«Il n‘y a pas un monde développé et un monde sous-développé, mais un seul monde mal développé»
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.
A Declaration on the Rights of Peasants
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.
Download for free the e-book edited by CETIM “The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants“
Protect Peasants’ Rights Campaign
Access to justice for peasants
Training sheets on peasants’ rights
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 56th session July 2024 Since the social-political outbreak of December 2022, the CETIM has supported the Peruvian indigenous-peasant organisations – protagonists of the social protests – in their advocacy work within the UN human rights mechanisms. Read the CETIM’s oral statement in Spanish Watch the video subtitled in English
Continue readingSince its independence, Haiti’s way forward has been obstructed by repeated interventions by foreign powers as well as by recurrent crises. Flagrant human rights violations have plunged the country into unprecedented poverty, and the peasants, the pillars of the island’s economy, have been cast into oblivion and misery. During the Human Rights Council’s 55th session, […]
Continue readingIn October 2023, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution setting up a new UN special procedure on the rights of peasants. This is yet another historic achievement for the international peasant movement and for peasant farmers around the world. The task of the new Working Group will be to ensure the implementation and promotion […]
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For the International Day of Peasant’s Struggles on April 17, Defending Peasants’ Rights and La Via Campesina held a webinar on the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on UNDROP, with three of its experts: Shalmali Guttal, Carlos Duarte and Geneviève Savigny. Watch video
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The anti-colonial struggle in Haiti rightly fits into the current geopolitical context, which is characterised by a profound multidimensional crisis of the dominant system. This crisis is leading to an upheaval in the global geopolitical and geo-economic balance of power and, consequently, to an upsurge in imperialist strategies. Indeed, the dominant imperialist forces are continuing […]
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