since July 2010

Authors | Paula Proudlock, Katharine Hall ¹

Children’s Right to Food and Nutrition

The South African Constitution, in Section 27 (1) (b) of the Bill of Rights, stipulates that “everyone has the right to have access to sufficient food”. Besides extending this right to everyone, the Constitution gives children extra protection in Section 28 (1) (c) by providing that “every child has the right to basic nutrition”.

Everyone’s right to “sufficient food” in Section 27 (1) (b) of the Bill of Rights is a right of “access to” and is dependent on the availability of resources. The State is therefore not obliged to deliver these rights immediately but must at least have a well-designed plan aimed at realising the rights and must implement this plan reasonably and progressively. In South Africa, the plan for the provision of sufficient food is not set out in one document but is spread across a range of policies, laws and programmes.

The right of every child to basic nutrition in Section 28 (1) (c) is not qualified by the use of the word “access”, or the availability of resources. This has been interpreted to mean that, within the general food security plan, the State should prioritise the provision of basic nutrition to children. Nutrition is particularly important for children because they are still growing and developing. A lack of nutritious food with all the essential micronutrients can result in a child’s normal development being impaired, resulting in ill health, disability, inability to benefit from educational opportunities, or death.

When it comes to realising children’s right to food, parents and families have the primary duty to make sure that their children have food. However, the government has a duty to support parents to feed their children and also to provide food directly to children if their parents are unable or unwilling to do so.

In order to support parents and families, the government has a duty to ensure that families have physical and economic access to food. To fulfil this duty, the government can provide families with land to grow food on; assist families with water, skills and equipment to grow food; remove VAT (value-added tax) from basic food products; subsidise basic food products such as bread and maize; and provide skills development and job creation programmes so that parents and caregivers can earn a regular income.

If parents or caregivers are not able to feed their children because they are too poor, the government has a duty to make sure the children at least are provided with basic nutrition. The government can fulfil this duty by providing children and their caregivers with a social assistance grant so that they can buy food (e.g. the child support grant); by implementing feeding schemes at schools, clinics and hospitals; and by financially supporting organisations involved in food production and supply activities for children in need.

If children do not have parents or caregivers, or their parents or caregivers are not willing to feed their children, then the government bears a direct and immediate obligation to provide food for these children. If the children are in a residential care facility, then the State bears the obligation to provide them with food. If the children are living on their own in a child-headed household, the State also bears an immediate and direct obligation to provide the children with food.

If children in South Africa are suffering from hunger, then they are not able to enjoy their right to food and basic nutrition. The same equation can be used for the indicators listed below.

Low birth weight rate
Low birth-weight rate refers to the proportion of babies born alive that weigh less than 2,500g at birth.

Proportion of children who are underweight
This indicator refers to children aged 1 – 9 years whose weight is below a cut-off weight (i.e. the third percentile or z-score < -2SD) for their age. A child whose weight falls below this cut-off is referred to as being underweight-for-age. The third percentile represents a 60% of expected weight-for-age growth curve. If the child’s weight is below 60% of expected weight (z-score <-3SD) the child is considered to be severely underweight…

Proportion of children whose growth is stunted
This indicator refers to children aged 1 – 9 years whose height is below a cut-off height (i.e. the third percentile or z-score <-2 SD) for their age. If the child’s height-for-age is a z-score of less than -3 SD, he or she is severely stunted.

Proportion of children who are iron deficient
This indicator reflects the percentage of children under the age of six years who are iron deficient (i.e. have a low serum ferritin level) or suffer from anaemia due to iron deficiency.

Proportion of children who are vitamin A deficient
This indicator refers to the percentage of children under the age of six years with a low serum retinol level (< 20ug/dL), meaning that these children have a low vitamin A status.

Number and proportion of children experiencing hunger
This indicator shows what number and proportion of children sometimes, often, or always went to bed hungry because there wasn’t enough food in the house in the year ending June 2004.

¹ Children's Institute