About

Hilal Elver is a global leader and expert in international human rights law and international environmental law.

From May 2014 to April 2020, Elver served as the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, responsible for carrying out  the right to food mandate as prescribed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. She is currently serving as an appointed member of the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on food security and nutrition, and maintains several affiliations with academic institutions worldwide. This website describes Hilal Elver’s ongoing work to advance the universal enjoyment of the right to food and to inspire others to join the cause.

In addition to being one of the foremost independent experts on the human right to food, Hilal Elver has cultivated a dynamic portfolio career working with several international institutions, national governments, local NGOs, and contributing to the academic community at large.*

She has worked with the Turkish government as the Founding Legal Advisor of Turkey’s Ministry of Environment  from 1989 to 1991; the Director of the Environmental Law and Human Rights Committee of the EU Harmonization Committee: Office of the Prime Minster and State Planning Organization from 1989 to 1999; and member and legal advisor of the Turkey’s team UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), from 2009- 2014). Hilal Elver has continued to strengthen her contributions to Turkey’s environmental and food-focused policy agenda in recent years.

Following her appointment as Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver has maintained her high standing in the international community, serving as a “Champion” for the UN Food Systems Summit 2021, and informing the direction of the Committee on World Food Security through her HLPE appointment.

Hilal Elver regularly advocates for human rights-based approaches to food system challenges and uses her platform to highlight the intersectionality of  climate change, humanitarian assistance, gender, nutrition, food crises, famine, the Sustainable Development Goals, food system workers, fisheries, and corporate capture–issues that she regularly addressed in her mandate reports.

She has authored/edited several books including: Peaceful Uses of International Rivers: The Euphrates and Tigris Transboundary River Basins (2002); Headscarf Controversy: Secularism and Freedom of Religion (2012); and Reimagining Climate Change (ed. w/ Paul Wapner) (2016). Select reports, articles, op-eds, and interviews are featured on this website.

Get In Touch

Stakeholders including government agencies, non-governmental organizations, academics and other organizations are encouraged to submit relevant information to Hilal Elver for inclusion on this website. This includes reports and research papers released, recent legal decisions made in relation to hunger, and general news or information.

Please send academic inquiries, invitations, and speaking requests to Hilal Elver at:
elver@global.ucsb.edu
elver@law.ucla.edu


Message from Hilal Elver:

hilalelverfoto

Dear Readers,

When I became the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Right to Food, I was given the opportunity to learn more about what is going on in various places around the world with respect to food security, food sovereignty, right to food, concepts that are discussed during the last five decades on various platforms, and how the impact of food issues affect each of us, differently in our everyday life depending on where we were born, and who we are.

Needles to say, most of us are the lucky ones. We do not have to struggle for access to adequate and healthy food in our everyday life. As a result of being Special Rapporteur, I am able to see, observe what is going on, and try my best to make a difference in the lives of people by using available platforms. I thought, there are few things more important than sharing my experiences in this mandate with you, concerned citizens…It is so important to communicate with all concerned citizens throughout the world freely, independently and without fear. Therefore, this blog will be completely different than my official position, or the institution that I currently represent. It will be both completely my own vehicle of expression as a concerned citizen of the world.

Hilal Elver

April 13, 2016

Santa Barbara, California


*Hilal Elver has collaborated with several experts to execute her responsibilities as Special Rapporteur on the right to food and to expand the global impact of her work, including:

Serena Pepino. Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food on matters relating to the Committee for World Food Security (2018-2019).

Francesca Distefano. Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food on matters relating to the Committee for World Food Security (2019-2020).

Melissa Shapiro. Consultant to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food on increasing the visibility of the work of the mandate on the right to food (2018-2020).

Tomaso Ferrando. Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food (2018-2020).

Alyssa Brierly. Consultant to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food on increasing the visibility of the work of the mandate on the right to food (2019).

Gokce Sencan. Web and media support (2020).

Madhavi Narayanan. Web and media support (2022)