FROM DROUGHT CONCENTRATION CAMPS TO THE HUMAN RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD

Abstract

Hunger is a structural violation of the Human Right to Adequate Food (HRAF), subject to worsening both by human issues (social, economic, political) and by natural calamities, such as droughts and floods. In 1932, during a period of severe drought in Ceará, those affected by the drought began to migrate to the nearest urban centers, in search of minimum living conditions. Arousing hygienist fears among local elites, this undesirable migratory contingent was housed in concentration camps, in order to impede the flow of hungry people reaching the cities. The segregationist measure created environments of institutionalized violence and dehumanization. It was hoped that an event of this nature would serve to motivate the constitutionalization of the HRAF. However, explicit constitutionalization only occurred with Constitutional Amendment nº 64/2010, 78 years later. This article aims to understand the extent to which the 1932 drought contributed as a material source for the constitutionalization of the HRAF, comparing the evolution of this right, from that calamity to the present, aiming to understand the reason for the delay in its constitutionalization and the effect practical that the constitutional omission brought to the brazilian vulnerable population.