Cuba’s experience demonstrates that the principles and provisions enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) can be translated into concrete public policies, legal frameworks, and initiatives aimed at guaranteeing and promoting the rights of peasant communities. This report highlights the progress achieved and the main initiatives developed in this regard, underscoring the commitment of the State and of rights holders themselves to the promotion and protection of peasant rights.

This experience also constitutes a valuable reference for other countries and contexts. It demonstrates that, even under conditions of vulnerability resulting from an ongoing imperialist offensive, and in the face of enormous challenges caused by external economic warfare, it is possible to advance the implementation of the rights recognized in the UNDROP when there is political will, a supportive institutional framework, and the active participation and mobilization of grassroots organizations and communities.

Beyond its national particularities, the Cuban case offers lessons and inspiration for other countries seeking to strengthen their public policies and legal frameworks in support of the rights of people living and working in rural areas.

See the full report below:

La entrada Report on the Promotion and Implementation of the UNDROP in Cuba se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

In wake of the recently approved “Law For The Strengthening And Protection Of The Agro-Industrial Sector, Energy Projects, Tourism, Livestock, And Small Agricultural Producers Of Honduras” promoting and protecting agribusiness, 1000 eviction orders of peasant communities have been ordered. This law compounds on existing violence, criminalization and intimidation of many peasant groups who have been fighting for their historic right to land and food and food sovereignty including for example the massacre that occurred on 21 May, 2026 in the community of Rigores, Colon that resulted in the deaths of 20 peasants.

Defending Peasants Rights extends its solidarity with the peoples and communities of Honduras, especially the peasant, Indigenous and Afrodescendant organizations that are currently facing evictions and other attacks. We also uphold these organization’s demands for access to justice at the local, national and international levels, and we call for the rights enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas to be protected and respected.

We invite you to read the statements prepared by La Via Campesina Honduras about these recent events:

Honduras: Peasant Organizations Denounce 1,000 Eviction Orders: https://viacampesina.org/en/2026/07/honduras-peasant-organizations-denounce-1000-eviction-orders/

La Vía Campesina Honduras denounces the massacre of peasants in the community of Colón: https://viacampesina.org/en/2026/05/la-via-campesina-honduras-denounces-the-massacre-of-peasants-in-the-community-of-colon/

La entrada Peasant, Indigenous and Afrodescendant communities under attack in Honduras se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

The protests have unified an impressive coalition of peasant, rural and urban workers. At the heart of this mobilization are powerful peasant organizations, as the Tupac Katari Federation, the Bartolina Sisa Federation of Indigenous peasant women, and the Unified Syndical Confederation of Peasant Workers (CSUTCB), who have mobilized throughout the whole country to resist, counteract and claim the respect of their fundamental rights. 

This current struggle is testament to the formidable political force of peasant organizations in the country. The protests are not simply about land or fuel subsidies; they represent a profound rejection of a dominant political and economic model perceived as violating peasants’ rights, food sovereignty principles and marginalizing rural and Indigenous communities. 

We invite you to read the three following declarations of solidarity with the struggle of the Bolivian people:

CLOC-Via Campesina https://viacampesina.org/en/2026/06/bolivia-cloc-la-via-campesina-rejects-the-divisive-and-polarizing-actions-promoted-by-rodrigo-paz/

Bartolinas Sisas Federation (Bolivian member of LVC) https://viacampesina.org/en/2026/06/bolivia-the-bartolina-sisa-organization-reaffirms-unity-denounces-government-attempts-at-division-and-co-optation/

CETIM https://www.cetim.ch/bolivia-solidarity-with-popular-struggles-for-food-sovereignty-and-social-justice/

La entrada Solidarity with Bolivia’s peasant and Indigenous organizations se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

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) have been cleared to make way for the so-called green energy initiative led by 17 solar companies. Over 5,000 farming families in areas such as Mayurapura and Gonnooruwa now face a surge in human–elephant conflict, threatening their safety, crops, and food security.

We are reproducing an appeal from MONLAR asking its allies in the international community to write to the President of Sri Lanka denouncing the move and calling for an immediate halt to the ongoing clearing operations.

To the members of the International Civil Society and Activists Community,

We are writing to you as the Movement for Land and Agriculture Reform to bring to your immediate attention a critical human rights and environmental crisis unfolding in the Hambantota district of Sri Lanka, one that is being deliberately disguised as a “green” energy initiative.

