Fragile states, posing a major challenge of our times, are increasingly becoming a focus of attention in international politics and development cooperation. But very often, the viewpoint of the people affected by fragile statehood is not sufficiently heard. Parts of the international community prioritize their own security policy interests, the motto being the «war on terrorism». People in fragile states, by contrast, are primarily concerned with their own survival and the quest for development opportunities for themselves and their communities.

In November 2004, after a two-year drafting process, the FAO Council adopted the Voluntary Guidelines on the right to food - in effect, a new legal instrument for defending and enforcing the right to food.This article addresses the following questions:
What will this instrument be capable of achieving? Will the effort expended in creating the Guidelines prove to have been worthwhile? And, finally, will the implementation of this new approach to human rights contribute towards reducing the numbers of people suffering from hunger?

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is one of the three conventions agreed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. But from the very outset it has led a marginal existence, because industrialized countries feel far less concerned with desertification than developing countries. Moreover, the Convention?s targets are not binding and are open to a variety of interpretations by the Parties.The conflicting interests of environmental and
development policy are weakening its position further.

Interest in the notion of «state failure» has seen a dramatic upsurge in recent years. As a rule, changes in global framework conditions are held responsible for this decrease in state control and legitimacy. But the prominence of this topic in the international debate easily overlooks the fact that the phenomenon of failing states is not new, but has existed since the division of the world into nation-states. Moreover, it is almost impossible to establish a uniform pattern of state failure.

Development assistance is contingent upon the efficiency and effectiveness of delivery mechanisms. EU regional policy offers an appealing paradigm of how to achieve tangible outcomes with sound financial management

Negotiations to establish a set of Voluntary Guidelines on the human right to food, held under the auspices of FAO, were successfully completed in autumn 2004, with all 174 FAO member countries signing the final document. However, the negotiations proved to be far from straightforward, as many countries were anxious about the legally binding nature of the Guidelines.

In the ten years since it came into being, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has had little or no effect on the further encroachment of deserts. More than 80 countries have submitted National Action Programmes to combat desertification, but they appear to lack the financial and political commitment to implement them. What are the causes behind the UNCCD's weakness? How can the Convention be incorporated more effectively and efficiently into the architecture of international development?

Six years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan is a long way from political stability and economic progress. The decline of state influence continues, especially in rural areas; because of the security situation, aid organisations are drastically cutting back their programmes and military considerations are taking on overriding importance.

The Voluntary Guidelines on the human right to food provide a further instrument of international law in the fight against world hunger.The Guidelines promise to be a powerful new weapon in combating malnutrition.They forge an alliance between development policy and human rights in the struggle for the right to food. The «human rights approach» has become the new watchword in the fight against hunger.

Post-tsunami reconstruction has been under way in the Indonesian province of Aceh for nearly two years. In the authors' view, swift coordination of goals and instruments has enabled positive synergies to be created between short-term development-oriented emergency aid and long-term recovery. In this way, and by means of a conflict-sensitive approach, the aim is to guarantee the sustainability of the reconstruction effort.

The Horn of Africa is one of the most conflict-prone areas of the world. It is also home to about 20 million pastoralists, which keep moving with their livestock in search for grazing land and water points. Pastoral conflicts are becoming more and more serious. CEWARN - a regional mechanism for preventing conflicts - tries to close the gap between 'early warning' and 'early response'.

The Voluntary Guidelines to support the Progressive Realisation of the Right to Food have served the very useful purpose of placing the right to food squarely on the international development policy agenda.To avoid practice lagging behind theory, concerted efforts are required by governments, development agencies and donors to implement these Guidelines to accelerate the realisation of the right to food at country level. Lessons learned from such learning by doing will help show how to put the right to food into practice.