This year the Centre for Critical International Law (CeCIL), Kent Law School and the Division of Law, Society and Social Justice (LSSJ) organised a series of free public and academic events with Professor Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur On The Right To Food, at the University on 7 and 8 March. The events were hosted in partnership with KMTV and the University of Kent’s Public and Community Engagement Unit (KURIE).
In the Annual Lecture, which took place on 8 March, Professor Fakhri talked about the Radical Potential of the Right to Food. He began his talk by outlining the tradition of International Law, particularly the Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), which has played a huge role in shaping his ideas. Being suspicious of the emancipatory potential of International Law, Professor Fakhri, building further on TWAIL’s critique and resist approach to International Law, proposed a parallel and complementary framework of “resist and build”.
Professor Fakhri further talked about the need of the organisational power generated from local and international campaigns for the right to food. He argued it is important for legal practitioners and scholars to create particular tools to serve social and political campaigns and to provide tactical advice to advance and strengthen the right to food. Professor Fakhri laid out four constituency groups for the international legal agenda: peasants, indigenous groups, worker (including migration) and women, pointing out that these constituency groups have their own legal tools. He argued it is crucial to braid these different legal tools together to further strengthen and achieve the radical potential of the Right to Food. To listen to the recorded lecture where Professor Fakhri unpacks and explains his ideas, go to Facebook and YouTube.
During his two-day academic visit, Professor Fakhri also took part in a ‘Conversation With’ Young Food Ambassadors from The Food Foundation and the organisation’s Executive Director, Anna Taylor on 7 March. This inspirational event featured the story and experiences of the Young Food Ambassadors and the discussion with Professor Fakhri on the impact of Covid-19 on food security and the right to food worldwide. The recorded event can be viewed on Facebook and YouTube.
In addition to these public events, Professor Fakhri also attended seminars with Law LLM students at Kent Law School to share Special Rapporteur’s insights, experience and expertise, as well as meetings with leaders from community groups whose work interfaces with Professor Fakhri’s mandate to address the need for an integrated and coordinated approach to promoting and protecting people’s right to food. He also visited Our Kitchen on the Isle of Thanet in Margate, a non-profit organization that provides healthier, convenient and affordable food. KMTV captured this amazing inspiration about how to change the world from the bottom up, which can be viewed here.
The Centre for Critical International Law
CeCIL is an innovative research centre which aims to foster critical approaches to the field of international law, and other areas of law that touch upon global legal problems. In addition to an annual lecture, CeCIL offers a busy programme of activities for Kent Law School students, including a speaker and films series and workshops for students keen to develop their employability and international law skills. CeCIL also strives to engage students, scholars and practitioners interested in the critical study of international law around the world through developing collaborations and joint research efforts.