The farming communities of Hambantota are no strangers to struggle. They spent months protesting and advocating to secure the gazettement of the elephant corridor, a landmark legal protection for the ancient movement routes of endangered Asian elephants and the livelihoods of the communities who share that land. It is in the wake of that very victory that 17 solar companies have now moved in, clearing the land those communities fought to protect. Their struggle is being erased.

This is not the first time Hambantota’s people have faced dispossession.

The region has already borne the weight of the Belt and Road Initiative, including the controversial Hambantota Port lease and aggressive urbanisation that communities strongly opposed, bringing forced displacement and development imposed without transparency or consent. The current solar expansion follows the same pattern: irregular development proceeding in defiance of law and community rights, with both people and animals bearing the consequences.

While presented as renewable energy, a massive solar expansion is ravaging over 1,000 acres of forest within the Hambantota Managed Elephant Reserve (MER), using heavy machinery and deliberate fire to clear critical wildlife corridors, effectively “green-grabbing” land that sustains both endangered elephants and local farming communities.

The Impact

• Human Elephant conflict: By blocking ancient movement corridors (such as Sanakku Gala and Kapapu Wewa) with electric fences, the project is driving elephants into villages.
• Livelihood Crisis: More than 5,000 farming families in areas like Mayurapura and Gonnooruwa are now facing a surge in Human-Elephant Conflict, threatening their safety, crops, and food security.
• Governance Failures: Reports indicate these projects have bypassed mandatory Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and ignored the protests of local communities and conservationists.
• Counter-Productive Climate Action: As noted by local experts, clearing and burning dry-zone forests releases stored carbon and disrupts local rainfall patterns, undermining the very emissions-reduction goals the solar project claims to serve.

A Just Transition must be inclusive, transparent, and ecologically sound. If renewable energy is built on the ruins of biodiversity and the displacement of the rural poor, it replicates the same extractive logic of the fossil fuel era that it hopes to eliminate.

APPEAL FOR INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

We are asking your organization to show solidarity with the affected communities of Hambantota by sending a formal letter to the President of Sri Lanka. Your international standing can provide the necessary pressure to:

1. An immediate halt to all clearing within the Managed Elephant Reserve.
2. Strict adherence to the law, ensuring comprehensive EIAs and Archaeological Impact Assessments are conducted and made public.
3. Prioritizing Rooftop Solar and Degraded Lands (such as abandoned mines) rather than primary forests and productive agricultural land, as recommended by local environmental advocates.

We would be honoured to have your voice join ours in demanding a transition that is truly just for both people and the planet.

In solidarity, MONLAR TEAM.

The email template to be sent by movements and organisations to the President of Sri Lanka can be found below. Please read the instructions for completing the template on page 2 of the document:

La entrada Sri Lanka: MONLAR Urges International Support over Hambantota Green Energy Expansion Violating Peasants and Environmental Rights se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

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 with the neo-colonial order and the beginning of a popular pan-African revolution; for others, it is yet another despotic show of force orchestrated by a military regime. This article seeks to provide an original perspective, in light of the balance of power at play, by giving a voice to Burkinabè social movements – peasants in particular.

Burkina Faso has for years faced a situation of war, mainly in the north, under jihadist threat, and since 2022 has been subjected to increased international pressure, manifested through sanctions regimes imposed by France, the World Bank, the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Heir to a long colonial past and illegitimate debt, the Traoré government seeks to restore national sovereignty and to position itself within a new pan-African dynamic.

Together with its partners in the Alliance of Sahel States – Mali and Niger – the country is challenging the CFA franc and considering an independent or common currency, while progressively disengaging from the IMF, the World Bank and the BCEAO (Central Bank of West African States). The refusal of new Western loans signals a desire to break free from financial dependency.

On the economic front, Burkina Faso has embarked on a process of nationalising strategic sectors. In 2023, the state regained control of major gold mines. A new mining code adopted in 2024 strengthens sovereignty over resources, increases the state’s share in mining companies, imposes local processing and creates a strategic gold reserve. In 2025, a mining residue treatment centre was inaugurated.

Economic reconquest also encompasses the agri-food sector, through nationalisations and the industrialisation of factories in sugar production, dairy processing and tomato production/processing, a key sector for the country. Despite a conflict-ridden regional context, these choices constitute essential levers for establishing real sovereignty and strengthening the state’s capacity to finance social policies.

