ENSURE FOOD SECURITY FOR ALL CHILDREN
No child in Aotearoa New Zealand should be deprived of the minimal nutrients and a diet needed for physical development due to a lack of resources. Yet they are. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 2023 have drawn attention to this,1 which is seen as a result of severe negligence by the state.
Eating nutritious food every day is a basic human need, and vital for child growth and development. However, around one in seven children (13% to 17%) in Aotearoa New Zealand experience food insecurity. Food insecurity means that the state does not guarantee these children physical, social and economic access to sufficient food that meets their dietary needs for a healthy and active life.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Address the availability and accessibility of food
Work with Iwi, hapū and local communities to develop regional and national food security policies and strategies. Ensure Māori voices and values are central within the policy-making processes related to food availability and that the process gives full expression to rights under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Ensure children most at risk of food insecurity (those in material hardship) are prioritised.
Encourage local food distribution. Investigate the possibility of using state sector procurement rules to encourage ethical and local food distribution and supply chains (for example, for food in schools programmes and hospital catering).
Develop specific policies and strategies to address the following:
o Build and maintain accessible food distribution systems that encourage locally sourced and affordable foods from producers.
o Prioritise national food security over exports and reduce reliance on the supermarket duopoly.
o Increase the ability of non-supermarkets to supply, distribute and sell food e.g. farmers markets, community gardens.
o Support growers and fishers to supply locally – short distribution chains and independent food outlets.
2. Address the affordability of food
Ensure that prices are not artificially inflated. The recommended distribution systems above will assist with this.
Ensure liveable incomes to assist all low income families of all ethnicities.
3. Address the adequacy of food
This is the backstop: making sure nutritious food is available even to those without financial resources. For example:
Ensure that state support for the first 1000 days of a child’s life includes ensuring food security for the pregnant mother, child and whānau.
Support foodbanks to follow the national guidelines for healthy food provision in the distribution of food parcels.
Continue (i) Ka Ora, Ka Ako (the food in schools programme) and (ii) the fruit in schools programme, and offer both programmes to all schools, and to all those preschools which are (i) community-based, (ii) low-cost for families, compared with industry standard, and (iii) fully compliant with all Ministry of Education regulations.
Fund food programmes in the school holidays to ensure there is no “food gap” for children when schools are closed.
Ensure that the Ministry of Health food-based dietary guidelines are supported in all policies that involve the food system; and that all schools follow the Ka Ora, Ka Ako nutrition standards, whether or not they receive the programme.
IMPACTS AND INDICATORS
If implemented, these actions would be steps towards moving Aotearoa to be a nation where all children and families flourish free from poverty.
The initial indicator should be food equity – Māori and all ethnicities to have equitable access to nutritious food, and food security (as reported by the Child Poverty Monitor).
The ultimate impact of these actions will be food security for all children. (NZ Health Survey; NZ Household Economic Survey).
No child in Aotearoa New Zealand, in this land of plenty, should go hungry or be malnourished. It is within our power to make sure it doesn’t happen. Ensuring food security for all children is an essential step towards
The Crown addressing te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations.
New Zealand meeting its targets for UN Sustainable Development Goal 1: “End poverty in all its forms everywhere”; Goal 2: “End hunger”; Goal 3: “Good health and well-being”; and Goal 10: “Reduce inequality”.
New Zealand meeting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Articles 24 and 27.41
The national vision “that New Zealand be the best place in the world for children and young people”.42
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