Abstract
The human right to adequate food imposes legal obligations on States to take necessary steps to ensure that everyone is free from hunger. These obligations include strengthening people’s access to resources and means to ensure food security, and providing for fulfilment of the right to food directly where they are unable to do so for themselves. In Australia, the charitable provision of food aid, known as ‘food relief’, has become the major national response to food insecurity at the individual and household levels. Reliance on food relief has increased dramatically across the country in recent years. Yet despite the essential role that food relief plays in the Australian food security landscape, there is very limited legal scholarship on governance of the sector. My research fills gaps in existing scholarship by evaluating food relief governance in Australia through a human-rights lens. My research shows that the current reliance on charitable food relief does not meaningfully provide for food security for Australians, nor is it an effective way to achieve the right to food. Food relief as it is currently governed may in fact be considered part of the food insecurity problem.
Presenters
Katherine KeanePhD Candidate, Law School, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Food Security, Governance, Food Relief, Human Rights, High-income, Australia
