Children's Right to Food
Posted on: 9 June 2020 by Prof Amandine Garde in Blog
As you may have heard on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday 5 June 2020, Sustain — the Right to Food Campaign — has joined forces with the Good Law Project (co-claimant) and Doughty Street Chambers, to initiate legal proceedings against the government’s Department of Education for failing to take adequate action to ensure that all children have enough food – or the money, vouchers or holiday activity programmes to access food – over the summer holiday.
Special reference is made to those eligible for free school meals and those in families with no recourse to public funds. Sustain's press release as well as the letter to Secretary of State Gavin Williamson (DfE) have been made available.
As part of its work on healthy child nutrition, the Law & Non-Communicable Diseases Unit supports this action and has just joined the Children's Food Campaign and Sustain's campaign working group.
Ways in which you can help support the campaign
There are a number of ways to keep the pressure on the government, and you may be able to support the campaign in one or more of them:
- There is a crowdfunding initiative towards the legal costs. Making a donation and/or forwarding the information would both help. Children's Food Campaign (@Childrensfood) is also spreading the word on Twitter.
- You can also support the public call for action to Boris Johnson: a petition launched by 16-year old Christina has already hit over 232,000 signatures. Please consider signing too and share as widely as possible: Change.Org/SaveOurLunches.
Thank you for reading and considering lending your support to this campaign if you are able to do so.
Keywords: Children's rights, School dinners, Campaign, Government petition, Crowdfunding, Right to food, European Children's Rights Unit, Law & Non-Communicable Diseases Unit, Poverty, Social Justice.