At the heart of UNDROP’s implementation lies the struggles of peasants and other people working in rural areas. Realizing the rights enshrined in UNDROP demands relentless mobilization and advocacy at local, national, regional, and international levels. Peasants’ organizations, agricultural workers, rural communities, and their allies have developed various strategies, from advocating institutions and decision-makers to publishing open letters and organizing marches, to claim their rights and push for the effective implementation of UNDROP.
Defending Peasants’ Rights is pleased to share the Nyeleni Newsletter No. 61, which explores how the realisation of rural peoples’ rights, as enshrined in the UNDROP, is deeply connected to the advancement of collective struggles for climate justice across the world. As social movements mobilize toward Climate COP 30 and the Second International Conference on…
Ahead of the upcoming UN negotiation session (20–24 October 2025) to elaborate a legally binding treaty on transnational corporations, the UN Working Group on Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas and the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food have issued a powerful joint statement calling for “binding accountability for agribusiness to safeguard…
On 18 September 2025, on the occasion of the 60th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, a parallel conference brought together actors committed to the protection of the rights of rural communities at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Entitled “Advancing the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas through…
Image: La Via Campesina Article first published in July 2025 by the Padova University Press. In this academic article, Alexandre Mortelette examines how civil society actors, primarily La Vía Campesina, CETIM and FIAN International, contributed to the co-construction of UNDROP by translating grassroots demands into international legal standards through an inclusive, participatory, and iterative process.
Defending Peasants’ Rights conducted an exclusive interview with Carlos Duarte, current Chair of the UN Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. The conversation took place during his visit to Geneva, on the occasion of the presentation to the Human Rights Council of the newly released report on…
Image: https://nyeleniglobalforum.org/ Sri Lanka is ready to host the world’s largest gathering of social movements, taking place from 6 to 13 September. The 3rd Nyéleni Forum comes at a crucial moment, as multiple overlapping crises intensify and plunge the world into more inequality, social injustice, and warfare. A historical cross-sectoral Forum Named after a legendary…
Defending Peasants Rights hereby republishes the statement issued by UAWC on 31/07/2025 Just moments ago, Israeli occupation forces launched a military assault on the Multiplication Unit of UAWC Seed Bank in the Hebron area, using bulldozers and heavy machinery to demolish storage facilities and infrastructure essential to the unit’s operations.The attack resulted in the destruction…
Held on 25 June 2025, this webinar showcased and brought visibility to the wide diversity of UNDROP rights holders, highlighting their struggles for sustainable and just food systems. It also shed light on their efforts and views regarding the mobilisation of the UNDROP in rural peoples’ struggle for their rights. The webinar was honoured by…
Contribution from La Via Campesina Brazil to the UN Working Group on the UNDROP La Via Campesina Brazil has submitted a written contribution in response to the call from the UN Working Group on peasants’ rights, outlining the main challenges faced by the Brazilian peasantry. Drafted collectively following a training session on the UNDROP for…
In a groundbreaking decision issued on April 16, 2024 (Ruling No. T-123/24), the Colombian Constitutional Court granted protection to an elderly peasant couple forced to leave their land after repeated flooding. This ruling marks a turning point in how Colombian jurisprudence addresses internal displacement linked to natural disasters. To do so, the Court relied on…
This article was first published on La Via Campesina’s website on April 25th, 2025. You can find it here. The Movement for Land and Agriculture Reform (MONLAR), representing over 5,000 peasant workers in Sri Lanka, recently made a submission to the government listing out several instances of the violation of the UN Declaration on the…
The process that led to the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) was, above all, an exemplary mobilization and convergence of rural movements. These movements came together in their advocacy efforts to secure this common instrument to fight for the transformation of…
