Kampen om matfatet og matproduksjonen

Antallet sultne i verden har økt, selv om det kan diskuteres om det i dag er en høyere eller lavere andel som lider under sult enn for seks år siden – før matprisøkningen. Alle er uansett enige om at det samlet sett produseres nok mat i verden til at alle kan få dekket sine ernæringsbehov. Artikkelen viser at to hovedretninger i debatten om matproduksjon står mot hverandre. Den dominerende retningen fokuserer primært på matsikkerhet, forstått som økt matproduksjon og økt handel med mat. Den andre retningen argumenterer for at interessene og rettighetene for de mest sårbare må ha forrang i politiske prioriteringer, og at de sårbare sikres best med en strategi basert på menneskerettigheter. Artikkelen drøfter landfordeling, økt bruk av genteknologi i landbruket og nedbygging av handelshindre for landbruksprodukter. Industrialisering av landbruket og liberalisering av handelen med landbruksvarer kan gi gode resultater på makronivå – på kort sikt. Dersom målet er å fremme situasjonen for de mest sårbare og samtidig møte klimautfordringene er løsningen en nedenfra-tilnærming, som til nå er blitt ignorert av de fleste stater

Human Rights Impact Assessment in the Context of Biofuels: Addressing the Human Right to Food and the Human Right to Water

The original mandate of the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights said that he should „develop materials and methodologies for undertaking human rights impact assessments.‟ Since then, tools for human rights impact assessment (HRIA) have developed by different actors. This article reviews two such tools, both of which are up for revision in 2010. One is by the International Finance Corporation, International Business Leaders Forum and Global Compact, the other by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels. The article finds that substantive human rights and human rights principles are well understood by the former, while the latter seems to have an inadequate understanding of crucial human rights principles, such as non-discrimination, but the latter has some procedural strengths as compared to the former

Book reviews

Bokanmeldelser av " The Fight for the Right to Food. Lessons Learned" (Ziegler, Golay, Mahon, Way, 2011). "Accounting for Hunger.The Right to Food in the Era of Globalization" (de Schutter, Cordes (eds), 2011). "Governing Food Security. Law, Politics and the Right to Food" (Hospes, Hadiprayitno (eds), 2010). "Constitutional and Legal Protection of the Right to Food around the World" (Knuth, Vidar, 2011

Norwegian christian leaders: The term ‘Christian Values’ is divisive and useless

Church leaders and politicians in several countries make frequent references to Christian values as part of a rhetoric of dividing between wanted and unwanted view and practices. Hence, even more than a source for division between adherents of different faiths, religion divides adherents of the same faith when identifying the core of religion. The article presents findings from a survey and focus group interviews with five groups of Norwegian Christian leaders: church leaders, bishops and deans from the Church of Norway, as well as leaders in mission organization and diaconal foundations. The informants are generally very hospitable towards immigrants, not particularly skeptical of Islam, and highly skeptical of politicians applying the term ‘Christian values’ for protectionist purposes. While distancing themselves from the term ‘Christian values’, informants have a clear understanding of what these values encompass. These attitudes mirror the major attitudes among the so-called church-going Norwegians in the Pew report, “Being Christian in Western Europe”, having higher appreciation of both Islam and immigration than the other groups of informants. The article proceeds by explaining and contextualizing, including how the churches have promoted conviviality in diverse societies and whether the leaders are willing to act when Christianity is applied to legitimize nativism.publishedVersio

Financialization of mother earth. Do offsets and payments or right-based approaches provide for better conservationist approaches?

Five different regimes or approaches to nature conservation are analyzed: Carbon markets, Payments for Environmental Services (PES), Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), human rights, and rights of nature (Mother Earth). The climate change mitigation efforts is the policy context for studying these approaches. The still dominant approach involves payments and offsets, with social and environmental safeguard mechanisms being increasingly applied, influenced by substantive human rights requirements. REDD projects stand out from PES projects by being performance-based, while the Mother Earth approach has so far not had a decisive influence on policy-making. Keohane and Daniel G. Victor’s six evaluative criteria to assess regime complexes are applied to assess these regimes or approaches: (i) coherence; (ii) accountability; (iii) determinacy; (iv) sustainability; (v) epistemic embedding; and (vi) fairness. The article finds that the evaluative criteria indeed have a role to play in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the various regimes and approaches, and that the human rights regime has a underutilized potential in guiding conservationist approaches in the context of climate change.publishedVersio

