Around 25 women from the Mothers and Christian Women Congregation in Cacaopera, Morazán attended a workshop on “The human right of adequate nutrition and the state obligation to guarantee access to food.”  The workshop was held on June 22 in the “Monsignor Romero” Chapel in the community of El Colón.  Its goal was to provide elements of an initial evaluation of the topic so that the women could reflect upon it, become more aware of it, appropriate it, and finally incorporate it into their analytical framework and their actions.

 

The right to food is a fundamental human right based on the dignity of the human person.  The state has an obligation to respect it, protect it, and guarantee it with all of its resources, especially now that “poor countries are suffering the heavy impact of the increases in food and energy prices,” as Jacques Diouf, General Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), recently affirmed in an speech before the European Parliament in Brussels.

For this reason, it is necessary that the people know their human right to adequate nutrition and know that the state is the principal entity with an obligation to guarantee it.  If we know this right and how to exercise it, we can demand that our government respect it.  We can take action to ensure not only that we have access to food, but also that our food is adequate, beyond the simple number of calories, proteins, and other nutrients.

The international campesino movement, Vía Campesina (The Way of the Campesinos), is already beginning to take such actions by reminding governments and international institutions that the current food crisis is not the result of an unexpected natural disaster, but rather is the fruit of decades of free trade and the large agricultural business's vertical integration of production, processing, and distribution.

This reminder was made to the heads of state and leaders from around the world who met in Rome to participate in the “FAO High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy.”

El Salvador, like many other countries in the world, is experiencing one of its worst crises, especially on an economic level.  The quality of life of Salvadorans, particularly the poor, is deteriorating every day.

The food crisis has been deepened by the scarcity and high prices of basic food products, especially essential grains like corn, beans and rice.  These produces have suffered constant price increases.  According to studies conducted by the Consumer Defense Center (CDC), “between May 2004 and April 2008, the basic urban food basket increased $32.61 (25.4%) from $128.19 to $160.80 a month and the rural equivalent rose $30.86 (33%) from $93.29 to $124.15.”

Participants in the workshop analyzed these and other facts related to the economic reality and the food crisis that Salvadorans are experiencing.  As a result of the workshop, the female leaders of the various Mothers' Congregations in Cacaopera now know the government's obligation to assume responsibility for the current crisis and to take radical measures to resolve it.

The crisis of price increases should be confronted from the perspective of the right to food.  This crisis is a violation of that human right.  The state has failed to fulfill its obligations in this respect, because guaranteeing food is not the same as guaranteeing the right to food.