Human Rights and the Struggle Against Hunger: Laws, Institutions, and Instruments in the Fight to Realize the Right to Adequate Food

Abstract

The Benet community has been living traditionally for hundreds of years in Mountain Elgon, in Uganda. The semi-nomad tribal people feed themselves through hunting, gathering forest fruits, and producing handicrafts. In the 1990s a state project, supported by the tourism industry, declared this territory a natural reserve. The community was not included in the project and measures were not taken to ensure its livelihood; on the contrary, community members were evicted from their lands at least two times, and restricted to very small plots of land under precarious living conditions. These state actions left the Benets without any means to survive. Today, their access to food and water is qualitatively, quantitatively, and culturally inadequate. Moreover, their access to the spiritual places they used to enjoy is restricted. Even though the national court has issued a judgment of consent, which orders the competent authorities to restore the lands to the community and to adopt emergency measures to ensure their survival,2 nothing has been done since the order was adopted. The natural reserve is now available for tourists, who enjoy the wonderful nature, while the Benets die of hunger. The Food First Information and Action Network International (FIAN International) has addressed the issue with diverse authorities at the national and international level, but possible solutions have not been implemented and the issue has not been dealt with beyond the exchange of emails among public officers. Since a FIAN International delegation made a field visit, in March 2009, at least two children have died due to malnutrition.