Food in Humanitarian Action - Legal Aspects

The overall objective of the module is to introduce the students to principles, objectives, legal instruments and concept of food law. Students will learn about European Union regulation on different types of food (GMO, organic, traditional), production and distribution of food, food ingredients and food labeling. It offers insight to main differences in the approach to food safety and quality in EU and USA and their implications for humanitarian aid.

• General outline of food Law
• The concept of food
• Humanitarian aid suppliers acting as food business operators
• Information concerning a food
• Genetically Modified Food in humanitarian aid  (the advantages and disadvantages)
• Humanitarian food aid and obligation resulting from religion
• Humanitarian food aid and Common Agriculture Policy (aims, functions, instruments of CAP)
• The human right to adequate food and concept of food security
• Principles and standards for food and food-related aid
• Food aids in situations of armed conflict and in the event of disasters
• Food Aid Convention, Food Assistance Convention and other international documents
• The European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid and other EU documents

In conformity with the learning outcomes set out by the NOHA network, students should achieve the following learning outcomes by the end of this module:

• A good understanding of the basic concepts of Food Law
• The ability to identify different aspects of Food Law and their implications for humanitarian action
• General knowledge on crucial aspects of distribution and labelling of food with special focus on food aid
• The ability to present legal argumentation for usage of different instruments of food aid
• Understanding of major challenges in food aid

The module will employ a combination of lectures and classroom-based group work to achieve the learning outcomes mentioned above.

The final grade will be calculated as follows:

1. 40%  final exam (test with open and closed questions)
2. 40% individual presentation at seminar
3. 20% active participation (presence, discussion)