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QUT Law Review ISSN: Online-2201-7275
Volume 18, Issue 1, pp. i-iii DOI: 10.5204/qutlr.vl8il.680
LAW AND NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES:
INTERNATIONAL AND
DOMESTIC REGULATION OF FOOD
AND ALCOHOL SPECIAL ISSUE - EDITORIAL
CHRISTINE PARKER, TANIA VOON** AND PAULA O'BRIEN***
The articles in this special issue examine the relationship between international economic law
and effective evidence-based regulation to address public health challenges associated with
food and alcohol consumption in interacting domestic, regional and international frameworks
of law, politics and policy.
In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted 17 global Sustainable
Development Goals ('SDGs') pursuant to an agenda to be implemented by 2030.1 Effective,
evidence-based regulation of public health challenges associated with food and alcohol within
domestic, regional and international settings is crucial to achieving the SDGs. Goal 2 is 'End
hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture'.
Goal 3 is 'Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages'. These aspects of the
SDGs build on the General Assembly's 2011 resolution identifying non-communicable
diseases ('NCDs') as a 'challenge of epidemic proportions', and noting that the 'most
prominent' NCDs are linked to common risk factors including tobacco use, harmful alcohol
use, an unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity.2 In 2013, the World Health Assembly (the
decision-making body of the World Health Organization ('WHO')) endorsed a global action
plan to prevent and control NCDs to 2020.3 In September 2018, the Third United Nations
General Assembly High-level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable
Diseases is being held with the aim of scaling up interventions, including around food and
alcohol, to prevent and control NCDs.4
The emphasis of the SDGs on sustainable development is mirrored in the context of
international investment law, with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
promoting an Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development. That document
* Christine Parker BA (Hons) LLB (Hons) (Uni Qld), PhD (ANU), Professor, Melbourne Law School, The
University of Melbourne; **Tania Voon BSc LLB (Hons) (Melb), LLM (Harv), PhD (Cantab), Professor,
Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne;*** Paula O'Brien BA LLB (Hons) (Melb), LLM (Cantab),
Senior Lecturer, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne.
1 UN General Assembly, Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Doc
A/RES/70/1 (21 October 2015 following adoption of resolution on 25 September 2015) 16/35.
2 UN General Assembly, Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the
Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases, UN Doc A/RES/66/2 (22 January 2012 following
adoption of resolution on 19 September 2011) 3.
3 Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly, Follow-up to the Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the
General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases, WHO doc WHA66.10 (27
May 2013) annex.
4 'Time to Deliver: Third UN High-level Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases' (World Health
Organization, undated) 2-3.
This work is licensed under a Creadve Commons Attributio 4.0 ence. As an open access journal,
articles are free to use with proper attribution in educational and other non-commercial settings.
QUT Law Review - Vol 18, No ]I i](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/qutlj18&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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