Webinar – The next chapter in the struggle for UNDROP: learning about the new UN Working Group
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Webinar – The next chapter in the struggle for UNDROP: learning about the new UN Working Group

Online – Wednesdey April 24th 12-2pm UTC For International Peasants’Day (April 17th), Defending Peasants’ Rights and La Via Campesina invite you to their webinar dedicated to the new UN Human Rights Council Working Group on the UNDROP. The Human Rights Council created the Working Group in October of last year, and its members will soon…

An opportunity for rural struggles: UNDROP follow-up mechanism before the Human Rights Council
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An opportunity for rural struggles: UNDROP follow-up mechanism before the Human Rights Council

This article was first published on La Via Campesina’s website on September 11th. You can find it here. Time has come for the implementation of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) to be tackled at the international level. It is in this context that La…

Interview of Jessie MacInnis, small-scale farmer in Canada and Peasants’ rights activist
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Interview of Jessie MacInnis, small-scale farmer in Canada and Peasants’ rights activist

Jessie MacInnis is a small-scale farmer from Canada. She farms in Nova Scotia (also known as Mi’kma’ki, the unceded land of the Mi’kmaq) with her sister where they grow vegetables and flowers. She is Youth President of the National Farmers Union, which is a member organisation of La Via Campesina. Jessie is a member of…

The legal fight of the Kenyan Peasants League against the lifting of the ban on GMO in Kenya
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The legal fight of the Kenyan Peasants League against the lifting of the ban on GMO in Kenya

Summary On October 3rd, 2022, the Kenyan Government lifted the ban an importation and cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMO) that had been in place for ten years. The Kenyan Peasants League (KPL) reacted immediately and filled a lawsuit against that decision. They also asked the High Court for conservatory measures, which were granted on…

Inter-American Court of Human Rights: first case law on the links between the Declarations on the Rights of Peasants and Indigenous Peoples
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Inter-American Court of Human Rights: first case law on the links between the Declarations on the Rights of Peasants and Indigenous Peoples

The case of Indigenous communities members of the Lhaka Honhat (Our Land) association v. Argentina In February 2020, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) handed down a ruling recognizing the rights of both indigenous peoples and peasants. It orders that indigenous peoples’ right to land be restored, and that their territory be returned to…

UNDROP in the Work of United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms
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UNDROP in the Work of United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms

Since its adoption in 2018, UNDROP has been included in the work of some United Nations human rights mechanisms. We present how this has been done in this contribution, in which we explain why the Human Rights Council shall create a new UN Special Procedure with a specific mandate to monitor UNDROP’s implementation. Integrating UNDROP in…

References on UNDROP in the work of the United Nations Human Rights mechanisms
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References on UNDROP in the work of the United Nations Human Rights mechanisms

Find here all the references on UNDROP by all the Human Rights mechanisms, with periodic update. For an explanation of the use of the UNDROP by the UN Human Rights mechanisms, read our article here. NEW ! Universal Periodic Review Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures Joint Statements: Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Special…

Switzerland-UN: What measures to support the promotion of peasants’ rights?
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Switzerland-UN: What measures to support the promotion of peasants’ rights?

This article was first published on CETIM’s website, on January 27th, 2023. You can find it here. On January 27, 2023, the human rights situation in Switzerland was examined in the framework of its Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a UN mechanism for monitoring the rights situation in all UN member countries. In this context, our…

Honduras: Supreme Court uses UNDROP article 19 on the right to seeds to declare unconstitutional the Monsanto Law
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Honduras: Supreme Court uses UNDROP article 19 on the right to seeds to declare unconstitutional the Monsanto Law

In November 2021, the Supreme Court of Honduras unanimously declared the Plant Variety Protection Law (Decree Nº 21-2012) unconstitutional, on the grounds that it violated the Constitution, various international treaties ratified by Honduras, as well as international standards related to the protection of the right to adequate nutrition. This judgment is one of the first to…

ITPGRFA: Our Rights are the only hope against the confiscation of all Seeds by Multinational Patents
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ITPGRFA: Our Rights are the only hope against the confiscation of all Seeds by Multinational Patents

This article was first published on La Via Campesina’s website on September 16 2022. You can find it here. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture – commonly known as the “Seed Treaty” – is due to meet its Governing Body of 144 member states in New Delhi from 19-25 September…