Giving a voice to peasants

In Burkina Faso, 80% of the active population works in agriculture (around 32% of national GDP), and nearly 90% of farms are family holdings of less than five hectares, illustrating the predominance of subsistence agriculture. This shows how central small-scale food producers – peasants, nomads, herders and artisanal fishing communities – are to society.

It is in this light that the government launched its “Agropastoral and Fisheries Offensive 2023–2025”, with the objective of achieving self-sufficiency and food sovereignty. Within this framework, numerous investments have been made: agricultural equipment, local processing infrastructure, and support for cereal, rice and horticultural sectors. The results are tangible: tomato, rice and maize production increased considerably between 2022 and 2024, and since then rural exodus has declined¹.

Beyond the figures, it is the commitment of rural communities that stands out. Long marginalised, they now form the core of the new societal project, recognised as political agents of change. Two grassroots leaders, Mr Alassane Nakande (a key figure in the West African Convergence of Struggles for Land and Water² and executive director of the African Movement for Environmental Rights) and Ms Ouédraogo Ouandegma (president of the Burkinabè Coordination of Peasant Organisations, member of La Via Campesina and of the Agropastoral Workers’ Union) testify to the profound changes under way. These changes, particularly the progress achieved, help promote a peasant agenda consistent with the provisions and principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), which recognises fundamental rights such as the right to land and the right to seeds.

Strengthening local peasant production

For Ms Ouandegma, the initiative to protect and promote local production “is positive, in that it concretely supports peasant organisations in consolidating their means of production, supply chains, peasant cooperatives and local markets”. The peasant representative points to “government efforts” which have “enabled access to tools and materials for agricultural production and processing (rice processing units, tractors…)”. Thanks to this initiative, “it is small producers and local peasant cooperatives that directly supply their products to hospitals, municipalities, school canteens, prisons… This has made it possible to implement short supply chains, open markets to the smallest producers, and promote local products”.

Land policy and the right to land

Historically, Burkina Faso has faced large waves of land grabbing by private and financial operators who have benefited from a vague and permissive legal framework. In response, Mr Nakande notes that “thanks to the authorities’ willingness to tackle this phenomenon through the revision of pro-land-grabbing laws, a better redistribution of land is becoming possible”. The peasant leader adds that these legislative changes are “accompanied by support measures, notably in the form of installation kits for young peasants”. The process is part of “a broader logic of strengthening food security and sovereignty”, with other ongoing initiatives – action research, feasibility studies, concrete measures – aimed at “enhancing the role of agricultural producers and restoring their central place in public policies”.

For her part, Ms Ouandegma states that the authorities’ land policy “helps strengthen security and legal recognition of land tenure rights for women and men peasants”. She also welcomes the government’s commitment to allocate at least 30% of land titles to women producers.

Agroecological policies

In the field of agroecology – a key concept and set of practices promoted by the international peasant movement – Mr Nakande notes that “within the National Assembly and the Senate, a joint commission has been created to address the challenges surrounding the promotion of agroecology. In the same vein, a law has been adopted promoting the use of biological inputs”.

In its national strategy (SND-AE 2023–2027), the Burkinabè government supports the intensification of agroecological practices, in collaboration with peasant organisations, in order to sustainably ensure food and nutritional security in a context marked by climate crises – declining rainfall, soil and water resource degradation, loss of biodiversity, droughts, floods, etc.

Another major agroecological initiative concerns the demand, expressed by rural actors, for the gradual abandonment of chemical pesticides. To this end, new spaces for negotiation and advocacy have been opened. Ms Ouandegma notes a “shared willingness, both on the part of the rural movement and the authorities, to resolutely steer the country towards a tangible agroecological transition”.

Protection of peasant seeds

Regarding phytogenetic resources and the protection of peasant seeds, Mr Nakande observes positive developments. First, with the “creation of a Commission dedicated to phytogenetic resources, which provides a political framework enabling work in favour of peasant proposals”. Secondly, with the adoption of a new agropastoral law recognising the status of farmer/peasant and strengthening the protection of the right to seeds. “This law lays the foundations for a favourable framework for seed conservation, notably through the establishment of a dedicated database”. For the peasant representative, this represents a real qualitative leap: “From now on, each peasant will be able to actively participate in preserving the local food system and maintaining biodiversity”.

