Campaigners demand ‘right to food’ to be enshrined into Scots Law
The Scottish Human Rights Commission is calling for the right to food to be put in law in Scotland.
A new commission report highlights that today in Scotland the right to food is not being realised for everyone.
Food insecurity is “unacceptably high”, the report said, with more than 480,500 food parcels being handed out by food banks between April 2017 and September 2018.
The commission spoke to people experiencing food poverty in Scotland before making its submission, including a mother who lives with her one-year-old son in a rural area.
She said: “My universal credit was delayed and I had 85p left in my bank account.
“I had run out of nappies and wipes and was worried I would have no money for milk or food for my son if it did not come through.
“I had a food parcel delivered recently and I think I’ll need another this week.
“To reach a low-cost supermarket is a three-mile walk, making it a six-mile round trip on foot with my baby in a buggy.
“To get the bus would cost me £5, which would take a significant chunk out of my weekly food budget.”
Judith Robertson, Chair of the Commission, said: “International law is clear that governments have obligations to take action to ensure people’s right to food is realised.
“We have the opportunity in Scotland to take a rights based approach to the food system as a whole, and to make people’s right to food more meaningful in practice by putting it into law. There is a real urgency to take these progressive steps now.”
A national survey conducted by Citizens Advice Scotland in December found that from the 2,650 respondents almost half of respondents had worried about food running out before there was money to buy more 37% of respondents had cut down on the size of meals, or skipped meals altogether because they did not have enough money for food and more than one-fifth of respondents had gone for a whole day without eating because they did not have enough money for food.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring Scotland protects, respects and realises internationally recognised human rights – which is why the First Minister established the Advisory Group on Human Rights Leadership. A national taskforce is being established to take forward the group’s recommendations.
“We have also increased our Fair Food Fund to £3.5 million this year to continue supporting organisations that help to tackle the causes of food insecurity.
“Public authorities have a duty to respect, protect and fulfil all of the human rights set out in international human rights treaties that have been ratified by the UK, and the Scottish Ministerial Code makes clear that Ministers must comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations.”
