Fian France

FIAN France est la coordination française de FIAN International. Basée à Grenoble, l’association a vu le jour en juin 2001 (sous le nom de FIAN Rhône-Alpes) autour d’un groupe local de FIAN déjà actif depuis 2000. Ce groupe local était chargé de suivre l’évolution du cas Laguiche, (voir dossiers thématiques) qui concernait la violation du droit humain à l’alimentation d’une centaine de familles de paysans sans terre dans l’Etat du Parana, Brésil.

Les activités de l’association consistent principalement à tenir des stands au cours des évènements solidaires organisés à Grenoble comme la Semaine de la Solidarité Internationale ou la campagne ALIMENTERRE afin d’informer et de mobiliser le grand public sur la question du droit à l’alimentation et sur le cas Laguiche en particulier.

En 2003, suite à la fin du cas Laguiche, le groupe local s’occupe d’un autre cas au Brésil, cette fois-ci dans l’Etat du Pernambouco, dans le Nordeste, où plus de mille ouvriers de l’usine Aliança sont licenciés sans indemnisation.

A la même époque, FIAN France intègre un projet européen de sensibilisation aux Droits de l’Homme coordonné par le Secrétariat International. Cela permet l’embauche de deux permanents et d’accroitre les activités de l’association, notamment les actions de sensibilisation dans les lycées agricoles de la région.

En 2005, l’association devient FIAN France, en raison de la répartition géographique de ses membres et de sa participation à des réseaux régionaux (le CADR – Collectif des Associations de Développement en Rhône-Alpes) et nationaux (le CRID –Centre de Recherche et d’Information sur le Développement).

Aujourd’hui, FIAN France compte 70 membres et plus de 400 sympathisants à travers la France.

Fian International

FIAN is an international membership based organisation. FIAN's institutional members are its national and regional sections which are legal entities in their own right and have their own membership and elected decision-making bodies.

The sections are first formed as co-ordinating groups in a country or region. At the local level, members of FIAN form groups mainly run by volunteers.
FIAN has some 45 active local groups world-wide. Total membership of FIAN currently stands at around 3,600 in more than 50 countries.

The overall mission, vision and the strategy of FIAN is defined and revised by the International Council (IC), and represented by delegates of the sections who meet once in two years. The IC elects the International Executive Committee (IEC), which is headed by the president, Mr Irio Conti, and supervises the implementation of FIAN’s strategic plans. The IEC meets bi-annually to review and strategize FIAN programs, methods and budgets. The operative working unit being in charge of the execution of FIAN’s programs is its International Secretariat (IS) located in Heidelberg (Germany), and coordinated by the Secretary General, Flavio Valente.

IAN uses various working tools to achieve the realization of the right to adquate food. 

Case-work and Interventions

At international Fact Finding Missions, FIAN identifies and addresses human rights violations. FIAN interviews people threatened or affected by violations of their right to food and verifies the facts of a situation. Face-to-face contacts to local counterparts are established and serve as a basis for trustful co-operation. On request of those affected, FIAN reacts quickly, analyses the case and mobilises members and supporters worldwide to send out Urgent Action protest letters. Violations are also followed-up in long-term case-work by local FIAN action groups. In close co-operation with the affected communities, FIAN persistently approaches the responsible authorities and identifies breaches of right to food obligations. FIAN’s analysis is based on the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as interpreted in the UN General Comments, in particular General Comment 12 on the right to adequate food. Existing recourse mechanisms and legal remedies under national and international human rights law are applied to provide redress to the victims.

Lobby and Advocacy

Reliable contacts and networks, a sound documentation of cases and two decades of experience provide a solid basis for effective lobbying and advocating the right to food. FIAN holds states, international institutions and private actors accountable at the national and international levels. The Right to Food Guidelines adopted by the FAO in 2004 is one of the tools FIAN uses to monitor states’ right to food policies. FIAN tries to improve the existing right to food protection system and to establish new instruments. Intense follow-up work strives to secure the effective implementation of existing instruments, making the right to food politically and judicially enforceable everywhere for everyone.

Information and Education

Targeted information campaigns and awareness-raising on the right to food are at the core of FIAN’s work - to empower social movements and non-governmental organizations to hold states accountable for violations of the right to food, to clarify for governments and other duty-bearers the content and implementation needs of their obligations, and to motivate supporters from civil society to join action against human rights violations. The systematic information gathered from more than 400 individual cases over the past two decades is analyzed and fed into various professional publications.