Hilal Elver || Photo by: UN Women/Flickr/Creative Commons License
In partnership with UC Food Observer: The UC Food Observer is your daily serving of must-read news from the world of food, curated by the University of California. Follow on Twitter.
Governments have a role to play to help hasten agricultural reforms as appropriate to the conditions of each particular society. Global food policy is increasingly organically interconnected. Any broad policy decision made in the developed world will affect the whole world. For this reason, a global approach is essential to ensure that unintended consequences of decisions taken in the developed world will not do great harm elsewhere, especially in relation to the most food vulnerable societies. - Dr. Hilal Elver
In May 2014, Dr. Elver was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council as the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert who is tasked with examining food and human rights issues across the globe.
Dr. Elver is also a Global Distinguished Fellow at the UCLA Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy. To learn more about the Resnick Program, read our Q & A with Michael Roberts. Dr. Elver's work at UCLA is part of the University of California's Global Food Initiative, which seeks to address one of the most compelling issues of our time: how to sustainably and nutritiously feed the world's growing population.
Elver has been a visiting professor at the University of California Santa Barbara since 2002; she is the co-director of the Project on Climate Change, Human Security, and Democracy housed at the Orfalea Center. She began her teaching career at the University of Ankara and was appointed by the Turkish government to be the founding legal advisor of the Ministry of Environment. Dr. Elver later became the General Director of Women's Status in the Office of the Prime Minister. In 1994, she was appointed to the United Nations Environment Programme Chair in Environmental Diplomacy.
Elver has held fellowships and visiting professorships at several universities, including the University of Michigan Law School; Rutgers Law School (Newark); Princeton University; McGill University, Faculty of Law; Chapman Law School; and most recently Dickson Poon School of Law At King's College London. She is a 2011-12 Fulbright Scholar. Her op-eds have been published in various media outlets, including The Guardian, Al Jazeera International and America.
Elver is a 2009 graduate of the S.J.D. program at UCLA School of Law, and holds a J.D., as well as a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Ankara. She is the author of three books, including The Headscarf Controversy: Secularism and Freedom of Religion (2012).
I recently caught up with her at a Global Food Summit hosted by the Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation at UC Irvine. I've followed her work for several years and continue to be struck by the breadth of her perspective and how her work demonstrates the interconnectedness of the food system.
--
--
What lessons from the past are influencing your work right now? What can we learn from?
My previous work on women's rights, environmental protection, water scarcity and climate change made me think more widely and to make connections between policy concerns that are generally treated as separated from one another. I learned to see larger pictures, rather than give attention to silo type of policy making processes.
Your professional background, which includes international aspects of environmental law, human rights and woman's rights, seems to echo many of the concerns in the food movement. Can you comment?
Precisely. These areas are very relevant for advancing the goals of the global food movement. Women's access to resources such as land, seed, water, finance and market is vitally important in the food production chain, as well as enhancing food security and nutrition for all, taking account of women's role as care giver, as consumer, as producer and as mother.
Moreover, agricultural production, especially livestock, is one of the major obstacles in all efforts to reduce green house gas emissions, while at the same time food systems are impacted negatively by climate change. It is a doubly negative interaction.
Kate Holt, AUS Aid. Somalia.
The right to food, the right to clean water, and the right to a healthy environment seem like a given to many, but that's not the case with everyone. How do you hope to positively influence the global situation in your position?
Countries that accept those rights and provide internalized remedies in their domestic legal systems for their implementation make our job one of monitoring, and investigating the fulfillment of such rights, as well as suggesting how best to deal with major obstacles. If countries do not have an appropriate legal structure, then our job is to encourage them to reform their legal order, and establish a workable and responsible system.
Besides suggesting and advising on legal and institutional systemic policies to enhance food security and eliminate hunger, we also recommend, encourage and help governments make the right policy choices in their efforts to deal with hunger and food insecurity. In developing countries, these policies and laws are very important as it is where 95% of food insecure people in the world live.
Editor's Note: For more information about global food insecurity, review The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 materials prepared by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Another great resource is the 2015 report presented by Dr. Elver to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
What do you think are the most acute crises the global community is facing? What is most concerning to you?
We still are not able to eliminate hunger entirely. Almost 1
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
Hilal Elver || Photo by: UN Women/Flickr/Creative Commons License 