What policy space for diaconal institutions? Challenges from public procurement

Procurement processes with tender competition have been a preferred approach for engaging service providers in Norway. Even if the present Norwegian government finds it “essential that competition becomes an integral part of all public activity,” a simultaneous push for preserving the welfare mix of Norway has occurred, with public, non-profit, and for-profit actors. What specificmeasures are being undertaken to preserve the non-profit actors? How have the Norwegian authorities sought to utilize the policy space that the EU/EEA (European Economic Area) provides? The article concludes that Norway has a wide policy space for providing public health and welfare services through non-profit actors, but there is disagreement between Norway and the European Surveillance Authority (ESA) concerning which health and social welfare services that represent exercise of official authority. Procurement processes relating to such services can be reserved to non-profit actors.publishedVersio

Energy security vs. food security - comparing Brazil, Indonesia and Tanzania

While being at different stages in the development of a biofuels industry, the three states, Brazil, Indonesia and Tanzania, all have high ambitions regarding biofuel production. The article focuses in particular on the issue of land and land availability, based on the fact that dislocation from the land can involve human rights violations, and that land-use change is said to contribute to 18 per cent of global green house gas emissions. The article demonstrates that all three states face serious problems with regard to food security. The state with the best overall record on food security, Brazil, has particular challenges in complying with its obligations regarding indigenous peoples. Both Indonesia and Tanzania are faced with increased food and energy insecurity, even if Indonesia saw a reduction in its proportion of hungry people from the early 1990 to 2005. The most relevant legislation is reviewed, finding that the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples’ to make demands on the investors is not properly ensured

Human Rights in Natural Science and Technology Professions’ Codes of Ethics?

No global professional codes for the natural science and technology professions exist. In light of how the application of new technology can affect individuals and communities, this discrepancy warrants greater scrutiny. This article analyzes the most relevant processes and seeks to explain why these processes have not resulted in global codes. Moreover, based on a human rights approach, the article gives recommendations on the future process and content of codes for science and technology professions. The relevance of human rights in the realm of individual conduct is based on the fact that while human rights treaties primarily outline State obligations, individuals have responsibility for human rights promotion. Human rights principles have only recently been subject to interests from policy makers and academics, and must be better clarified. Human rights principles are found to be relevant, but are effective only if they are applied in conjunction with substantive human rights

Traditional Knowledge and Human Rights

In the realm of intellectual property protection, traditional knowledge has been receiving increasing attention in the past few years. Presently, however, there is no international treaty regulating traditional knowledge.’ Nonetheless, the efforts of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (GRTKFw) ithin the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) might just result in the creation of such an international instrument. Indeed, the WIPO General Assembly said in 2003 that “no outcome of its work is excluded”.* In parallel to these developments, a wealth of academic literature Concerning the understanding of traditional knowledge has recently been published.3 This article will analyse the relationship between the notion of traditional knowledge and the international protection of human rights, particularly Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)4 and Article 15.1 ofthe International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).5 More specifically, the article will seek to answer to what extent recognized human rights contribute to the emerging acknowledgement of traditional knowledge at both the national and international level. In other words, is there an obligation under human rights law to provide for some kind of protection of traditional knowledge? The pertinence of such a question is based on the acknowledgement of the relevance of human rights in the context of traditional knowledge as expressed by the WIPOas~ w ell as by certain States.’ It is assumed for the purpose of this article that most indigenous peoples and local communities are receptive to a form of protection of their traditional knowledge.* Moreover, it is also important to acknowledge that while the notion of exclusive rights is considered to be alien to the culture of most indigenous people^,^ exclusive rights might be important in any indigenous community. Nevertheless, at the same time, caution should be applied when addressing intellectual property protection in the context of indigenous peoples and local communities

Approaches to inclusive and equitable societies: diaconal perspectives

There are two dominant approaches in social science to inclusive and equitable societies. The social cohesion approach emphasizes the dominant norms that bind societies together. The social capital approach emphasizes how relationships between individuals contribute positively to societal progress. Religions in general, and churches and congregations in particular, have proved to contribute positively to both social capital and social cohesion, by providing spaces for encounters and friendships. This article asks whether these two approaches are adequate for building inclusive communities faced with economic strictures, power abuse, violence, legal restrictions and mental bigotry, which can create tensions and exclude persons from the communities. The article seeks to identify whether a new approach termed conviviality could be applied. It finds that this approach makes an important contribution in promoting coexistence amidst divisions and power