163
• dispute resolution;
• advancing energy efficiency; and
• minimizing negative environmental impacts.
We will return to the Energy Charter in Sect. 6.4 and recognize its importance to
energy trading in Sect. 7.4, and its role in Energy arbitrations in Chap. 20.
6.2.4 Human Rights
Before addressing international law with respect to food, energy, and water, we will
explore a foundational issue for many laws, that of human rights.
Over the past several centuries, the concept of “rights” has developed both as a
human construct and as a social technology. The difference is manifested in the
distinction between the U.S. Declaration of Independence (“all men are endowed by
their creator with certain unalienable rights”) versus the Bill of Rights in the US
Constitution that enumerates the rights which citizens enjoy under the federal
government.
The difference continues to be a source of tension as activist advocate a “right to
food” or a “right to water” or a “right to energy,” and politicians debate how to
embody such a right in laws or public programs.
6.2.4.1 Food
Food has been explicitly recognized as a human right in various ways (Kent 2005;
Mechlem 2004). Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted
by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 includes the following language:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of
himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary
social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability,
widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
These rights were expanded in Article 11 of 1966 International Covenant on the
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which entered into force in 1976:
1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an
adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food,
clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.
The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this
right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international cooperation based on free consent.
2. The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of
everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international cooperation, the measures, including specific programs, which are needed:
6 International Governance
• dispute resolution;
• advancing energy efficiency; and
• minimizing negative environmental impacts.
We will return to the Energy Charter in Sect. 6.4 and recognize its importance to
energy trading in Sect. 7.4, and its role in Energy arbitrations in Chap. 20.
6.2.4 Human Rights
Before addressing international law with respect to food, energy, and water, we will
explore a foundational issue for many laws, that of human rights.
Over the past several centuries, the concept of “rights” has developed both as a
human construct and as a social technology. The difference is manifested in the
distinction between the U.S. Declaration of Independence (“all men are endowed by
their creator with certain unalienable rights”) versus the Bill of Rights in the US
Constitution that enumerates the rights which citizens enjoy under the federal
government.
The difference continues to be a source of tension as activist advocate a “right to
food” or a “right to water” or a “right to energy,” and politicians debate how to
embody such a right in laws or public programs.
6.2.4.1 Food
Food has been explicitly recognized as a human right in various ways (Kent 2005;
Mechlem 2004). Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted
by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 includes the following language:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of
himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary
social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability,
widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
These rights were expanded in Article 11 of 1966 International Covenant on the
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which entered into force in 1976:
1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an
adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food,
clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.
The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this
right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international cooperation based on free consent.
2. The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of
everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international cooperation, the measures, including specific programs, which are needed:
6 International Governance