A dialectic at work

It is clear that the peasant world must constitute a political force at the heart of Burkina’s process of social, economic and political transformation. This transformation will either take place with their involvement, or it will not take place at all. But it should be recalled that any process of political transformation is inevitably accompanied by dialectical trajectories, marked by internal tensions and constant contradictions. All the more so in a country like Burkina Faso. Yet the vast majority of external analyses tend to ignore this complexity of power relations, in favour of Manichean and decontextualised judgements, often Eurocentric.

Any transformative political process that claims to be progressive requires democratic debate. Internal as well as external criticisms – if constructive and free from any imperialist logic – can and must help steer this process towards genuine popular emancipation, and correct its course where necessary. What is happening in Burkina Faso is an unprecedented attempt at pan-African renewal, centred on a self-reliant and self-determined development model – a turning point on a continent that continues to endure the neo-colonial yoke. In this context, the Traoré government enjoys considerable popular support, particularly from social movements in rural areas and from the youth, who reject neo-colonial fatalism and demand national and popular sovereignty.

This is not about idealising. But, in a world still structured by deep neo-colonial relations of domination, any attempt at national liberation deserves to be examined and supported, especially if it is driven by the popular classes and grassroots social movements. In such processes, the only meaningful safeguard against setbacks is a didactic dialogue between popular forces and the government. The ongoing challenge for CETIM is therefore to remain a platform for popular sovereignty, rooted in the support of the popular masses, and not isolated from them.

1. ︎
2. ︎

La entrada Burkina Faso: The peasantry, a seed of change? se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' 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 People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). This declaration constitutes a substantive tool for rural women, as it guarantees fundamental rights that enable adequate conditions to sustain a dignified life in the territories where they care for and nurture life. Having this instrument is particularly essential in the current adverse context the country is facing.

The paid and unpaid work that rural women perform creates the necessary conditions for human life, nature, and organizational capacity to continue reproducing. Consequently, when they fully exercise the rights recognized in UNDROP and in the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador (CRE), and have the dignity conditions required, that dignity is also extended to the spaces in which they operate daily. Rural women are pathbreakers; through their work “plowing the land,” in multiple ways, they make it possible for life to persist and continue flourishing in their environments, even amid structural and situational adversities. For this reason, it is imperative that they be recognized as subjects of special protection: rural women must be fully recognized as rights holders.

This report was prepared by the Network of Rural Women of Ecuador through a collective and participatory process, with the aim of making visible and denouncing the violations they face. It is an exercise in naming, denouncing, and amplifying commonly silenced violences, as well as creating spaces for strengthening, reflection, and organizational unity. Based on their voices, knowledge, and experiences, rural women prioritized the analysis of four rights enshrined in UNDROP that are severely affected and compromise their capacity for subsistence: 1) land and territory; 2) adequate food and nutrition; 3) non-discrimination; and 4) environment and water.

The document is structured in four sections: first, a brief contextual analysis; second, an argument regarding the binding nature of UNDROP within the framework of the CRE; third, an examination of the four prioritized rights, including a contextualization of their situation and an analysis of the applicable legal framework in UNDROP and the CRE; and finally, a set of recommendations directed to the Ecuadorian State.

Organizations from the Network of Rural Women of Ecuador participated in the preparation of this report, with the support of FIAN Ecuador in facilitating and systematizing the process.

Full report (Spanish only):

La entrada Rural Women as Rights Holders: UNDROP from the Perspective of Those Who Safeguard Life se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

On June 5, 2025, the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), after being prompted by Brazilian peasant organizations from La Via Campesina, published the Recommendation No. 5/2025, which “Recommends the adoption of the necessary measures for the observance, publicization, and compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants by the Brazilian State.” This document constitutes an extremely important normative and political milestone for the realization of peasant rights in Brazil, insofar as it explicitly recognizes the centrality of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) as an indispensable parameter for the Brazilian State’s actions. This normative advance also constitutes a good practice in the promotion and implementation of UNDROP at the national level, which can—and should—inspire peasant organizations and public authorities in other countries.

