Children Rights to ‘Zero Hunger’ and the Execution Challenges during the COVID-19 Crisis

Nurul Hidayat binti Ab Rahman, Redwan bin Yasin

Abstract


‘Zero hunger is the world’s pledge under the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, which aims to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition. Nevertheless, the mission had been seized as the world faced economic turndown due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. The circumstances have brutally affected society’s ideal living standards and raised social problems such as extreme poverty, famishment, malnutrition, and medical conditions, specifically among vulnerable children. The essential purpose of this writing is to elucidate the ‘zero hunger goal as one of the central legal rights and identify challenges in executing it during the COVID-19 crisis. Data were collected through library studies and analyzed critically using the content analysis method. The writing finds that the progress of zero hunger is decelerated as the pandemic has caused few challenges. The paper concludes that all objectives under the SDG 2 are significant to be achieved to ensure vulnerable children’s survival. Thus, the paper recommends that humanitarian relief assists with food distribution among those in dire need, especially at-risk children. Furthermore, food and agricultural production must be maintained to guarantee enough food supply chain. Ultimately, every government must comply with SDG 2, specifically for the benefit of vulnerable children.

Keywords


Child Law; COVID-19; Human Rights; Sustainable Development Goals 2030; Vulnerable Children; Zero Hunger

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abbas Poorhashemi, “Can China Be Sued under International Law for COVID-19?.†Jurist, May 21, 2020. https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2020/05/abbas-poorhashemi-lawsuits-china-covid19/.

Airport Council International. “The impact of COVID-19 on the airport business – and the path to recovery.†Written February 24, 2022. https://aci.aero/2022/02/24/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-airport-business-and-the-path-to-recovery-4/.

As-Sallabi, Ali Muhammad. Umar Ibn Al-Khattab: His Life and Times (Volume 1. Translated by Nasiruddin Al-Khattab. Riyadh: International Islamic Publishing House, 2007.

Brule, Nancy and Eckstein, Jessica J., “Vulnerable Groups,†in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods, edited by Mike Allen, 2-3. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, 2017.

Castrogiovanni, Paola and Imbesi, Rosa. “The Role of Malnutrition during Pregnancy and Its Effects on Brain and Skeletal Muscle Postnatal Development.†Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology 2, no. 30 (2017): 1-10.

Chan, Margaret. “Linking child survival and child development for health, equity, and sustainable development.†The Lancet 381, no. 9877 (May 2013): 1514-1515.

Department of Statistics Malaysia, Offical Portal. “Special Report: Malaysia’s COVID-19 Financial Support Packages – A Case of Prudent Cash Flow Restructuring and Not Excessive Cash Handouts that Have to be Paid by Future Generations,†Accessed August 8, 2022, https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/uploads/files/5_Gallery/2_Media/4_Stats%40media/1_General%20News/2021/7%20Julai/12%20Julai%20-%20General%201.pdf

European Parliament. “US foreign policy after the 2020 Presidential election: Issues for the European Union.†Accessed July 1, 2022. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/659382/EPRS_BRI(2020)659382_EN.pdf.

Gillespie, Stuart and Flores, Rafael. “The Life Cycle of Malnutrition.†Accessed July 1, 2022. https://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/125440/filename/125441.pdf.

Grebmer, Klaus von. et al. “Global Hunger Index: One Decade to Zero Hunger Linking Health and Sustainable Food Systems.†Accessed July 1, 2021. https://www.globalhungerindex.org/pdf/en/2020.pdf.

Greenhalgh, Trisha, Jimenez Jose L., Prather, Kimberly A., Tufekci, Zeynep, Fisman, David and Scooley, Robert. “Ten scientific reasons in support of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2.†The Lancet 397, no. 10285 (May 2021): 1603-1605. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00869-2.

Haydon, Danny and Kumar, Neeraj. “Industries Most and Least Impacted by COVID-19 from a Probability of Default Perspective – September 2020 Update.†Last modified Sep 21, 2020. https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/blog/industries-most-and-least-impacted-by-covid19-from-a-probability-of-default-perspective-september-2020-update.

Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia. “Dasar Kanak-Kanak Negara.†Accessed July 1, 2021. https://www.jkm.gov.my/jkm/index.php?r=portal/left&id=VEliZUhrbWc2VC9wM3hEVWxTWVVFdz09.

Kuhlman, Tom and Farrington, John. “What is Sustainability?.†Sustainability 2, no. 11 (2010): 3436-3448. https://doi.org/10.3390/su2113436.

Liu, Yen-Chin, Kuo, Rei-Lin and Shih, Shin-Ru. “COVID-19: The first documented coronavirus pandemic in history.†Biomedical Journal 43, no. 4 (August 2020): 328-333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bj.2020.04.007.

Lyon, Regan F. “The COVID-19 Response Has Uncovered and Increased Our Vulnerability to Biological Warfare.†Military Medicine 186, no. 7-8 (2021):193-196. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usab061.

Mohamad Hasnan Ahmad, et. al., (2020). “Food Insecurity Situation in Malaysia: Findings from Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MANS) 2014,†Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine. 20(1)167-174. doi: https://doi.org/10.37268/mjphm/vol.20/no.1/art.553

Morton, Stephen, Pencheon, David and Squires, Neil. “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and their implementation.†British Medical Bulletin 124, No. 1 (December 2017): 81-90. https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldx031.

OECDiLibrary. “Changing the Odds for Vulnerable Children: Building Opportunities and Resilience.†Accessed July 3, 2021. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/23101e74-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/23101e74-en.

