OTHER INITIATIVES - April 2011
Securing the Right to Food in Bolivia
ESCR-Net's Niko Lusiani recently participated in an international fact-finding mission to Bolivia to address the causes of food insecurity in the country. Bolivia has one of the highest rates of chronic malnutrition in Latin America. Rates are particularly high among rural and indigenous communities. The mission in early February was organized by Rights and Democracy in collaboration with La Coordinadora de Integración de Organizaciones Económicas, Campesinas y Indígenas y Originarias de Bolivia. The delegation, comprised of Bolivian and international experts on the right to food, visited communities affected by hunger and malnutrition and interviewed government representatives, UN and donor agencies, social movements and indigenous peoples. It recommended concrete steps to bring government policies and budgets into line with constitutional commitments on the right to food. A full mission report will be released in May 2011. In the meantime, read the preliminary findings of the delegation (only in Spanish currently), released during a public seminar in the Bolivian capital in mid-February, 2011.