European Citizens’ Initiative
22 October 2024
Food is a Human Right for All!
Guaranteeing healthy, just and sustainable food systems
At least one fifth of the European population has no access to adequate food. Industrial food systems aggravate food insecurity, climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, labour exploitation and animal suffering. The European Union (EU) must respect, protect and fulfil the right to food and promote healthy, just, humane and sustainable food systems for present and future generations.
We call on the EU to make the right to food a reality and integrate human rights principles into all EU laws and policies that impact the right to food in the EU and abroad.
We call on the European Commission to act in order to:
• Ensure dignified access to sufficient, healthy and sustainable food for all
• Stop treating food as a commodity, including in free-trade agreements, and reduce the power of big companies at all stages of the food chain
• Uphold the rights to decent income, land, seeds and other natural resources of peasants and other small-scale food producers and to decent wages for workers in the food chain
• Promote peasant agroecology to transform food systems
• Establish an EU Food Council
Annex
We call on the European Commission (EC) to make the right to food a reality. The right to food is recognized in international treaties ratified by all EU countries. It is guaranteed when everyone has dignified access to adequate food on a sustainable basis. It is realised through access to productive resources, a decent wage or income, and social policies.
We urge the EC to:
1. Promote a Regulation on sustainable and fair food systems built on the right to food, food sovereignty and human rights principles (participation, accountability, non-discrimination, transparency, human dignity, empowerment, rule of law and solidarity - PANTHERS).
Legal Basis (LB): TFEU art. 38-44, 169, 191-192
2. Create an EU Food Council to coordinate action, prioritizing the voices of the least represented, and considering inequality in access to resources and market power.
LB: TFEU art. 38-44, 156
3. Support national social protection initiatives, including social security for food, cooperation between Member States, and the adoption of common indicators of food insecurity.
LB: TFEU art. 153.1.c, 153.1.j, 153.1.k, 156
4. In the future Common Agricultural Policy, considerably increase support to small-scale producers, territorial food systems, decent work, organic farming and peasant agroecology. Relaunch a Regulation to further reduce the use of synthetic pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and antimicrobials for farm animals and aquaculture.
LB: TFEU art. 38-44, 191-192
5. Propose a legal initiative to reduce the concentration of agricultural land, both in the EU and abroad, and to facilitate gender equality and generational renewal.
LB: TFEU art. 191-192
6. Propose a Directive for sustainable water management in agricultural production and sustainable fisheries.
LB: TFEU art. 101-102, 108, 191-192
7. Propose a Regulation to support the autonomy of peasant seed systems, agrobiodiversity and seeds that are suitable for organic production or production with low synthetic chemical inputs.
LB: TFEU art. 38-44, 191-192
8. Recognize that agricultural products and foodstuffs are not ordinary commodities and that food is a service of general economic interest. Protect decent income and the right to organize for peasants and other small-scale food producers, decent wages and the right to collective bargaining for workers in the food chain, market stability and access to healthy, sustainable and affordable food for all. Reduce market power of big companies at all stages of the food chain, regulate their action to protect health and the environment, and promote local and regional markets.
LB: TFEU art. 38-44, 101-102, 104, 106
9. Propose a modification of MiFiD II to ban any form of speculation in agricultural commodities and foodstuffs.
LB: TFEU art. 39, 153
10. Propose a Regulation that strengthens animal welfare standards and encourages a reduction in the production and consumption of industrial animal products, while providing adequate support for farmers in the transition.
LB: TFEU art. 191-192
11. Promote healthy and sustainable diets, support greater consumption of fruits and vegetables and regulate the consumption of and marketing for ultra-processed food and beverages to reduce related non-communicable diseases and obesity.
LB: TFEU art. 168
12. Withdraw the proposal to deregulate new GMOs. Support independent scientific knowledge to implement the principles of traceability, risk analysis and precaution, including for old and new GMOs.
LB: TFEU art. 168-169, 191-192
13. Propose a Regulation on sustainable food procurement, and require that Member States guarantee that all children in public schools have access to healthy, nutritious, sustainable and affordable school meals, including via free meals. Give authorities greater autonomy to develop local food systems.
LB: TFEU art. 114, 168, 191-192
14. Promote a food labeling reform to increase consumer information on nutritional quality, geographical origin, production methods, social standards and potentially harmful substances. Harmonize and increase standards of nutritional and environmental labelling. Regulate advertising of foods whose consumption should be limited to protect health and the environment, in particular for children.
LB: TFEU art. 114, 168-169, 191-192
15. Recognize the structural nature of food loss and waste, and adopt appropriate regulatory and policy measures and mandatory targets for reduction.
LB: TFEU art. 191-192
16. Use development cooperation and climate diplomacy to promote the right to food and food sovereignty in other countries. Subordinate existing and future trade agreements to the need to protect the right to food and food sovereignty. Pursue the prohibition of export of products at prices that destroy agriculture in other countries, and of synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers banned in Europe. Specifically integrate the right to food and the rights of peasants, including to land and seeds, in the Due Diligence framework.
LB: TFEU art. 169, 208, 212; TEU art. 21