Swiss foreign policy and the UN declaration on the rights of peasants

While Switzerland played a key role in negotiating the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, a study commissioned by a number of Swiss NGOs, including CETIM, shows that its foreign policy in this area leaves a lot to be desired.

The Declaration on the Rights of Peasants, adopted by the UN in 2018, aims to tackle the multiple forms of discrimination faced by peasants who are the main victims of extreme poverty and hunger in the world.

Switzerland, which played a key role in negotiating the Declaration and voted in favour of it, can and must support its implementation through engaging in international cooperation and supporting peasant organisations.

It must encourage the bolstering of the mechanisms which monitor the compliance, protection and implementation of the rights enshrined in the Declaration. A study carried out by Christophe Golay and Caroline Dommen, commissioned by the Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund (Action de Carême), CETIM, EPER, FIAN Suisse, Bread for All (Pain pour le prochain), SWISSAID and Uniterre, analyses the shortcomings of Swiss foreign policy in the areas of trade, seeds, land rights and development cooperation.

The publication also focuses on the measures to be applied in Swiss foreign policy so that it supports the implementation of the Declaration in Switzerland, on a global level and in other countries.

Read the summary in English and the full report in French