Access to Justice for the Right to Food: Overcoming Systemic Barriers in Guatemala, Indonesia, and Malawi

The right to food is a universal, legally enforceable, and justiciable human right, yet many countries face barriers in meeting their related obligations, impacting those most affected by food insecurity and malnutrition. To seek recourse for right to food violations, right-holders can access justice through judicial, quasi-judicial, administrative, or informal and customary systems of justice. This process, however, can be challenging.

At the request of the Right to Food Team of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Capstone team conducted an assessment of the factors that facilitate or hinder a people’s ability to access justice for right to food violations, globally and in three countries of focus: Guatemala, Indonesia, and Malawi.

This project consisted of a desk review of relevant literature, reports, and case briefs, as well as qualitative interviews with 16 legal and civil society stakeholders, both globally and in the target countries. The result was an analysis of the global and country-specific barriers and enabling factors for access to justice for right to food violations, as well as recommendations to address these factors, informed by stakeholder insights and the desk review, in three categories: social and cultural, normative, and institutional and structural.

This final report sought to inform FAO’s work on access to justice for the right to food and its technical assistance to the countries of focus and beyond.