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The right to food

You may not know it, but you, and everybody else in the UK, have a right to food.

In 1976, our Government made a binding commitment under international human rights law to secure the human right to adequate food for everyone in the UK.

Now, as increasing numbers are forced to depend on charitable food aid, people on low incomes are asking:

  • Is the state taking responsibility for our right to food?
  • How is it respecting, protecting and fulfilling that right?
  • Is it acting against its obligations with the introduction of benefit conditionality and sanctions?
  • What is the relationship between the state and the charities that provide emergency food?
  • Is anyone being held accountable?
  • If people knew they had a right to food, what difference would it make?

We work with academics, people in food poverty, and others to explore what a ‘right to food’ should look like and what is happening now, particularly in the context of current benefit changes.

Click here to download Step up to the Plate, our 2018 report outlining what the Government needs to do to secure people’s right to food.

Church Action on Poverty campaigns to secure the right to food as part of End Hunger UK.