A top United Nations body said today the dramatic rise in food prices that has caused hunger, shortages and protests around the world constituted a threat to basic human rights.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, told the UN Human Rights Council that the soaring costs of corn, wheat, rice and other foods "jeopardise the well-being and rights of countless people".
"This crisis boils down to a lack of access to adequate food. Such access is a right protected by international law," the former Canadian Supreme Court justice said.
The recent commodity spikes have driven up prices around the world, but have hit hardest in poor nations where food takes up the bulk of families' budgets. More than 850 million people worldwide are thought to be facing acute food shortages.
Argentina, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Russia, South Africa and Morocco are among the countries that have had demonstrations and strikes in response to soaring prices.
Ms Arbour said the crisis "stems from a perverse convergence of several factors, including distortions in supply and demand, unfair trade practices, as well as skewed policies involving incentives or subsidies".
"A failure to act in a comprehensive manner may also trigger a domino effect by putting at risk other fundamental rights, including the right to health or to education, when people are forced to forego competing basic necessities or services in order to feed themselves and their families," she told a special session of the 47-member state forum in Geneva.
More than 30 countries, including Cuba, Indonesia and Switzerland, sponsored a resolution to the two-year-old Council saying that the food crisis threatens to derail the world's fight against poverty.
"States have a primary obligation to make their best efforts to meet the vital food needs of their own population, especially of the vulnerable groups and households," the draft resolution read, calling for increased local farming and efforts to reduce child and maternal malnutrition.
"The international community should provide, through a coordinated response and upon request, support to national and regional efforts in terms of providing the necessary assistance for increasing food production," it continued.