To understand the relevance of this Recommendation, it is important to recall the context in which the Declaration was approved in 2018, when Brazil was under a far-right government and, due to its foreign and domestic policy, abstained from voting in favor of the text. The consequences of this stance resulted in the Declaration not being incorporated into Brazil’s domestic policies, hindering its implementation.

In this regard, the CNDH, as an autonomous institution with a legal duty to promote and defend human rights in Brazil, and through its permanent commission on “the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Quilombolas, Traditional Peoples and Communities, Populations Affected by Large-Scale Enterprises, and Rural Workers Involved in Land Conflicts,” recommended a series of measures to be taken by the Brazilian state, in its three branches of government, to fill this gap and implement policies to protect the rights of peasant communities and other rural workers, in accordance with the Declaration. Among these measures, it was recommended that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil convey to the United Nations Secretary-General Brazil’s support for UNDROP.

In issuing the recommendation, the CNDH anchored itself in the context of human rights policy in Brazil and in the consistent complaints received, which reveal a longstanding pattern of invisibilization and vulnerability of rural populations. In fact, the aforementioned Commission receives nearly half of all human rights violation complaints submitted to the entire Council, underscoring the importance of the Brazilian State adopting effective measures to promote and implement UNDROP and the human rights of rural peoples.

By affirming the need for observance, dissemination, and implementation of UNDROP, the CNDH seeks to contribute to bridging the gap between the international commitments assumed by Brazil in the field of human rights and their effective domestic implementation. This instrument underscores that peasants’ rights are not limited to sectoral or welfare policies but are an integral part of fundamental human rights, encompassing civil, political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights.

Moreover, the Recommendation explicitly highlights the structural link between the denial of rights in rural areas and the persistence of violence in the countryside, land conflicts, slave labor, and the criminalization of human rights defenders. By acknowledging Brazil’s repeated convictions by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in cases involving rural violence, the document reinforces the State’s duty to prevent such violations, hold perpetrators accountable, and provide full reparations to victims and their families, including in situations where abuses are committed by private actors with the acquiescence or omission of public authorities.

Another central aspect is the recognition of the role of peasants in ensuring food sovereignty and security, preserving biodiversity, and addressing the climate crisis. The Recommendation recognizes that agroecological practices and the traditional knowledge of rural peoples are fundamental to the construction of socially and environmentally sustainable development models, breaking with the logic of intensive exploitation of land and natural resources that has historically produced inequalities and rights violations.

The CNDH Recommendation also has institutional relevance in proposing concrete measures for the implementation of UNDROP, such as the creation of an inter-institutional Working Group, coordination between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, and the active participation of organized civil society. These guidelines reinforce the notion that the realization of peasant rights requires state policies, with mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation, and social participation, rather than isolated or discontinuous actions.

Finally, by providing guidance to justice system bodies, such as the National Council of Justice, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and Public Defender’s Offices, the Recommendation strengthens the incorporation of the human rights perspective of peasant men and women into judicial and administrative decisions, contributing to greater access to justice and the eradication of impunity for crimes committed in rural areas. In this regard, the document reaffirms that Brazilian democracy and social justice necessarily depend on recognizing the dignity, autonomy, and territorial rights of rural populations. It is also important to note that the CNDH has been receiving responses from institutions reporting the incorporation of the Declaration into their legal and guiding frameworks. Notable examples include publications by the Court of Justice of Sergipe, the Court of Justice of Paraná, the Federal Court of Bahia, and the Regional Federal Court of the 5th Region.

Recommendation No. 05/2025 of the CNDH represents a strategic instrument for the realization of the rights of rural peoples in Brazil, by aligning the legal system and national public policies with the highest international human rights standards, promoting social justice, combating violence in rural areas, and strengthening democracy, with the direct participation of rural social movements.

La entrada Brazil: National Council for Human Rights adopts key regulation to advance the implementation of UNDROP se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

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 of the Confédération paysanne, during a protest in Paris yesterday, January 14, 2026.

During this mobilization, approximately 150 peasants went to the Ministry of Agriculture in Paris. The action was peaceful: the demonstrators entered on foot the hall of the Directorate General for Economic and Environmental Performance of Enterprises (DGPE), displayed banners, and occupied the premises to make their demands heard.

The demonstration was organized to urge the authorities to address the management of the contagious nodular dermatitis (CND) crisis, the threats linked to the EU-Mercosur agreement, and, more broadly, to denounce agricultural policies that are structurally unfavorable to peasants and family farmers. Despite the absence of violence, law enforcement carried out a large-scale encirclement and arrests, targeting in particular national and international union leaders.

