Human rights

Professor Simon Caney

Professor in Political Theory,

Department of Politics and International Relations, and Magdalen College,

University of Oxford

Principle 1: Human rights

Biofuels development should not be at the

expense of people’s essential rights

(including access to sufficient food and

water, health rights, work rights and land

entitlements)

The current situation

• Target-based policies encourage rapid production of biofuels

• Reported problems include: • Local food shortages and price spikes • Displacement of indigenous populations

from their land • Poor working conditions

However • Employment opportunities• Local energy sources in ‘fuel poor’ areas

Recent progress

• 23 March 2011 - Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels certification scheme announced:

“Biofuels shall not be at the expense of human rights, including food security”

• Renewable Energy Directive includes a commitment to monitoring human rights

• UK has developed social sustainability standards (however, RTFO-Meta Standard lacks mention of protecting food security)

Challenges for the future

• Will voluntary schemes be enough?• Complex relationship between world food

supply and hunger• Policies to support small-scale local

production are important

Recommendations• Biofuels policy targets should set out to

avoid incentivising human rights abuses • Monitoring systems to protect human rights

abuses• A compulsory certification scheme similar to

the one proposed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels