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.
This Appeal for International Solidarity was originally posted by La Via Campesina on 3 April 2026. Available here. The Sri Lankan government’s move to establish solar power plants in Hambantota has triggered a major backlash from peasant unions and environmental groups. More than 1,000 acres of forest ( a critical elephant habitat and biodiversity zone)…
Article by Raffaele Morgantini, representative of CETIM at the UN, published in French in Le Courrier, Monday 15 December 2025. Since taking power through a coup d’état in September 2022, Captain Ibrahim Traoré has assumed the presidency of Burkina Faso, leaving no one indifferent: for some, he embodies a historic turning point marking a break…
This publication, originally produced by the Network of Rural Women of Ecuador and FIAN Ecuador, is hereby republished by Defending Peasant Rights. The Network of Rural Women of Ecuador has set out to analyze the realities affecting life in their territories in light of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other…
Lara Estevão Lourenço: National Human Rights Councilor and community lawyer for the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT – La Via Campesina Brazil)Letícia Souza: National Human Rights Councilor and community lawyer for the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST – La Via Campesina Brazil) On June 5, 2025, the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), after being prompted by Brazilian…
Defending Peasants’ Rights hereby republishes the press release issued by the Confédération paysanne and CETIM on 15 January 2026. Paris, Geneva, January 15, 2026 – The Confédération paysanne and CETIM filed today an official complaint with several Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council, following the arrest and detention of 52 peasants, members…
Image: https://static2.pelahatchienews.com/data/articles/xl-why-seed-sovereignty-is-vital-for-indigenous-peoples-1694443833.jpg Defending Peasants’ Rights hereby republishes the press release issued by the UN Working Group on Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas on 11 December 2025 (available here) GENEVA – UN experts* today welcomed a landmark ruling of the High Court of Kenya declaring unconstitutional provisions of the Seed and Plant Varieties…
Editor’s note: A new court ruling marks a historic milestone for peasants’ rights and the right to seeds in Kenya and internationally. In an unprecedented decision, the High Court has reaffirmed that rights protected by the Constitution must be interpreted in light of international frameworks such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of…
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…
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…
On July 5, 2023, Colombia reformed its Political Constitution, in particular Article 64. Since 1991, Article 64 has laid down the State’s duty to help agricultural workers gain access to land ownership, as well as to a series of rights enabling them to enjoy a better standard of living. This duty remains in the new…
