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 lobbying institutions and decision-makers to publishing open letters and organizing marches, to claim their rights and push for the effective implementation of UNDROP.
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…
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…
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…
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…
2026 has been declared by the United Nations Organization the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. WAMIP, the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples, is preparing for this year, to make sure that the voice of pastoralists will be front and center and their rights upheld. Pastoralists are directily recognized as rights holders of UNDROP….
We publish here the Nyeleni Bulletin n°59 of March 2025. The bulletin is entirely devoted to the struggles of fishermen and fisherwomen around the world. After an introduction setting out the global context of the monopolization of oceans, seas and rivers and the destruction of artisanal fishing, the bulletin takes us to the struggles in…
In May 2023, the International Labour Organization (ILO) held its Meeting of Experts on Decent Work in the Agro-Food Industry: an essential component of sustainable food systems. The Meeting of Experts adopted the Policy guidelines for the promotion of decent work in the agri-food sector, which are the subject of this article. The ILO, created…
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…
This article was originally published in CETIM’s website the 20th of March 2024. The Union of Agricultural Work Committees (a Palestinian peasant organisation and member of La Via Campesina), CETIM and FIAN International conducted a week of advocacy in support of the Palestinian people’s struggle against Israeli colonialist and genocidal oppression. This campaign took place…