Official Portal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries. “National Food Security Policy Action Plan 2021-2025.†Accessed August 8, 2022. “National Food Security Policy Action Plan 2021-2025,†Official Portal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries, accessed August 8, 2022, https://www.mafi.gov.my/en/pelan-tindakan-dasar-sekuriti-makanan-2021-2025.

OXFAM. “The Hunger Virus: How COVID-19 is Fuelling Hunger in a Hungry World.†Written July 9, 2020. https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Final%20English%20Brief%20-%20The%20Hunger%20Virus%20-%20Embargoed%209%20July%202020-2.pdf.

Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia. “Restriction of Movement Order.†Last modified March 16, 2020. https://www.pmo.gov.my/2020/03/movement-control-order/.

Raposo, Vera Lucia, Prata, Catarina and De Olivera, Isabel Ortigao. “Human Rights in today’s Ethics: Human Rights of the Unborn (Embryos and Foetus)?.†Cuadernos constitucionales de la Cátedra Fadrique Furió Ceriol 62-63, no. 1 (2008): 95-111.

Seyfi, Siamak, Hall, C. Michael and Shabani, Bardia. “COVID-19 and international travel restrictions: the geopolitics of health and tourism.†Tourism Geographies (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1833972.

Somrongthong, Ratana, Honthong, Donnapa, Wongchalee, Sunata and Wongtongkam, Nualnong. “The Influence of Chronic Illness and Lifestyle Behaviours on Quality of Life among Older Thais.†BioMed Research International 2016, no. 1 (2016): 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/2525941.

Steinmann, AC., “The Core Meaning of Human Dignity.†Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal 19, no. 1 (2016): 1-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2016/v19i0a1244.

Swanduru, Randi and Rizkiningsih, Priyesta. “Emphasizing Zakat and Waqf for Global Zero Hunger.†Written September 26, 2021. https://worldfinancialreview.com/emphasizing-zakat-and-waqf-for-global-zero-hunger/.

Tigerstrom, Barbara von and Wilson, Kumanan. “COVID-19 travel restrictions and the International Health Regulations (2005),†BMJ Global Health 5, no. 5 (2020), http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002629.

The Straits Times. “Ex-US president Trump rages at COVID-19 experts who criticized him.†The Straits Times, March 30, 2021. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/ex-us-president-trump-rages-at-covid-19-experts-who-criticised-him.

The World Bank. “Food Security and COVID-19.†Accessed July 1, 2021. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/brief/food-security-and-covid-19.

Tostensen, Arne, Stokke, Hugo, Trygged, Sven and Halvorsen, Kate. “Supporting Child Rights: Synthesis of Lessons Learned in Four Countries.†Written January 2011. https://www.oecd.org/countries/sudan/48350333.pdf.

United Nations. “Convention on the Rights of the Child.†Accessed March 25, 2022. https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/crc.pdf.

United Nations. “Convention on the Rights to Development.†Accessed March 25, 2022. https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/rtd.pdf.

United Nations. “International Covenant on Civil and political Rights.†Accessed March 25, 2022. https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/ccpr.pdf.

United Nations on Trade and Development. “COVID-19 and Tourism An Update.†Accessed July 4, 2021. https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ditcinf2021d3_en_0.pdf.

United Nations. “Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 2: Zero Hunger.†Accessed July 1, 2021. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/.

United Nations. “The Millenium Development Goals Report 2015.†Accessed March 25, 2022. https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20(July%201).pdf.

United Nations. “The 17 Goals.†Accessed March 25, 2022. https://sdgs.un.org/goals.

United Nations. “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda For Sustainability Development A/RES/70/1.†Accessed March 25, 2022. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf.

United Nations. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.†Accessed March 25, 2022. https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/udhr.pdf.

UNICEF. “More than 117 million children at risk of missing out on measles vaccines, as COVID-19 surges.†written April 13, 2020. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/more-117-million-children-risk-missing-out-measles-vaccines-covid-19-surges.

UNICEF. “Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on Vulnerable Children & Families in Malaysia.†Written November 2020. https://www.unicef.org/malaysia/reports/understanding-impact-covid-19-vulnerable-children-families-malaysia.

Weijun Yu and Keralis, Jessica. “Controlling COVID-19: The Folly of International Travel Restrictions.†Health and Human Rights Journal, April 6, 2020. https://www.hhrjournal.org/2020/04/controlling-covid-19-the-folly-of-international-travel-restrictions/.

Winkler, Inga T. and Satterthwaite, Margaret L. “Leaving no one behind? Persistent inequalities in the SDG.†The International Journal of Human Rights 21, no. 8 (2017): 1073-1097. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2017.1348702.

World Health Organization. “As more go hungry and malnutrition persists, achieving Zero Hunger by 2030 in doubt, UN report warns.†WHO, July 13, 2020. https://www.who.int/news/item/13-07-2020-as-more-go-hungry-and-malnutrition-persists-achieving-zero-hunger-by-2030-in-doubt-un-report-warns.

World Hunger Education Service. “Hunger Notes, World Child Hunger Facts.†Accessed July 1, 2022. https://www.worldhunger.org/world-child-hunger-facts/.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20956/halrev.v8i2.3684

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Hasanuddin Law Review (ISSN Online: 2442-9899 | ISSN Print: 2442-9880) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Preserved in LOCKSS, based at Stanford University Libraries, United Kingdom, through PKP Private LOCKSS Network program.
 
Indexing and Abstracting:
 
  
 
View full indexing services.