01 / GENEVA
A RIGHT IN THE CONSTITUTION.
Geneva voted to guarantee the right to food in June 2023. Now the question is what that means in law, public resources and people's daily lives.
THE GENEVA PROCESS ↗03 / ADVOCACY — GENEVA / EUROPE
FOOD IS
POLITICAL.
SO ARE WE.
Serving meals addresses the immediate need. Changing the rules that make people hungry addresses the injustice.
WHAT WE STAND FOR ↘
FROM THE SHARED TABLE TO PUBLIC POLICY / RIGHTS IN PRACTICE
THE POSITION / 01
FOOD IS NOT A PRIVILEGE.
FOOD IS NOT CHARITY.
FOOD IS A RIGHT.
The right to food goes beyond avoiding hunger. It means access to adequate food with dignity, public responsibility and participation — backed by institutions, resources and accountability.
THREE LEVELS / 02
CHANGE IS
COLLECTIVE
PRACTICE.
02 / EUROPE
A RIGHT ACROSS THE EU.
The European Citizens' Initiative “Food is a Human Right for All!” calls for a just, sustainable food system grounded in human rights.
THE EUROPEAN INITIATIVE ↗03 / ACCOUNTABILITY
A RIGHT WE CAN MEASURE.
ODAG makes the implementation of Geneva's right to food observable, with sourced indicators and an explicit record of what is still unknown.
DISCOVER ODAG ↗GENEVA / 03
ARTICLE 38A
FROM
A VOTE
TO A
REALITY.
2023
18 JUNE · GENEVA CANTONAL VOTE
The constitutional recognition of the right to food was a milestone. But a vote does not put food on a plate. Implementation must be measured through legislation, institutions, democratic participation and access to adequate food.
MATER connects hands-on food work to public debate and collective action, insisting that people affected by food insecurity participate in decisions made about them.
FOLLOW THE RIGHT IN PRACTICE ↗DEMOCRATIC PRACTICE / 04
DEBATE.
DECIDE.
ACT.
Through the Demopratic Forums on the Right to Food, MATER has contributed to spaces for civil society, practitioners and communities to work across borders and disciplines.
FIRST DEMOPRATIC FORUM
At Refettorio Geneva on 19–21 April 2023, more than 60 participants from civil society, research, public institutions and the food movement came together through the Demopraxis method. Working groups examined access to food, availability, quality and food sovereignty, turning diverse experiences into a shared political agenda. The Forum gave rise to the Geneva Right to Food Manifesto ahead of the canton’s historic June constitutional referendum.
READ THE 2023 GENEVA RIGHT TO FOOD MANIFESTO ↗SECOND DEMOPRATIC FORUM
On 29–31 May 2024, the second Demopratic Forum took the conversation from Geneva to Europe. Human-rights experts, farmers, NGOs and campaign organisers worked across legal, advocacy, fundraising and operational groups to develop a European Citizens’ Initiative on the right to food. The gathering helped build the alliances, legal strategy and campaign foundations for what would become “Food Is a Human Right for All!”
EUROPE / 05
EUROPEAN CITIZENS' INITIATIVE
FOOD IS
A HUMAN
RIGHT FOR
ALL!
08 JULY 2025
REGISTERED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
07 JANUARY 2026
OFFICIAL LAUNCH · SIGNATURE COLLECTION BEGINS
The initiative calls for healthy, just and sustainable food systems and for the right to food to shape EU law and policy. Born from wider European civil-society mobilisation, it is coordinated through Good Food for All – Europe.
A European Citizens' Initiative is a formal democratic instrument, not just a petition or awareness campaign.
VISIT GOOD FOOD FOR ALL – EUROPE ↗THE SIGNATURE RACE / FOOD IS A HUMAN RIGHT FOR ALL!COLLECTION ENDS 07 JANUARY 2027
100,000+SIGNATURES · CAMPAIGN MILESTONE
/ 1,000,000 SIGNATURE TARGET
A campaign milestone, not a live counter. For the latest verified online total, consult the European Commission’s official ECI register.
EVIDENCE / 06
GENEVA · 2020 →
ODAG.
A RIGHT MUST
BE OBSERVABLE.
What happens after constitutional recognition? The Geneva Right to Food Observatory follows formal guarantees, public policy and outcomes through a transparent framework of evidence and documented gaps.
30INDICATORS
2020BASELINE
BUILD THE MOVEMENT / 07
RIGHTS ARE
NOT GIVEN.
THEY ARE
MADE REAL.
Follow the debate, join the coalition or help sustain work that translates the right to food into lived reality.
