Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, par. 52 and par. 53 (2014)

Text of the recommendation

52. Commercial investment treaties cast obligations that are automatically binding on States. To abide by these obligations, States may be compelled to modify national policies such as agricultural or labelling policies. As a result, the function of States to formulate domestic policy gets distorted in favour of the private rights of food and beverage industries, rather than the public rights of the affected population. The right to health framework, on the other hand, requires transparency in activities that directly or indirectly affect governance. It acts as a check against arbitrary decisions that may be taken by States and pre-empts violations of the right to health. One of the ways in which States could ensure transparency is by opening negotiations to include affected people such as farmers and consumers. At minimum, States should make the content of negotiations and agreements available for public scrutiny and invite comments by stakeholders before entering into these agreements.

53. Accountability can also be ensured through indicators, benchmarks and targets against which the performance of State and non-State actors in achieving goals to reduce risk and prevalence of NCDs can be monitored and evaluated. As multiple agencies of the State may be involved in regulating activities of the food industry and the provision of nutritious food, information outlining their individual and joint efforts towards attaining the set benchmarks should be made public. Making information available to the public and independent monitoring bodies will enable them to assess the activities of the food industry and their compliance with domestic marketing, labelling and nutrition standards and laws. States should also encourage monitoring of other non-State actors such as private schools and broadcasting agencies to review their policy vis-à-vis the food industry. Review and evaluation of actions taken and standards adopted by States and non-State actors to ensure the sale and availability of nutritious foods comprise the accountability framework.