FIAN
| FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) |
|
|---|---|
| founding | 1986 |
| Seat | In over 50 countries |
| main emphasis | Human rights organization |
| Website | www.fian.org |
FIAN or FIAN International, the F oodFirst I nformation and A ktions- N etwork , sets itself as an international human rights organization to ensure that all people free from hunger live and can feed themselves.
FIAN fights for the right to adequate nutrition on the basis of international human rights agreements , in particular the social pact . FIAN International has members and sections in 60 countries in Africa , America , Asia and Europe . The German-speaking (partially multilingual) sections of FIAN International are FIAN Germany , FIAN Austria, FIAN Switzerland and FIAN Belgium.
History, profile and structure
FIAN was founded in Heidelberg in 1986. The founding members were human rights activists u. a. were active at Amnesty International , some of them had a development background. From the beginning, however, FIAN placed its main focus on the right to food and a more partisan, socially militant basic orientation than Amnesty International.
FIAN has several thousand members in over 50 countries (as of 2012). Country sections have been founded in fourteen countries and registered as an association - in Belgium , Brazil , Germany ( FIAN Germany ), Ghana , Honduras , India (and there in the states of Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka , Rajasthan , Tamil Nadu , Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal ) , Mexico , Nepal , Netherlands , Norway , Austria , the Philippines , Sweden and Switzerland . In four other countries there are coordinations, i.e. sections that are currently being established - in Burkina Faso , Ecuador , Colombia and Zambia . As a member organization, FIAN benefits in many ways from volunteers who have often come together in local groups and there are dedicated to dealing with cases of human rights violations.
The highest body is the International Council, which meets every two years. The members of each section send representatives to the council. The council makes the most important decisions for the organization as a whole and elects the board, international executive committee. The International Secretariat in Heidelberg implements the decisions of the Council and the Board of Directors and supports the country sections and coordination.
FIAN has advisor status to the United Nations and is independent of political and denominational groups, parties, governments and ideologies.
Goals and way of working
FIAN stands up for people and groups who are not strong enough to represent their interests on their own when their right to food is violated : smallholders , small tenants, farm workers, landless , families led by women. The organization seeks cooperation with those affected.
For specific cases of violation of the right to food that have become known to her, e.g. B. Evicts farmers from the land they need to support themselves, organizes letter protest campaigns and publicly appeals to the political authorities responsible for human rights abuses. FIAN often bases the collection of facts and case documentation required for this on political research trips to the places where it happened. Together with the global smallholder network Via Campesina , FIAN has been carrying out a “World Campaign for Agricultural Reforms” for several years.
Based on the universality and indivisibility of human rights, FIAN fights for the worldwide realization of the right to feed. The aim is not only to provide political support for, but also to “ empower ” people who are starving or at risk of hunger. What is meant by “empowerment” is that political and legal means and, of course, the necessary educational prerequisites for the independent perception of the interests of those affected are created. To this end, FIAN lobbies the United Nations, is committed to human rights education and endeavors to establish and use legal action in local and international courts.
successes
FIAN provided important impetus for the opinions of the UN Social Committee in Geneva. A notable success for the human rights organization - after ten years of lobbying - was when the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) adopted voluntary guidelines on the right to adequate nutrition at its World Food Summit in Rome in November 2004 . This means that there is now a voluntary but official catalog of political measures that demonstrate the feasibility of the right to food.
Web links
- FIAN International (English)
- FIAN Switzerland
- FIAN Germany
swell
- ^ FIAN International: Who We Are. In: www.fian.org. Retrieved December 19, 2016 .
- ^ The Human Right to Food and the Global Food Crisis: Root Causes and Responses. (PDF) United Nations, 2008, accessed January 14, 2017 .