Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Arzu Rana Deuba has reiterated Nepal's commitment to ensuring its citizens' right to food, highlighting constitutional provisions guaranteeing this fundamental right.

She was addressing the session on 'nutrition and development in vulnerable states' during the Ministerial Special Session of Forty-Fourth Session of Food and Agriculture Organisation themed 'From Vulnerability to Resilience-Strengthening Food Security and Better Life in Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries' held in Rome, today.

"Nepal has recognised the right to food as a fundamental right and the laws on the right to food and food sovereignty have provided a legal basis for its implementation. In addition, the implementation of the Food Systems Transformation Strategic Plan 2022-2030 also provides further support for ensuring the right to food."

Dr Rana highlighted Nepal's recent legislative developments, including Nepal's Food Safety and Quality Act (2024) and the Food Safety and Quality Control Policy, which aim to ensure safe and quality food through regulatory standards, lab surveillance, and consumer protection.

“A separate consumer court has been established to protect the rights of consumers, which is maintaining trust in the local food system and supporting the health of citizens and healthy food as their natural right.”

She informed that Nepal has made significant progress in the field of child health and nutrition over the past two decades.

She reported that child stunting has declined from 57% to 25% while underweight has gone down from 42% to 24% and child wasting from 15% to 8%. "Our Global Hunger Index (GHI) score has dropped from 37 in 2000 to 22.4 in 2024," she said, adding, "These advancements are not just statistics but a reflection of strong political commitment, community engagement and activism, and cross-sectoral coordination."