The General Assembly finally voted on theUnited Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. 19.11.18, after 17 years of battles and negotiations.
Rights of farmers and rural communities, from theory to facts
70 percent of humanity’s food depends on rural areas where more than 3.4 billion people live today. (1) However, 80 percent of the rural population suffers from hunger and malnutrition, in extreme poverty.
Land grabbing
(2) and deprivation of access to land, exploitation of workers
and slavery-in addition to natural disasters related to climate change and price swings (induced by financial speculation)-force entire communities to migrate to urban areas or other countries. (3)
The ‘
Committee on World Food Security
‘ (CFS), at FAO, at the time adopted the ‘Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems,’ on 15.10.14. (4) The guidelines that the 197 member states should follow, to protect the basic human rights of peasant communities.
In spite of the solemn principles on paper, however, the rights to food sovereignty and a dignified existence are systematically trampled upon, in every area of the planet. In the Global South as in the North, where farmers are the first victims of unfair trade practices How unfair.
Rights of farmers and rural communities, the UN Declaration
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Rural Communities is thanks to the initiative of La Vía Campesina, FIANInternationaleother movements, such as Centro Europa – Tiers Monde (CETIM). Who, after years of consultation and compromise, submitted the text of the Declaration to the UN. In 2008, the first time.
#DerechosCampesinosYA, #PeasantsRightsNOW! At the end of September, the voices of ‘campesinos‘ groups resonated in squares around the world, as well as on social media. To urge the United Nations Human Rights Council, which finally, on 9/29/18, approved the Declaration.
UN Declaration, the six basic rights of peasants and laborers
Six fundamental rights are affirmed in the Declaration, which consists of 28 articles:
1) Adequate standard of living as opposed to the prevailing extreme poverty,
2) Food sovereignty, with support for biodiversity conservation and combating climate change,
3) protection againstland grabbing, adoption of structural land reforms,
4) Use of their own seeds, which farmers and workers should be able to store, use, exchange and sell,
5) adequate payment
of agricultural commodities and workers
,
6) Social (and labor) justice, to which everyone must be able to contribute to overcome all kinds of discrimination. (6)
Égalité! From words to deeds, the road will be long. And it will not be without the active contribution of the European agricultural and labor confederations. The only forces capable of orienting Brussels and Strasbourg toward widespread interests rather than entrenching themselves in those of the financial elites.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) World Bank, 2017 data on population living in rural areas, at
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL
. Moreover, the UN has predicted a surge in migration to urban centers, which will be home to 7 billion of every 10 individuals by 2050. See https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/il-mondo-nel-2050-trasformazioni-necessarie
(2) For an idea of
land grabbing
, or land robbery, see the latest article
https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/congo-olio-di-palma-e-colonialismo
(3) See the UN report ‘The World in 2050‘ https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/il-mondo-nel-2050-trasformazioni-necessarie See also the data offered by ETC, on http://www.etcgroup.org/sites/www.etcgroup.org/files/files/etc-quiennosalimentara-2017-es.pdf
(4) V.
http://www.fao.org/3/a-au866e.pdf
(6) The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and People Living in Rural Areas is available at
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/G18/285/60/PDF/G1828560.pdf?OpenElement
. The votes against were reported from Australia, England, Israel, New Zealand, Sweden, Hungary, the U.S.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
