The right to food guidelines and indigenous peoples:an operational guide

This Guide aims to assist indigenous peoples and their organizations on how to use the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security1 (hereafter “Right to Food Guidelines” or “Guidelines”) to promote their own interests in the area of food security. It also intends to increase awareness and improve understanding among development workers as well as United Nations (UN) staff, government officials and indigenous peoples themselves, of linkages between issues affecting indigenous peoples and the Right to Food Guidelines.2 The Guide is thus mainly about using the Right to Food Guidelines as an instrument to advocate and lobby in favor of indigenous peoples’ interests. The Right to Food Guidelines were adopted unanimously by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Council in 2004. They represent an action plan, reflecting a consensus among FAO members on what needs to be done in relevant policy areas to promote food security through a human rights-based approach. The Right to Food Guidelines provide guidance on areas and types of actions the state should take in order to meet its obligations under the right to food, and at the same time indicate ways for indigenous peoples to be more active to work towards realizing their right to food.