Consumer Rights and Human Rights: A Study of the Relationship between the Right to Safe Food Products and International Human Rights Law
(2023) JAMM07 20231Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- Unsafe food consumption is an alarming issue worldwide which is linked to the fatalities of two million people annually. Such unsafe food intertwines with the right to health of consumers in a way that every individual is ubiquitously a consumer at one point in their life and safe food is one of the determinants of the right to health. Hence, the right to safe food and the right to health of consumers as right holders are interdependent and inextricably connected. This paper aims to explore the area of intersection between consumer rights and human rights which little studies and jurisprudence have touched upon. Consumer rights can be said to be a value embedded in the recognized rights under the International Covenant on Economic, Social,... (More)
- Unsafe food consumption is an alarming issue worldwide which is linked to the fatalities of two million people annually. Such unsafe food intertwines with the right to health of consumers in a way that every individual is ubiquitously a consumer at one point in their life and safe food is one of the determinants of the right to health. Hence, the right to safe food and the right to health of consumers as right holders are interdependent and inextricably connected. This paper aims to explore the area of intersection between consumer rights and human rights which little studies and jurisprudence have touched upon. Consumer rights can be said to be a value embedded in the recognized rights under the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) such as Article 11 pertaining to the right to an adequate standard of living and Article 12(1) pertaining to the right to highest attainable physical and mental health. The legal doctrinal methodology is employed in conjunction with academic discussion in order to answer research questions. This thesis is limited to several limitations, being (i) the focus on the examination and investigation of consumer rights with the normative content of the ICESCR in the context of food products safety and not the implementation of such since examining all the existing IHRL treaties available or implementation would be unrealistically time-consuming and consumer rights in nature is more related to economic and social right, and (ii) the type of consumer products being covered under this thesis is food products only.
There are four aspects of consumer rights which are the right to safety, right to be informed, right to choose, and right to be heard which are examined against the rights enshrined under the ICESCR. Although there is no explicit mention of consumer rights under the ICESCR, to interpret that consumer rights value not covered under the ICESCR based on this omission alone would be erroneous if interpreted based on Article 31(1) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) as the ICESCR should be interpreted in good faith based on the ordinary meaning of the terms of the ICESCR, considered a living instrument, and interpreted based on modern-day conditions. Based on this, an aspect of consumer rights which is the right to safety appears to be closely related to Article 11 and Article 12(1) of the ICESCR in the sense that the right to health refers to every individual’s fundamental right to the best possible bodily and mental health, the right to an adequate standard of living implies, among others, nutritiously safe food for everyone while the right to safety, on the other hand, relates to the right to be safe from harm, injury, and abuse.
I also explore the discussion on the inclusion of consumer rights under the umbrella of human rights which comes with several academic oppositions. Regardless of the debate, what is then a suitable way forward? The polarizing debate does have one common middle ground which is the underlying value of safeguarding human rights against violation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9137029
- author
- Hiek, Mey Mey LU
- supervisor
-
- Anna Nilsson LU
- organization
- course
- JAMM07 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Consumer rights, human rights law, consumer protection, food and safety
- language
- English
- id
- 9137029
- date added to LUP
- 2023-09-14 09:44:50
- date last changed
- 2023-09-14 09:44:50
@misc{9137029,
abstract = {{Unsafe food consumption is an alarming issue worldwide which is linked to the fatalities of two million people annually. Such unsafe food intertwines with the right to health of consumers in a way that every individual is ubiquitously a consumer at one point in their life and safe food is one of the determinants of the right to health. Hence, the right to safe food and the right to health of consumers as right holders are interdependent and inextricably connected. This paper aims to explore the area of intersection between consumer rights and human rights which little studies and jurisprudence have touched upon. Consumer rights can be said to be a value embedded in the recognized rights under the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) such as Article 11 pertaining to the right to an adequate standard of living and Article 12(1) pertaining to the right to highest attainable physical and mental health. The legal doctrinal methodology is employed in conjunction with academic discussion in order to answer research questions. This thesis is limited to several limitations, being (i) the focus on the examination and investigation of consumer rights with the normative content of the ICESCR in the context of food products safety and not the implementation of such since examining all the existing IHRL treaties available or implementation would be unrealistically time-consuming and consumer rights in nature is more related to economic and social right, and (ii) the type of consumer products being covered under this thesis is food products only.
There are four aspects of consumer rights which are the right to safety, right to be informed, right to choose, and right to be heard which are examined against the rights enshrined under the ICESCR. Although there is no explicit mention of consumer rights under the ICESCR, to interpret that consumer rights value not covered under the ICESCR based on this omission alone would be erroneous if interpreted based on Article 31(1) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) as the ICESCR should be interpreted in good faith based on the ordinary meaning of the terms of the ICESCR, considered a living instrument, and interpreted based on modern-day conditions. Based on this, an aspect of consumer rights which is the right to safety appears to be closely related to Article 11 and Article 12(1) of the ICESCR in the sense that the right to health refers to every individual’s fundamental right to the best possible bodily and mental health, the right to an adequate standard of living implies, among others, nutritiously safe food for everyone while the right to safety, on the other hand, relates to the right to be safe from harm, injury, and abuse.
I also explore the discussion on the inclusion of consumer rights under the umbrella of human rights which comes with several academic oppositions. Regardless of the debate, what is then a suitable way forward? The polarizing debate does have one common middle ground which is the underlying value of safeguarding human rights against violation.}},
author = {{Hiek, Mey Mey}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Consumer Rights and Human Rights: A Study of the Relationship between the Right to Safe Food Products and International Human Rights Law}},
year = {{2023}},
}