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| (c) FAO, 2024 |
This right is not an abstract idea. It means that every person, everywhere, has the right to adequate food — food that is available, accessible, safe, culturally acceptable, and sustainable. It also means that states have an obligation to respect, protect and fulfil this right — including from the threats posed by unsound pesticide management.
And here lies the problem.
When pesticides contaminate soil, water, and air, they don’t just disrupt ecosystems — they undermine the resilience of entire food systems. They compromise the nutritional quality and safety of food, and in many cases, put the long-term sustainability of food production at risk. This is not only a technical failure — it is a human rights violation.
Let me give you a few real examples for us to get a concrete perspective of what we are talking about.
In Guadeloupe and Martinique, the prolonged use of chlordecone, a pesticide banned elsewhere, contaminated soil and water so deeply that exposure levels remain dangerously high. Thousands have been exposed for decades. The result? According to many sources long-term damage to local agriculture and fishing communities.
In India, a tragic incident some years ago in Bihar saw 23 children die after eating a school meal prepared with cooking oil stored in a container previously used for monocrotophos — a highly toxic pesticide banned in many countries but still widely accessible there.
And in Costa Rica, aerial spraying over banana plantations has led to repeated complaints from nearby rural communities about contaminated water.
These communities — often low-income and Indigenous — are being exposed to chemicals that, as already mentioned, are not even allowed in the exporting countries.
These examples speak to a deeper systemic failure. For too long, responsibility for managing the risks of pesticides has been placed mainly on end users — the farmers, the workers, the communities — instead of where it belongs: on states. States, as Shalmali highlighted, have the duty to regulate, to inform, to monitor, and to protect people from harm.
Let us also not forget the procedural rights that are often neglected: the right to participation -, which in the case of Indigenous Peoples takes the form of Free, Prior and Informed Consent -, the right to access justice, the right to be heard. Decisions on pesticide policy must be informed by the voices of those most affected — women working in the fields, Indigenous farmers, and rural youth.
This brings me to the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management. It is a powerful tool — but today, we must ask whether it goes far enough in protecting human rights. And I believe that to truly safeguard the right to food, maybe some key improvements are needed:
The Code, I do believe, could be reviewed to recommend mandatory Human Rights Impact Assessments before any pesticide is registered or imported. This would ensure that we’re not just looking at chemical risk, but also at impacts on people’s health, livelihoods, and access to food.
The Code should also prohibit the export of pesticides that are banned in the country of origin. As Marcos Orelalna already mentioned, allowing their manufacture for use elsewhere creates a double standard — and violates the principle of non-discrimination at the heart of international human rights law.
I do think too that the Code should strengthen accountability systems and effective remedies, as Marcos was also refiring to. One way to do this could be by integrating in the Code a recommendation for countries to establish independent grievance mechanisms at the national level, so that communities harmed by pesticide exposure can report violations and access justice.
Protecting the right to food is not an add-on. It is the starting point. So, let’s make sure the Code of Conduct reflects that. Let’s ensure that no one’s plate comes with a price tag of pain or poison.
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This intervention was delivered by Juan Echanove, Right to Food Team Lead at FAO, during the online event "Addressing the Impacts of Pesticides on Human Rights" held on 3 April 2025. The event was co-organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council, and the Geneva Environment Network.
