COVID-19 measures must ensure Human Rights and build the resilient, sustainable food system we desperately need

A statement addressed to the G20 Agriculture Ministers on 21 April 2020, arguing that COVID-19 responses must go beyond maintaining food supply chains to address the systemic vulnerability of food producers and the environmental degradation caused by the current global food system.

• The global food system was fragile prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with 820 million people chronically hungry and 2 billion food insecure. Half of these hungry individuals are food producers, including waged agricultural workers and peasant farmers, whose vulnerability stems from the denial of basic rights such as healthcare, social security, and safe working conditions.
• To prevent a recurrence of the 2008 food price crisis, the document asserts that measures to maintain food supplies must be paired with strict restrictions on financial speculation involving food commodities, specifically suggesting the restriction of trading in agricultural futures to avoid speculative bubbles.
• The current food system is described as a driver of the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and water pollution, while also incubating future pandemics. Its vulnerability to shocks is attributed to a reliance on long supply chains and external inputs, as well as the dismantling of national food reserves and the discouragement of seed saving and exchange among farmers.
• The authors call for a coordinated global policy response led by the UN Committee on World Food Security, utilizing existing human rights frameworks—such as the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas—to secure the universal right to food and the rights of food producers.

APA

Chandrasekaran, K., Conti, M., De Schutter, O., Dove, F., Gioia, P., Guttal, S., Hitchman, J., Longley, S., Monsalve, S., Pavanelli, R., Jonas, T., Prato, S., & Thomas, J. (2020). COVID-19 measures must ensure Human Rights and build the resilient, sustainable food system we desperately need. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/covid-19-measures-must-ensure-human-rights-and-build-the-resilient-sustainable-food-system-we-desperately-need/

Chicago

Chandrasekaran, Kirtana, Mauro Conti, Olivier De Schutter, Fiona Dove, Paula Gioia, Shalmali Guttal, Judith Hitchman, et al. COVID-19 measures must ensure Human Rights and build the resilient, sustainable food system we desperately need. Friends of the Earth International, 2020. https://www.foei.org/covid-19-measures-must-ensure-human-rights-and-build-the-resilient-sustainable-food-system-we-desperately-need/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Chandrasekaran |first1=Kirtana |last2=Conti |first2=Mauro |last3=De Schutter |first3=Olivier |last4=Dove |first4=Fiona |last5=Gioia |first5=Paula |last6=Guttal |first6=Shalmali |last7=Hitchman |first7=Judith |last8=Longley |first8=Sue |last9=Monsalve |first9=Sofia |display-authors=etal |title=COVID-19 measures must ensure Human Rights and build the resilient, sustainable food system we desperately need |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=21 April 2020 |url=https://www.foei.org/covid-19-measures-must-ensure-human-rights-and-build-the-resilient-sustainable-food-system-we-desperately-need/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{chandrasekaran2020covid19, author = {Chandrasekaran, Kirtana and Conti, Mauro and De Schutter, Olivier and Dove, Fiona and Gioia, Paula and Guttal, Shalmali and Hitchman, Judith and Longley, Sue and Monsalve, Sofia and Pavanelli, Rosa and Jonas, Tammi and Prato, Stefano and Thomas, Jim}, title = {{COVID-19 measures must ensure Human Rights and build the resilient, sustainable food system we desperately need}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2020}, month = apr, url = {https://www.foei.org/covid-19-measures-must-ensure-human-rights-and-build-the-resilient-sustainable-food-system-we-desperately-need/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }