Michael Fakhri
Michael Fakhri | |
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| United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food | |
| Assumed office May 1, 2020 | |
| Personal details | |
| Education | University of Western Ontario (BSc) Queen's University at Kingston (LLB) Harvard University (LLM) University of Toronto (SJD) |
Michael Fakhri (Canada, 1977) is a Canadian lawyer who specializes in human rights, food law and economic law.[1] He is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and an associate professor of law at the University of Oregon.
Fakhri was appointed as Special Rapporteur by the UN on May 1, 2020.[2] The key responsibility is to study and make recommendations on “the right to food" and the adoption of efforts to ensure that all have sufficient food.[3]
Fakhri visited Venezuela in 2024 and met with government officials. He called on the government develop a robust plan to address hunger and malnutrition. He did not discuss the ongoing human rights violations or the fact that millions left the country under the abuses of the Maduro government but called for the lifting of “unilateral coercive measures" by Western countries against Venezuela.[4][5]
He did not visit Israel or Gaza but said that he believes that Israel was starving the Palestinians in Gaza. He did not related to the IPC Famine Review Committee's (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) June 2024 conclusion that “the available evidence does not indicate that famine is currently occurring". Nor did he address the deliberate starvation of Israeli hostages in Gaza.[6][7][8][9]
Fakhiri has discussed the use of starvation as a weapon of war in Sudan but has never related it to Hamas in Gaza.[10][11]
Biography
[edit]Fakhri comes from a Lebanese family that immigrated to Canada.[12] He initially studied biology at the University of Western Ontario where, in 1998, he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Ecology, then studied law. He obtained a Bachelor of Laws from Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, and was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 2002. From 2005 to 2006, he completed a master's degree from Harvard Law School, and in 2011, he completed his studies by obtaining a Doctor of Juridical Sciences from the University of Toronto.[13]
Fakhri is a native speaker of English and Arabic, as well as French.
References
[edit]- ^ "Mr. Michael Fakhri". OHCHR. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- ^ "Mr. Michael Fakhri Special Rapporteur on the right to food". United Nations Human Rights office of the high commissioner. United Nations. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ "About the mandate". OHCHR. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- ^ CANO, REGINA GARCIA. "UN-backed food expert calls on Venezuela to tackle hunger and urges end to economic sanctions". AP News. AP. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ "End of Mission Statement Visit to Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), 1-14 February 2024" (PDF).
- ^ Lakhani, Nina. "Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians, UN rights expert says". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ "The Third IPC Report on Gaza (June 2024) Displays Persistent Neutrality, Transparency and Methodology Failures" (PDF). June 2024.
- ^ "Former Gaza hostages ask Donald Trump with help returning captives | The Jerusalem Post". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 2024-11-09. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- ^ Metzinger, Miriam (2025-08-02). "Back-to-Back Savage Videos Depict Emaciated Hostages, One Digging His Own Grave". The Media Line. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- ^ "Using starvation as a weapon of war in Sudan must stop: UN experts". OHCHR. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- ^ "Famine Review Committee Sudan, October 2025 - Conclusions and Recommendations - Sudan | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 2025-11-03. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- ^ Christiane Grefe (2022-04-02). "Welthunger: "Das globale Handelssystem befriedigt nicht die Ernährungsbedürfnisse"" (in German). Die Zeit. ISSN 0044-2070.
- ^ "Sr. Michael Fakhri: Relator Especial sobre el derecho a la alimentación" (in Spanish). 2024-04-23.
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