Rights of Peasants

At the global level, there are currently some 1.2 billion peasants and together with their families they represent one third of humanity. In absolute terms, there are more peasants today than ever before in history.

Peasants and other rural workers are key to food sovereignty and the realization of the right to food, in particular in developing countries where they provide up to 80% of the food consumed at the local level.

Peasants play a key role in the fight against climate change and the conservation of biodiversity

Yet peasants and other people working in rural areas are among the most vulnerable and discriminated-against group. They are victims of multiple violations of their human rights and suffer disproportionately from hunger and poverty. 80% of those victims of hunger in the world live and work in rural areas.

The CETIM works for several years in favor of the rights of peasants. lt provides its support to organizations representing peasants and other rural workers in the Global South for the access to the UN human rights protection mechanisms. The CETIM is also strongly involved to their sides in the campaign for the adoption of a United Nations Declaration on the rights of peasants and oher people working in rural areas, offering its support so that they are able to participate in the negotiations and present their proposals.

On 17 December 2018, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Others Working in Rural Areas. Alongside La Via Campesina, CETIM was strongly involved in the process that led to the adoption of this indispensable tool. In particular, it offered its support to peasants to enable them to participate in the negotiations and to make their proposals heard.

The adoption of the Declaration is a historic moment. It is the result of a 17-year struggle for the recognition of the rights of this particularly vulnerable population. If respected and implemented, this instrument will be useful, not only for peasants, but for humanity as a whole.

One year after the adoption of this indispensable tool, a joint declaration was signed by nine special rapporteurs and experts and four members of the UN treaty bodies. This document stresses that farmers must participate “in all decision-making processes that affect their lives, lands, resources and livelihoods” and repeatedly urges states to play a key role in implementing the Declaration.

In October 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Council, with an overwhelming majority of Member States in favour, took another historic step. It voted in favour of Resolution 54/9 to create a follow-up mechanism to the Declaration. A Working Group of experts is now responsible for promoting and implementing the Declaration.

The Rights of Peasants

Acces the Critical Report in PDF Peasants have always been among the first victims of hunger and multiple violations of human rights all over the world. For hundreds of years they have been forcibly evicted from their lands. Their claims have been met by violent repression. Every year thousand of peasants are killed defending their […]

Purchase of land in the context of food sovereignty

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 12th session 14 September – 2 October 2009 [Excerpt from the statement] According to new FAO estimates published recently, undernourishment reached a record level in 2009, passing the dreaded mark of 1 billion human beings suffering from hunger, which means, in plain language, that the food crisis has worsened considerably over the […]

On the working document on peasants and their fundamental rights

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Consultative Committee – 3rd session 03 – 07 August 2009 [Excerpt from the statement] As the working document presented by Mr Jean Ziegler clearly shows, peasants have always been, and still are today, the first victims of violations of the right to food. Since the dawn of time, peasants have been driven […]

Support for the Advisory Committee’s study on the food crisis

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 10th session 02 mars – 27 mars 2009 [Exerpt from the statement] This study is innovative in several respects. It is also welcome, because in the scandalous context of famine and malnutrition worldwide, which long predates the food crisis that has been affecting many countries in the South for over a year […]

Support for the study by the Advisory Committee on Peasants’ Rights

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 10th session 02 March – 27 March 2009 [Extract from the declaration] Existing human rights instruments do not meet the specific needs of peasants in the context of globalisation. The rules of international trade favour the law of the strongest, in other words the stranglehold of transnational corporations on the economy and […]