Analyzing the human right to food and state obligations

Scope of the Human Right to Food

You are required to answer TWO questions. Your answers to both questions in total should not exceed 3,000 words. Exceeding the word limit will result in a deduction from your mark in accordance with Swansea University Regulations. The policy applied is as follows: • excess of up to 10% of the word limit: no penalty  You should include the word count on your submission. You are NOT required to use footnotes. You are NOT required to provide a Bibliography. You should reference sources using informal referencing. Informal referencing is described in the document ‘Academic integrity in Remote Exams.’  TWO QUESTIONS. 1. In October 2019, the Secretary-General of the United Nations called for a Food Systems Summit … The goal is to host an event that will push the world to transform food systems in order to reach all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals, with particular emphasis on eliminating hunger and malnutrition. [However, there have been significant concerns that the] Food Systems Summit secretariat has not yet made human rights a core aspect of the planning process. [Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, 24 December 2020, UN Doc A/HRC/46/33] In the light of these concerns and to assist with their preparations for the Summit, the secretariat asks you to write an analytical note on the scope of the human right to food and the obligations it imposes on States in relation to their own populations and extraterritorially. 2. Prior to a global economic summit, the Ruritanian police learn of a terrorist plot to bomb the summit location. In an early morning raid, they arrest Chel and Beth, two of the alleged ringleaders of the plot. During the course of her arrest, Beth is abusive to the police officers and this prompts a certain roughness of treatment of Beth on their part. Beth is charged with a series of terrorist offences and remanded in custody pending trial. Due to limited resources at the local women’s prison, Beth has to share a small, poorly ventilated cell with several other inmates and can only leave the cell for a short period each day. When Beth complains about the impact of the conditions of detention on her general state of health as well as the injuries she says were sustained during her arrest, the Ruritanian authorities reject her complaints as “completely unfounded and nothing more than terrorist propaganda.” Following Chel’s arrest, the Ruritanian authorities decide to deport him to Erewhon, his country of origin. Chel argues that, as a political activist, he will be tortured by the security forces, or the private security firms employed by some of Erewhon’s prominent politicians, if he is sent back to Erewhon. Notwithstanding this, Ruritania deports Juan to Erewhon because of “the serious threat he poses to national security and to the life and wellbeing of the community in Ruritania.” Advise Chel and Beth whether their treatment by Ruritania violates the international prohibition on torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 3. Critically evaluate the scope of the right to respect for identity under international human rights law and the circumstances under which the right may be restricted. 4. Advise the Utopian Kingdom on a. how to determine whether a particular human rights claim is recognized under customary international law. AND b. what is the legal significance of UN General Assembly Resolutions and what is their role in terms of the international protection of human rights. 5. The overarching objective of the right to life in international human rights law is to prevent arbitrary deprivations of life. In the light of this objective, critically evaluate the jurisprudence of international human rights bodies on (a) the use of lethal force by the State, and (b) the imposition of the death penalty. 6. While the right of a people to self-determination is recognised not simply as a human right but as a peremptory norm of international law, uncertainty remains as to what it entails and who is a ‘people.’ Discuss