ENGAGE GLOBALLY

Leveraging human rights tools and processes for change at home and around the world.

We work with partners within the U.S. and in other countries to engage with global processes that help us advance the right to food at home and around the world. Although the United States is not bound by many of the international laws that contain the right to food, we find ways to leverage our existing commitments to build awareness, momentum, and shared power around the right to food at local, state, and federal levels.

Approach | UPR | Solidarity Work | Reports | Working Group

Our Approach

Improving coordination and collaboration towards progressively realizing the right to food in the United States and around the world.

Where are we headed?

Greater coordination and collaboration among U.S. civil society organizations to progressively realize the right to food in the U.S. and around the world.

How will we get there?

Engage U.S. civil society organizations in international processes and policy-making spaces alongside other human rights advocates.

Motivation

The United States has a complex historical relationship with the United Nations, despite its important role in crafting international human rights mechanisms. Our refusal to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and many other human rights treaties has meant people in the United States don’t often see themselves as rights-holders with a role in holding our government accountable for harms to the health and well-being of people, communities, and the planet.

Rights-holders in the United States have been left behind while people in other countries have used international mechanisms to leverage change at home. We know that we can learn a lot from the successes, challenges, and experiences of advocates working on similar issues in other countries. We want to strengthen our skills and understanding of opportunities for U.S. civil society organizations to use international human rights monitoring bodies to progress our aims at local and state levels. We are at a critical moment. The withdrawal of the United States from many international bodies and processes has created a specific and strategic opportunity to engage U.S. civil society in discussions of how we want our government to act both locally and globally. We are a wealthy, but highly inequitable country. Recognizing food as a human right encourages us to think about the role of governments and corporations in creating and deepening these divisions, and use these tools to build a future where our people and planet thrive. The relationship of food to all aspects of our lives creates important opportunities for collaboration with advocates and scholars working across a wide range of issues - from housing and healthcare, to environmental protection and climate adaptation; from immigration enforcement and community safety, to fair treatment at work and racial and gender justice. There are many coalitions and organizations in the United States engaged in advocating for the legal protection of economic, social, and cultural rights. Their experience, lessons learned, and partnership are important for our mission to advance the right to food. As a national organization with members from across different local contexts, we are well placed to: Raise the profile of the right to food as a framework that brings together social, economic, cultural, and environmental justice aims. Raise the profile of right to food issues taking place at local and state levels in the United States with international bodies and reporting mechanisms.Translate and adapt international human rights approaches for use by local and state advocates working in the United States.

Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

Progress towards human rights in the United States and around the world is propelled by civil society participation in accountability mechanisms like the UPR.

On November 7, 2025, the United States was scheduled to participate in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process in Geneva. Instead, the U.S. federal government announced its withdrawal from the UPR process in August, marking a break from decades of participation. The review has been rescheduled for November 2026.

We join many others who have raised concerns that this withdrawal undermines the progression of human rights in the United States and around the world.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a process of international accountability in which each country has agreed to take part in a peer review of its human rights record every four to five years. The process provides opportunities for UN Member States and civil society organizations to raise questions and make recommendations to the country under review. The United States' withdrawal from the UPR process in 2025 was announced in August, as United Nations Human Rights Council members were gathered to hear from representatives of U.S. civil society - including the National Right to Food Community of Practice - who had prepared statements about the human rights situation in our country.

More than 150 organizations submitted reports as part of the United States' fourth review under the Universal Periodic Review process in 2025. These organizations were invited to submit an update in April, 2026, after the review had been rescheduled. Read our full report, submitted on behalf of more than 35 organizations across the country. In it, we explore the progress the United States has made in advancing the right to food since 2020, the most recent Universal Periodic Review by the Human Rights Council.Read our updated report, submitted in April 2026 as part of the rescheduled process. This report focuses on the key developments for the right to food over the previous year.

Throughout 2025, we produced a series of blog posts that set the themes and issues raised in our report submission into context for people working at state and local levels in the United States. Food should be economically accessible for allFood systems should be sustainableFood should meet the nutritional, social, and cultural needs of all peopleFood systems should be controlled by the peopleFood rights should be protected in law and policy

Online event held: November 11, 2025. Read the event report. This event provided a space for advocates and organizations working within the U.S. and in other countries to reflect on concerns and opportunities for advancing the right to food. It was held at a moment when the United States federal government had withdrawn from the Universal Periodic Review process and other forms of international accountability and cooperation.

Bridging Local Advocacy and Global Connections

Engaging with global partners and processes gives us tools to use in our fight to advance the right to food in the United States.

We do this work in solidarity with others working in the U.S. and around the world to advance the right to food for everyone. Our members include and collaborate with partner organizations and movements, such as:

Heather Retberg, Craig Hickman, Michael Fakhri.jpeg

Reporting about Right to Food Issues in the United States

Submissions and statements to the United Nations on behalf of the Community of Practice

Corporate Capture of the Food System in the United States Hinders the Realization of the Right to Food, submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, June 2025Violence and the Right to Food in the U.S., Submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, December 2022Violations of the Human Right to Food During COVID-19 in the United States, submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, June 2019

Violations of Civil and Political Rights in the United States Stemming from Hunger, Malnutrition, and Violations of the Right to Food, shadow report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee for the United States review, September 2023Oral statement to the Human Rights Committee on the Violations of Civil and Political Rights in the U.S. Stemming from Right to Food Violations, given by Joshua Lohnes, September 2023Statement from Karen A. Spiller, Food Solutions New England, ICCPR Food Rights Working Group, briefing with the Human Rights Committee for Review of the U.S.A., October 2023Statement from Maine Senator Craig Hickman, ICCPR Food Rights Working Group, briefing with the Human Rights Committee for Review of the U.S.A., October 2023

Progressing the Right to Food in the United States: 2026 Update, joint submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of the United States of America, April 2026Progressing the Right to Food in the United States, joint submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of the United States of America, April 2025The Human Right to Food in the Context of Political Participation, Equality and Nondiscrimination, joint submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of the United States of America, October 2019

Global Linkages Working Group

By coordinating our voices around food as a human right, we are creating a platform for greater collaboration and engagement with global partners and processes.

Explore the Working Group

ENGAGE GLOBALLY

Our Approach

Where are we headed?

How will we get there?

Motivation

Read More

Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

What is the Universal Periodic Review?

Reports submitted

Participation in the UPR pre-session

Bridging to local audiences

Solidarity and Accountability through the Universal Periodic Review

Bridging Local Advocacy and Global Connections

Reporting about Right to Food Issues in the United States

Special Rapporteurs

Human Rights Committee

Human Rights Council

Global Linkages Working Group

ENGAGE GLOBALLY

Our Approach

Where are we headed?

How will we get there?

Motivation

Read More

Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

​

What is the Universal Periodic Review?

Reports submitted

Participation in the UPR pre-session

Bridging to local audiences

Solidarity and Accountability through the Universal Periodic Review

Bridging Local Advocacy and Global Connections

Reporting about Right to Food Issues in the United States

Special Rapporteurs

Human Rights Committee

Human Rights Council

Global Linkages Working Group