Reflections on the extinction of the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security and the confrontation of Covid-19 in Brazil

Elisabetta RECINE,Giselle Silva GARCIA,Barbara Leone SILVA,Rita de Cássia Lisboa RIBEIRO,Andhressa FAGUNDES,Cristine Garcia GABRIEL

doi:10.1590/1678-9865202033e200176

Elisabetta RECINE, Giselle Silva GARCIA + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9865202033e200176

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Abstract

ABSTRACT The Provisional Measure 870/2019, which amended the Organic Law on Food and Nutrition Security and extinguished the Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional (National Council for Food and Nutrition Security), has brought serious consequences to the Brazilian population, especially for the most vulnerable. This scientific note brings reflections on the trajectory of the Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional, the repercussions of its extinction in the last year, and the project to dismantle social protection policies in Brazil, with serious consequences at a time when the country is going through a crisis in public health due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The absence of the Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional and the weakening of the set of policies for Food and Nutritional Security has mobilized the civil society to defend the human rights to food, food sovereignty, and to democracy itself. The resistance of the different social movements in order to maintain the spaces of civil participation related to Food and Nutrition Security public policies are still going to be long and arduous, demanding the continued vocalization and strengthening of partnership networks within the different movements of the organized civil society. Finally, we highlight the urgent need for restoration of the National System of Food and Nutritional Security (Sistema Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional) with all its instances, and of other social policies, so that the negative consequences of the pandemic are avoided or mitigated and the State complies with its obligations to guarantee the rights of the Brazilian population.

Highlights

Moments of crisis, especially acute ones, demonstrate a State’s ability to fulfill its primary functions of protecting the population, ensuring adequate living conditions, and providing effective responses to common problems
The Council’s trajectory records important results, such as the successful campaign for the insertion of food as a fundamental right in the Federal Constitution, the regulation of the National SAN Policy (Decree 7.272/2010) that established the parameters for the preparation of the Plano Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional (PLANSAN, National Plan of Food and Nutrition Security), the conception of the Law that improved the Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar (PNAE, National School Food Program) and ensured that 30% of the Program’s federal budget was destined for the purchase of food from family farming, the conception of the Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos (PAA, Food Acquisition Program), among others [10,11]
These results are internationally recognized, as recorded in The Global Nutrition Report of 2016, that points to the Council as one of the responsible for the good results Brazil showed in guaranteeing SAN, resulting from its articulations and dialogue with different sectors of the society and the government, which led Brazil to leave the United Nations (UN) Hunger Map [12,13]

Summary

How to cite this article

Recine E, Fagundes A, Silva BL, Garcia GS, Ribeiro RCL, Gabriel CG. Reflections on the extinction of the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security and the confrontation of Covid-19 in Brazil. The absence of the Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional and the weakening of the set of policies for Food and Nutritional Security has mobilized the civil society to defend the human rights to food, food sovereignty, and to democracy itself. We highlight the urgent need for restoration of the National System of Food and Nutritional Security (Sistema Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional) with all its instances, and of other social policies, so that the negative consequences of the pandemic are avoided or mitigated and the State complies with its obligations to guarantee the rights of the Brazilian population. Esta nota científica traz reflexões sobre a trajetória do Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional, as repercussões de sua extinção no último ano e o projeto de desmonte das políticas de proteção social no Brasil, com graves desdobramentos no momento em que o país atravessa uma crise de saúde pública em decorrência da pandemia da Covid-19.

INTRODUCTION

THE EXTINCTION OF THE CONSEA AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS

Findings

CONCLUSION