«Il n‘y a pas un monde développé et un monde sous-développé, mais un seul monde mal développé»
Human rights alert: military intervention in Haiti
La Via Campesina and CETIM sent a written statement to the Human Rights Council expressing their concerns and demanding that the human rights of the Haitian people be protected following the announcement of a new foreign intervention in this country. On October 2, 2023, the UN Security Council approved the deployment of an international security force to Haiti to, ostensibly, combat gang violence and restore security to the country. Social movements and peasant organizations had already warned that this intervention would only be a pretext to continue to subject Haitians to neo-colonial interests.
Sanctions and human rights violations in Niger
Following the takeover of power in Niger by the military on July 26, 2023, regional institutions and international organizations such as the Economic Community of West African States, the West African Economic and Monetary Union, the African Union, the World Bank and the European Union have begun to impose sanctions against Niger and its people. During the 54th session of the Human Rights Council, CETIM gave the floor to Ms. Fatimatou Hima, member of the Niger Peasant Platform. In her speech, she denounced these economic-financial sanctions which impact the human rights of the entire population of Niger, but above all rural populations.
Read the declaration in French
Read Raffaele Morgantini’s article (in French), published in Le Courrier on November 12, 2023
UN: the model of water privatization in Chile once again called into question
The Movement for the Defense of Access to Water, Land and Environmental Protection (MODATIMA) presented a joint statement with CETIM during the plenary session of the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council, during an interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to drinking water and sanitation, Mr. Pedro Arrojo. In Chile, the industrial sector (active in agro-export, mining and energy) owns most of the water and, as a result, many areas of the country are already deprived of sufficient and adequate access to this vital resource, which strongly threatens the right to water of Chilean rural and urban communities.
Read the declaration (in Spanish)
The Right to Development
In its plenary intervention during the 54th session of the Human Rights Council, the CETIM expressed its concern about the approach of the new Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development. In its annual report, it conflates development, which is necessarily a process, and the right to development which is a human right, as defined in the first article of the relevant Declaration.
Read the article by Melik Özden, published (in French) in La Tribune de Genève on June 23, 2023