The report submitted to the United Nations documents serious violations of fundamental freedoms, in particular the freedoms of association and peaceful assembly, freedom of opinion and expression, trade union rights, as well as the specific rights of peasants as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP).

Through this appeal, the Confédération paysanne and CETIM are calling on UN mechanisms to urgently intervene with the competent authorities to ensure that France respects its international obligations, ends the criminalization of peasants’ mobilizations, and guarantees the effective exercise of peasants’ rights.

Read also the press release from the Confédération paysanne:
https://www.confederationpaysanne.fr/actu.php?id=16339

Contacts :
Confédération paysanne – Emilie Deligny, Secretary general,+33 6 36 58 17 26, edeligny@confederationpaysanne.fr

CETIM – Raffaele Morgantini, Representative of CETIM to the UN in Geneva+41 79 660 65 14, raffaele@cetim.ch

La entrada 52 peasants arrested in France: Confédération paysanne and CETIM appeal to UN Mechanisms se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

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 Act that criminalised the saving, use, exchange and sale of Indigenous and farm-saved seeds.

“This judgment rightly recognises that seed sharing is not a crime, but a fundamental element of peasants’ identity, resilience and contribution to national food systems,” said the Working Group on Peasants and other people working in rural areas.

The High Court of Kenya found that the law, which granted exclusive marketing and property rights over seeds to breeders and seed companies and exposed farmers to potential imprisonment of up to two years for seed-saving and seed-sharing, violated farmers’ rights to life, livelihood and food. The Court stressed that centuries-old practices of seed-sharing form the backbone of Kenya’s food security and cultural heritage.

“This decision is a significant affirmation that the human rights of peasants and the imperatives of food security and biodiversity must prevail over overly restrictive intellectual property regimes,” the Working Group said.

The experts noted that similar restrictive provisions, often modelled on the 1991 Act of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), have been incorporated into national laws in many countries – criminalising age-old practices in Indigenous and peasant agriculture.

“The Kenyan ruling sends a clear and timely message that human rights obligations cannot be subordinated to commercial seed monopolies or narrow interpretations of plant breeders’ rights,” the Working Group said.

The decision is consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), in particular article 19, which recognises the right to seeds, including the right to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed or propagating material. The experts recalled their Briefing Paper on the Right to Seeds**, which clarifies that States must ensure that seed policies, certification schemes and intellectual property frameworks, are designed and applied in a manner that respects, protects and fulfils these rights, and that peasants-managed seed systems are legally recognised and actively supported.

“Courts play a critical role in ensuring that national laws comply with international human rights standards,” the Working Group said. “Where legislative frameworks have criminalised traditional seed systems or restricted peasants’ customary practices, judicial review offers an essential safeguard to restore the primacy of human rights and the right to food.”

The experts commended the courage and perseverance of Kenyan peasants, Indigenous Peoples and civil society actors who mobilised to secure seeds rights before the Court. “Their determination offers inspiration to peasant movements worldwide and shows that when courts uphold human rights, they defend not only the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and Indigenous Peoples but also the future of diverse, resilient and sovereign food systems,” they said.

“Kenya’s ruling should inspire similar human-rights-based interpretations of seed laws and plant variety protection regimes in other jurisdictions,” the Working Group said.

*The Working Group on Peasants and other people working in rural areas is comprised of five independent experts from all regions of the world. The Chair-Rapporteur is Carlos Duarte (Colombia), other members are Geneviève Savigny (France); Shalmali Guttal (India), Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile (Nigeria) and Davit Hakobyan (Armenia).

**Briefing paper on the right to seeds, issued by the Working Group in connection with the Eleventh Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), held from 24 to 29 November 2025 , details how States can integrate UNDROP obligations under the right to seeds to safeguarding peasants’ and Indigenous Peoples’ traditional practices and biodiversity.

Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.

Country-specific observations and recommendations by the UN human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures, the treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review, can be found on the Universal Human Rights Index https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/.

UN Human Rights, country page – Kenya

For inquiries and media requests, please contact: Jamshid GAZIYEV, Secretary of the Working Group on peasants and rural workers (jamshid.gaziyev@un.org).

