THE RIGHT TO FOOD FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES BETWEEN STATE OBLIGATIONS AND PUBLIC POLICY

The paper analyses the issue of the right to food of persons with disabilities in order to identify the policies that States should adopt to comply with their treaty obligations. To this purpose, it offers a combined reading of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) and of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The paper argues that the dimensions of physical and economic accessibility – characterizing the right to food as interpreted by the CESCR Committee – must be read in the light of the right and general principle of accessibility for persons with disabilities enshrined in the CRPD. Member States to both treaties, such as Italy, are under the obligation to adopt all the required and appropriate measures to ensure the physical and digital accessibility not only of the food market, but also of the means to gain a living, thus granting economic access to food. States must guarantee meaningful participation to persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in the policy development process.