The UN Special Rapporteur On The Right To Food, Professor Michael Fakhri, will participate in a number of free public and academic events at the University of Kent on 7 and 8 March.
Organised by the University’s Centre for Critical International Law (CeCIL), Kent Law School and the Division of Law, Society and Social Justice (LSSJ), these events will consider the impact of Covid-19 on food security and the right to food worldwide.
During his visit, Professor Fakhri will deliver the 2021-2022 CeCIL Annual Lecture at the Gulbenkian Theatre on 8 March (7-9pm), preceeded by a reception (6-7pm). His lecture, entitled, ‘The Radical Potential of the Right to Food’, is free and open to all. Free tickets can be booked at https://cecilannuallecture22.eventbrite.co.uk. This event will be live-streamed by KMTV.
On 7 March, Professor Fakhri, who is also Director of the Food Resiliency Project at the University of Oregon School of Law, will also participate in an in-conversation style event featuring Young Food Ambassadors from The Food Foundation and the organisation’s Executive Director, Anna Taylor. Organised and hosted by CeCIL and LSSJ, this event will take place in Keynes College Lecture Theatre 1 (7-8.30pm), preceded by a reception (6-7pm). Free tickets for this event are available at https://cecilconversationwith.eventbrite.co.uk. This event will also be live-streamed by KMTV.
In addition to these public events, Professor Fakhri will also attend 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.
Professor Fakhri’s visit will feed into the Special Rapporteur’s broader consultations on identifying solutions to mitigate harmful impacts of the pandemic on the realisation of the right to food.
Dr Luis Eslava, CeCIL Co-Director and Reader in International Law at Kent Law School, said: ‘We are extremely honoured to be hosting Professor Fakhri. His visit will give students and the broader community the opportunity to learn more about his incredibly important work on the promotion of the right to food, in an era in which access to adequate food is increasingly under threat from factors including climate change, endemic conflict, harsh economic conditions and, of course, the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic and other health crises.’
Anna Taylor, Executive Director of The Food Foundation, said: ‘We welcome the opportunity to discuss and share evidence about the current situation in the UK and we look forward to hearing more about UN’s international work on the importance of a rights-based approach to food and how we must protect the most at risk in society.’
Notes to editors:
Please note that this is not a fact-finding visit to the UK. Professor Fakhri is not in a position to speak to the media on topics other than general issues about his mandate nor comment on the specific situation of food security in the country.
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Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/Welcomepage.aspx
(2)
Kent Law School is a leading critical law school and is part of the Division for the Study of Law, Society and Justice at the University of Kent.
https://www.kent.ac.uk/law
https://research.kent.ac.uk/cecil/
https://www.kent.ac.uk/about/law-society-and-social-justice
(3)
The Food Foundation is a charity whose mission is to change food policy and business practice to ensure everyone, across the UK nations, can afford and access a healthy and sustainable diet.
https://foodfoundation.org.uk
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