citizens have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, the guidelines also encourage the international community, civil society, and the private sector to support these efforts and engage actively. 

Any implementation over the past two decades, however small, has contributed to the progressive realization of the right to food, regardless of who or when it has occurred. Indeed, all stakeholders, including governments in Europe and Central Asia have followed a vast number of these guidelines that seek to ensure food availability, accessibility, suitability, and adequacy. Examples of such actions include subsidies for farmers, food stamps, school feeding programs, food safety standards, promotion of sustainable agriculture, GLOBALG.A.P., and many civil society organizations (CSOs) that have implemented community-based initiatives to address food insecurity directly, like food banks, community gardens, and nutrition education programs. While the effectiveness of these actions can vary, they collectively contribute to the progressive realization of this right in the region. Every little helps. 

The European Union (EU) policies like the Farm to Fork Strategy and the European Pillar of Social Rights aim to create a fair, healthy, and environmentally sustainable food system while promoting adequate living standards and social inclusion. Beyond the EU, countries like Georgia have benefited from FAO’s expertise through programs, such as the European Neighborhood Program for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD), which has focused on strengthening small-scale farmers and food business operator’s capacities and position in agrifood systems, developing cooperatives to improve local food systems, and strengthening the governance and official food control system for safe food.  In Central Asia, countries like Uzbekistan have made significant strides in food safety through national programs aimed at improving hygiene standards in food production and processing, ensuring that food products meet international safety standards to protect consumer health. 

It is concerning that specific right-to-food legislation remains underdeveloped within the EU and other European and Central Asian countries. The Council of Europe has yet to establish a legal instrument explicitly protecting this right, and many nations in the region lack comprehensive legal frameworks to enforce it. 

 The Voluntary Guidelines make a number of recommendations, including the development of national food security strategies, legal frameworks and institutional arrangements, the promotion of sustainable food systems, the provision of social protection, fostering international cooperation, and the establishment of monitoring mechanisms. However, policies and programs are only means to an end. What really matters are real world progress, leaving no one behind, in particular vulnerable groups like children, women, the elderly (the fastest growing sector in rural areas), and marginalized ethnic groups. 

In this sense, the progressive realization of the right to food has been unevenly across the region. According to FAO, the number of moderately or severely food-insecure people in 2023 surpassed 111 million. Significant disparities in access to nutritious healthy diets food persist, particularly among vulnerable populations in both urban, peri-urban and rural areas. Food affordability is also a real concern. In 2022, due to high inflation, 8.3 percent of EU citizens could not afford a meal containing meat, fish, or a vegetarian equivalent every second day, and in countries like Armenia, nearly 15 percent of the population face similar challenges in accessing adequate nutrition. The increasing concentration of food production and distribution in the hands of a few large corporations exacerbates these disparities, limiting food diversity and accessibility. 

This has led to a food environment dominated by ultra-processed products high in sugars, fats, and additives, linked to rising levels of obesity and diet-related diseases across the continent. In Central Asia, traditional diets are increasingly being replaced by less nutritious options, leading to a dual burden of malnutrition, including undernutrition and anemia in women aged 15 to 49 years, with both under nutrition, particularly stunting, in children under five, is still high in some countries in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Europe and Ukraine: Azerbaijan (13.3 percent), Tajikistan (13.1 percent), Ukraine (12.3 percent) and Kyrgyzstan (10.3 percent).   

Overweight in children under five, anemia in women aged 15 to 49 yearsa, and adult obesity are on the rise in a number of countries of the region. The Western Balkans (10.3 percent) and the Caucasus (9.1 percent) have the highest rate of overweight in children under five. The regional prevalence of adult obesity is on the rise and is above the global estimate. Anaemia values in women aged 15 to 49 years exceed the global estimate (29.9 percent) in Kyrgyzstan (35.8 percent), Tajikistan (35.2 percent) and Azerbaijan (35.1 percent). 

To address these challenges related to malnutrition, all stakeholders in European and Central Asia should focus on nutritional quality, ensuring all citizens have physical and economic access to a sufficient, diverse and balanced diet. Nobody should be left behind. This must be supported by education and public awareness campaigns that encourage healthier and more sustainable food choices. Actions by the private sector on food ingredients and composition, retailing and marketing practices matter. There is also a need to strengthen support for sustainable agriculture that promotes biodiversity, including preserving local and traditional food systems in regions like the Western Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia. 

Engaging civil society, small-scale farmers, and local communities in policymaking is crucial to creating inclusive policies that effectively address food insecurity. A very recent and significant step in this direction was the II Forum on the Right to Food, held in Geneva in May 2024. This event brought together specialists from across Europe to discuss critical issues related to food security, food sovereignty, and the right to food, moving towards a European Citizens’ Initiative focused on securing comprehensive proposals for sustainable food systems. 

The region has the potential to lead global right-to-food initiatives by promoting sustainable, equitable, and inclusive food systems in international trade agreements and development cooperation anchored in human rights 

As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Adequate Food, Europe and Central Asia must seize this opportunity to strengthen their commitment. By leading the way in developing and implementing robust right-to-food legislation, policies, and cooperation globally, the region can set a powerful example, ensuring that all its citizens have access to the food they need for a healthy, active and fulfilling life.