Food Rights in Malawi
A proposed bill aims at ensuring Malawians always have enough to eat
In Malawi, a civil society group has begun circulating proposed legislation that would hold their government accountable for ensuring basic food rights for people
Malawi made international headlines this week when Madonna visited the country during her streamlined adoption case that will bring one-year-old, David Banda, home to Rocco and Lourdes, Madonna's other two children. Hopefully little David's new life will raise awareness for the plight of his nation. Half of Malawi's children under five suffer from malnutrition and currently, 980,000 people are in need of food. This latter figure is actually an improvement from last year. While Madonna single-handedly contributes to the cause, a trio of rights groups have addressed the hunger issue in a different way by calling for a new bill that would focus on basic food rights for the citizens of Malawi.
The UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) reported earlier this month that the Human Right to Food Bill, circulated by the Malawian civil group, Human Right to Food Taskforce, would guarantee food security for Malawians as well as the establishment of an agency with the authority to look into claims of food rights violations on behalf of victims, most of whom are poor and illiterate. The proposed bill stems from a campaign the Taskforce began in 2002 after a famine caused more than 3 million to go hungry. In 2005, another drought left 4.8 million people in need of food assistance.
The Taskforce sought the assistance of two organizations, the FoodFirst Information and Action Network, a German NGO, and Rights & Democracy, a Canadian organization, who worked together to produce a report entitled, 'Human Right to Food in Malawi.' Their analysis cited several factors contributing to hunger in Malawi but also claimed that the problem was exacerbated by erratic rains and government mismanagement. The IRIN article outlined, in theory at least, how this bill would assist Malawi's starving population but did not elaborate on the consequences of food rights violations or how, exactly, these measures would be enforced. It is certainly a noble gesture on Taskforce's part but the bill may raise more difficult issues than it seeks to eliminate.
While Malawi recorded its biggest-ever harvest last year, it remains one of the world's poorest nations and food shortages are a recurrent theme. Only so many movie stars and pop idols will be able to adopt African children before their good intentions are contested because of their moral and cultural implications. In fact, the debate has already begun. About five dozen NGOs in Malawi have requested an injunction preventing Madonna's adoption.
