Since its adoption in 2018, UNDROP has inspired national, regional and international jurisprudence, laws and policies to protect the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas. Here are examples of decisions of national and regional courts and UN human rights bodies in which different rights enshrined in UNDROP have been protected. You will also find examples of inclusion of UNDROP in the work of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, Special Procedures and Treaty Bodies. And you will find information about the new UN Working Group on UNDROP, composed of 5 independent experts, which started its mandate in May 2024!
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Source: https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/12/un-declaration-rights-peasants-un-experts-call-action-ahead-anniversary GENEVA (16 December 2022) – Despite recognition that peasants and rural workers are essential to providing everyone food and protecting the planet’s biodiversity, the world has treated them as expendable, UN experts said today. Ahead of the 17 December anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and…
The UN Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas (UNDROP) has been adopted in 2018, after almost 20 years of mobilization by La Via Campesina and its allies, and 6 years of negotiation at the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly. It has been adopted to protect the…
The UNDROP is based on a number of other international instruments, including (1) international human rights instruments, (2) the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols, and (3) the Plant Treaty. 1. INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) has been adopted in 1948. In…
In addition to international instruments, a number of other UN sources are important for peasants’ rights, including (1) the UN Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF) 2019-2028, (2) FAO instruments (6), and (3) UN Committee on World Food Security instruments. 1. UN DECADE OF FAMILY FARMING (2019-2028) In 2017, the UN General Assembly unanimously proclaimed the…
The more a seed system recognizes and supports farmers as stewards of a seed system for all of humankind, the more this system fulfils people’s human rights. M. Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
At the global level, in 2019 the Human Rights Committee – which is responsible to monitor the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in the more than 170 States Parties to the ICCPR – became the first UN Treaty Body to refer to the UNDROP, in its decision in Portillo…
