The Consultation of Indigenous Peoples on the Right to Food invited representatives from indigenous communities from 28 countries to identify the challenges and suggest proposals regarding food security and food sovereignty. The consultation was held in 2002 in Guatemala. [1]
Problems and Purpose
This consultation was organized in order to address the particular food security challenges that indigenous peoples faced. A World Bank study on indigenous peoples and poverty at the time identified indigenous peoples as the poorest of the poor, with a higher risk of suffering from food insecurity, starvation, and malnutrition than other groups. Therefore, the consultation’s objectives were [2]:
- To learn about the hardships faced by Indigenous Peoples in food-related matters.
- To define common elements among Indigenous Peoples:
- To propose them to the States so that the States will implement the Right to Food in accordance with the aspirations of Indigenous Peoples; and,
- To strengthen ties of cooperation among Indigenous Peoples.
- To formulate a strategy based on the vision of Indigenous Peoples, with the objective of making proposals to the States and to the international community in order to overcome hardships in matters of Food Security and Food Sovereignty.
Background History and Context
This Consultation of Indigenous Peoples on the Right to Food was the first of its kind. The resulting declaration, the Declaration of Atitlán, would form the basis for future consultations and gatherings on indigenous Food Sovereignty and Sustainable Development [3].
Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities
The consultation was organized as a joint effort between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Indian Treaty Council [4].
Participant Recruitment and Selection
The consultation invited over 140 indigenous representatives and authorities from over 28 countries [5]. These representatives included farmers, hunters, gatherers, fishers, herders, and pastoralists [6].
Methods and Tools Used
Methods
The consultation was a deliberative process [7]. The focus was on exchanging perspectives, experiences, and realities between different Indigenous Peoples, and on creating proposals for resolving shared struggles [8].
Tools
The resulting Declaration of Atitlán was written as a consensus statement using the proposals and suggestions from the consultation [9].
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
At the time of writing, no further information could be found.
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
The results of the consultation were shared in a document, the Declaration of Atitlán. This declaration influenced the Guatemalan government’s policies on food and national security, as well as its 2005 Law on the National System of Food and Nutrition Security [10]. More broadly, the declaration became the operative policy document upon which subsequent indigenous declarations and policy statements on the topic would be based. Its definition of Food Sovereignty, “the right of Peoples to define their own policies and strategies for the sustainable production, distribution, and consumption of food, with respect for their own cultures and their own systems of managing natural resources and rural areas, and is considered to be a precondition for Food Security,” has been widely adopted. The declaration also cemented the importance of the Right to Food for Indigenous Peoples as an issue not only of physical survival for the individual, but the cultural survival of the collective [11].
Analysis and Lessons Learned
At the time of writing, no further information could be found.
See Also
References
[1] Thamy Pogrebinschi. "Consultation of Indigenous Peoples on the Right to Food." LATINNO Dataset. https://latinno.net/en/case/10046/.
[2] "Declaration of Atitlán, Guatemala." International Indian Treaty Council. https://www.iitc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FINAL_Atitlan-Declaration-Food-Security_Apr25_ENGL.pdf.
[3] International Indian Treaty Council. "United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples." International Indian Treaty Council. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/EMRIP/CulturalHeritage/InternationalIndianTreatyCouncil.pdf.
[4] International Indian Treaty Council. "United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples." International Indian Treaty Council. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/EMRIP/CulturalHeritage/InternationalIndianTreatyCouncil.pdf.
[5] Andrea Carmen. "Protecting and Restoring Indigenous Peoples' Food Sovereignty." https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/protecting-and-restoring-indigenous-peoples-food.
[6] "Declaration of Atitlán, Guatemala." International Indian Treaty Council. https://www.iitc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FINAL_Atitlan-Declaration-Food-Security_Apr25_ENGL.pdf.
[7] Thamy Pogrebinschi. "Consultation of Indigenous Peoples on the Right to Food." LATINNO Dataset. https://latinno.net/en/case/10046/.
[8] "Declaration of Atitlán, Guatemala." International Indian Treaty Council. https://www.iitc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FINAL_Atitlan-Declaration-Food-Security_Apr25_ENGL.pdf.
[9] International Indian Treaty Council. "Food Sovereignty." International Indian Treaty Council. https://www.iitc.org/program-areas/food-sovereignty/.
[10] Thamy Pogrebinschi. "Consultation of Indigenous Peoples on the Right to Food." LATINNO Dataset. https://latinno.net/en/case/10046/.
[11] International Indian Treaty Council. "United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples." International Indian Treaty Council. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/EMRIP/CulturalHeritage/InternationalIndianTreatyCouncil.pdf.