«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
CETIM supports La Via Campesina’s call to action “On April 17, we mark the International Day of Peasant Struggles, our annual action day that brings us together to commemorate the Eldorado do Carajás* massacre in 1996 and to honor the resistance of peasants worldwide who persist in their struggle for social justice and dignity. The Union of Agricultural Work Committees (a Palestinian peasant organisation and member of La Via Campesina), CETIM and FIAN International conducted a week of advocacy in support of the Palestinian people’s struggle against Israeli colonialist and genocidal oppression. This campaign took place from 5 to 11 March 2024, on the occasion of the 55th session […] PRESS RELEASE Geneva, January 1st, 2024 – Neoliberal elites want rural populations to pay for the crisis and the “energy transition”. CETIM expresses its solidarity with the mobilisations of peasant organisations over the past weeks in several European countries (starting in Germany and spreading to France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Romania and Poland, among others). The main […] CETIM was present at the 8th International Conference of La Via Campesina in Bogota, Colombia (December 2023). It was a historic moment of unity, exchange and articulation in the context of a complex international conjoncture, particularly for peasant and rural struggles. The challenges we face on a daily basis are countless: in particular, the aggressive […] As part of the 4th cycle of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of the Republic of Cuba, CETIM submitted a report on the situation and advances in terms of agroecology and peasant rights on the island. In the field of agriculture and food production, Cuba has played a leading role in […]
Call to Action 17.04: International Day of Peasant Struggles
Palestine: no food sovereignty without national sovereignty
Peasant mobilisations in Europe
Food sovereignty to guarantee the future of humanity
Agroecology and peasants’ rights in Cuba
