Ending Childhood Obesity: A Challenge at the Crossroads of International Economic and Human Rights Law

Abstract

This book is an important read for anyone interested in child rights and child health. It will prove useful for researchers and litigators alike. It explains in detail how childhood obesity cannot be classified simply as the result of poor eating habits – obesity stems from harmful commercial practices that leave children and their families with few alternatives. Importantly, the book illustrates how the tools of international human rights law can be used to end childhood obesity. The book stems from the work of the Law and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) Research Unit and its global partners at the University of Liverpool. The editors – Amandine Garde, Joshua Curtis (both at the University of Liverpool) and Olivier De Schutter (Catholic University of Louvain) – are experts in global health law, international economic law and international human rights law respectively. Notably, Schutter was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and is the current Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. The book follows the United Nations High Level meeting on NCDs in 2017 (WHO Montevideo Road Map 2018–2030 on NCDs as a Sustainable Development Priority) and the commitment made to take action to reduce by a third premature mortality caused by NCDs. Other relevant soft law instruments (such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases 2013–2030) urge States to provide more information to consumers to enable healthy food choices and calls for measures to address the food environment to ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of healthier food. Ending Childhood Obesity is an important contribution on the intersecting relationships between children’s rights, international economic law and global health law. One does not need to have expertise in all (or any) of these areas to understand the general premise of the arguments made. The book is easy to read and is written for a non-scientific audience. While the researchers are based in the Global North and write from such perspective, the book resonates with the complexities and challenges posed by childhood obesity in the Global South. Indeed, childhood obesity is on the rise in developing states, existing uncomfortably alongside childhood undernutrition. In this way, childhood obesity creates a double malnutrition burden on developing countries. South Africa is no exception. A recent report indicates that stunting (an indication of chronic undernutrition) is ‘exceptionally high’ in South Africa, while childhood obesity is causing a national increase in NCDs. The statistics are stark – one in four children under the age of five in South Africa are stunted, and