Biokraftstoffe und das Recht auf Nahrung

The recent strategy on biofuels by the European Union has been challenged as being an infringement of the right to food since it has detrimental impacts on food prices. The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food has called for a 5 year moratorium on biofuels until further research on the effects of biofuels has been carried out. Although a considerable number of States protects elements of the right to food in their constitutions the right is not yet established under international customary law. However, it is accepted as a binding human right according to Art. 11 ICESCR. It comprises core obligations of State parties as well as aspects of a more programmatic character. Thus, it has to be considered a part of the rising number of hybrid international norms. To be effective in the clash of fuel and food an international dimension of its scope has to be accepted. This approach quite unfamiliar for human rights can be deducted from an interpretation Art. 11 ICESCR in the light of several soft law provisions aiming at the concretization of the right to food. Consequently, a duty to consider the negative impacts of a State's measures on individual's human right to food in other countries can be established. This duty is short of a proportionality test. A moratorium on biofuels would only be required under the right to food, if their impacts would lead to severe hunger in countries affected. The concept of a human right to food serves considerable functions. In respect to the principle of sustainable development it fosters the relevance of social aspects vis-à-vis the economic and environmental needs. By turning to entitlements of individuals it is able to penetrate the shield of sovereignty and to put the focus on safeguarding especially vulnerable groups.