«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
Between the 9th and 13th of November, a delegation of La Vía Campesina leaders was in Geneva to support the Declaration on the rights of peasants which is being drafted in the Human Rights Council. The leaders participated in an informal consultation meeting and highlighted some of the key elements of the draft Declaration, in […] INFORMAL CONSULTATIONS ON THE RIGHTS OF PEASANTS November 2014 [Extract from the declaration] CETIM gives its unwavering support to the process initiated in the Working Group charged with drafting a Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other Persons Working in Rural Areas and assures its support to your presidency. CETIM also welcomes the growing […] Victory for the rights of peasants at the UN: the Human Rights Council renews the mandate of the intergovernmental working group in charge of developing a UN Declaration on the rights of peasants! The Human Rights Council has adopted a resolution allowing the continuation of the process toward the adoption of a UN Declaration on […] HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 26th session June 2014 [Excerpt from the statement] Famine and malnutrition continue to affect nearly a billion people in the world, 80% of whom live in rural areas and most of whom are food producers such as small family farmers. The latter are confronted, without any protection, not only with the rules […] HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 25th session March 2014 [Excerpt from the statement] CETIM and FIMARC have long been committed to the promotion and protection of the right to food. They are also committed to the defence of peasant and family farming. Today, this peasantry is threatened with extinction, despite the fact that it feeds the world […]
La Vía Campesina leaders in Geneva to support the Declaration on the rights of peasants
The right to land must be an essential element of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants
Increasing support in favor of the Declaration on the rights of peasants
Rights of peasants: the work must continue!
Right to food
