UNE Law’s Dr Ying Chen presented her work at the 2021 Australian Law and Academics Association (ALAA) conference – “Boldly Academic: Defining, Supporting and Celebrating Legal Scholarship”.
Ying’s presentation is “Preventing a future hunger pandemic: COVID-19 and the right to food”. It focussed on panic buying during the Covid-19 pandemic. She notes that ‘Covid-19 triggered people’s survival instinct on a much broader scale than any time period since World War II.’ Even though people were assured there was no shortage of food, ‘the public chose to ignore the official advice and continued stockpiling food.’
Ying ‘calls for the world to work collaboratively to prevent the total collapse of the global food system.’ She raises two concerns and addresses them from a human rights perspective:
- ‘In the short term, panic buying across the world has largely restricted vulnerable peoples’ access to adequate food and nutrition, particularly those who do not have the financial or physical means—let alone the space—to stockpile food.’
- ‘In the long term, there is also an emerging concern that COVID-19 may provoke absolute food shortages around the world, leading to a devastating food crisis.’
She examines ‘the right to food in international law as well as the three key elements that are essential to the full realization of this human right.’ Ying investigated ‘the short-term impact of COVID-19, revealing that the outbreak of this virus has already undermined the right to food in the areas of food availability, accessibility, and adequacy.’ Her paper then explored ‘the long-term impact of COVID-19, predicting that a global food crisis is imminent unless the world takes action immediately. To guarantee the right to food in the era of COVID-19 and beyond, Ying provides a number of solutions at both the national and international levels.’
Dr Ying Chen
