«Il n‘y a pas un monde développé et un monde sous-développé, mais un seul monde mal développé»
Peasants are key to food security, the fight against climate change and the conservation of biodiversity security. Yet their rights are systemically violated and they are subject to multiple discrimination.
80% of the people that suffer from hunger and extreme poverty live in rural areas and most of them are peasants
Each day peasant farms disappear because of the lack of remunerative prices or access to productive resources, and peasants are evicted from their lands or killed when they defend their rights.
CETIM is committed to a better protection and promotion of the rights of peasants alongside La Vía Campesina. The international peasant movement brings together more than 164 organisations in 73 countries. It represents about 200 million peasants. FIAN International is also a long-standing partner in this vital fight. The first victory came in 2012. A majority of the Member States of the Human Rights Council voted in favour of the resolution “Promotion and protection of the human rights of peasants and other people living in rural areas” (21/19). This resolution was presented by Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and South Africa. It establishes an intergovernmental working group. This new body is tasked with drafting and adopting a Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas.
A historic victory
After more than 17 years of struggle, CETIM and its partners see their efforts rewarded. A new international instrument was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2018. It is the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants.
This legal instrument now makes it possible to:
The final vote represents the culmination of a historic process for rural communities. With 122 votes in favour, 8 votes against and 54 abstentions, the forum of UNGA representing 193 Member States, ushered in a new promising chapter in the struggle for the rights of peasants and other rural communities throughout the world.
This Declaration is an international legal instrument that can change the lives of millions of peasants around the world. This is why the CETIM, La Via Campesina and its allies are mobilising to support the implementation processes. And this at the international, regional and national levels.
In October 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Council, with an overwhelming majority of member states in favour, took a historic step by voting in favour of Resolution 54/9 to create a follow-up mechanism to the Declaration, in the form of a new UN Special Procedure: a Working Group of experts is now mandated to work on the promotion and implementation of the UNDROP.
For more information on the Declaration and the struggle for peasants’ rights:
Visit our website Defending Peasants’ rightsTS’ RIGHTS. Platform of rural struggles in action!
Read our didactic training sheets
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 10th session 02 March – 27 March 2009 [Extract from the statement] The report on the mission to the World Trade Organization finally allows everyone to see the links between the various areas of international relations and puts an end to the fallacious arguments claiming that there are issues that should not […]
Continue readingHUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 9th session September 08 – September 26 2008 [Excerpt from the statement] As we have already indicated in our joint statements presented at the special session of the Human Rights Council on the global food crisis1, the causes of hunger and malnutrition are multiple, but the main cause is the orientation of […]
Continue readingADVISORY COMMITTEE 1st session 4 – 15 August 2008 Introduction Hunger and malnutrition in the world has been a recurrent problem for a long time. Its causes and those of the recent food crisis are well known to those who face the facts. However, the responses to one of the greatest violations of human rights […]
Continue readingHUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 7th extraordinary session May 22, 2008 [Extract from the declaration] The causes of the so-called food crisis are well known: the promotion of harmful farming methods and unsuitable crops, the promotion of agribusiness and the concentration of fertile land in the hands of a latifundist minority, the privatization of public regulatory mechanisms, […]
Continue readingHUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 7th special session on the Right to Food May 22, 2008 Read the CETIM’s written statement The current crisis of agricultural raw materials severely affects the poorest peoples of our planet.1 Prices on the world market for cereals are rising for a year : wheat prices increased by 130%, rice 80% and […]
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