Top UN officials say the rise in global food prices is posing a major threat to basic human rights. Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva Thursday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said the soaring costs of basic staples should be seen as an issue of international humanitarian law.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour: “Excellencies, the current food crisis stems from a perverse convergence of several factors, including distortions in supply and demand, unfair trade practices, as well as skewed policies involving incentives or subsidies. Yet, at its core and in its punitive effects, this crisis boils down to a lack of access to adequate food. Such access is a right protected in international law.”

Meanwhile, Oliver de Schutter, the independent UN expert on the right to food, said the world food crisis should not be seen as a natural disaster.

Oliver de Schutter: “Natural disasters are not human rights violations in themselves, unless states who can help victims stand by and do nothing to help people. The world food crisis is not a natural disaster. The causes are political. The causes are known. So if we impose an obligation to act, this prevents us from remaining silent.”