Human Rights Education Associates

World Food Day – 16 October

October 16th is World Food Day, which was celebrated for the first time in 1981 as a result of a 1979 resolution by members of the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Since 1997, it is known as World Food/TeleFood Day in an effort to link country members, as well as national and international organisations in mobilising resources to address food security issues.

The right to food, according to international law, is the right of every person to have regular access to sufficient, nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable food for an active, healthy life. It is the right to feed oneself in dignity, rather than the right to be fed.

The theme of this year’s World Food Day is “social protection” to highlight its importance in reducing rural poverty and granting access to food or means to buy food. Social protection is defined by the World Food Programme (WFP) as”a range of solutions, often combined with each others —such as work opportunities, provision of food, money and services— that are designed to support the vulnerable and help the poor in society move out of hunger and poverty.”