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts, please contact Maya Derouaz (maya.derouaz@un.org) or Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org)

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on X: @UN_SPExperts.

La entrada Kenya’s seed sharing ruling a milestone for peasants’ rights and food security: UN experts se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

On November 27, 2025, the High Court of Kenya in Machakos delivered a much-awaited decision in a constitutional challenge to the Seeds and Plant Varieties Act mounted by smallholder farmers. The Court decided in favour of the petitioners on all counts, striking down various sections of the Act and Regulations.

As reported earlier on Defending Peasants’ Rights, the constitutional challenge to the Seeds and Plant VarietiesAct was filed in 2022 by a group of peasants of Seeds Savers Network against the government agency responsible for implementing the Act.

Revised in 2012, Kenya’s Seeds and Plant Varieties Act is a draconian law that prohibits peasants from saving, sharing, exchanging and selling seeds under penalty of criminal sanctions. In her decision, the judge declared that various provisions of the Act were contrary to the Constitution of Kenya, the FAO Plant Treaty and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). The judge ruled that the Constitution had to be read along with Article 9 of the Plant Treaty and article 19 of UNDROP, and that Kenya was bound by its obligations under international law in general and international human rights in particular.

More specifically, the judge struck down the section of the Act that gives inspectors who reasonably believe that a breach has been committed the power to seize and dispose of seeds. The judge ruled that this violates a peasant’s right to the privacy of their person, home and property, as enshrined in the Constitution. The Judge also noted that failure to define “reasonable belief” and to provide for an independent oversight mechanism could lead to arbitrariness and abuse.

Importantly, the judge declared that several provisions of the Act are unconstitutional because they infringe on peasants’ right to save, use, share, exchange and sell farm-saved seeds. These provisions criminalize the sale of seeds unless they are certified seeds sold by registered merchants, and limit peasants’ rights over their harvest grown from protected varieties.

The judge ruled that by restricting the right to save, share and exchange seeds, these provisions are contrary to the Constitution, which affirms that the State must recognize the role of science and Indigenous technologies, and recognize and protect the ownership of indigenous seeds and plant varieties, their diverse characteristics and their use by the communities of Kenya. Given the important contribution of smallholder farmers to food production, the Judge determined that these provisions also violate the right to food guaranteed by the Constitution, and Kenya’s obligation to take legislative, policy and other measures to achieve its progressive realization. Finally, the Judge also ruled that exorbitant registration fees, coupled with strict registration requirements, amount to indirect discrimination against smallholder farmers and peasants.

Regarding the right to participation, the Judge observed that many of the issues raised in the petition could have been avoided had the government ensured the right to adequate and meaningful participation by peasants, interested parties and the public in the process of developing the legislation. The Judge directed the government to ensure the right to participation in the process of amending the law to comply with the judgment.

It is not yet known if the Kenyan government will appeal the decision. In any case, this judgment is a game changer for millions of Kenyan peasants and sets a powerful precedent for peasants’ rights and the right to seeds globally.

***

Judgment of the High Court of Kenya, available here:
https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/kehc/2025/18166/eng@2025-11-27

Constitution of Kenya (in particular, arts. 11, 21(2) and 43(1):
https://kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/TheConstitutionOfKenya.pdf

Kenya’s Seeds and Plant Varieties Act:
https://upovlex.upov.int/en/legislation/text/506145

La entrada Landmark victory for Kenyan peasants and seed sovereignty se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

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 of critical facilities used for storing agricultural materials and inputs, constituting a direct assault on Palestinian food sovereignty, efforts to preserve heirloom seeds, and a continued targeting of the Union itself. We call on all allies, friends, and international partners to urgently act to stop these violations and hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its crimes against land, people, and seeds.
We further urge increased solidarity and support for Palestinian farmers and their right to remain on their land.

31 July 2025

Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) a member organisation of La Via Campesina in Palestine.

The assault resulted in the following damages and losses:

• Complete destruction of the main caravan, which served as a storage facility for agricultural materials and tools used in seed multiplication, processing, and preservation.
• Destruction of the entire electricity network, leading to the total suspension of daily operations within the unit.
• Severe damage to the water infrastructure, causing a complete water cutoff. This has placed the entire 16-dunum cultivated area at risk, as the crops are now threatened with dehydration and death.
• Risk of losing the entire agricultural season, as the crops currently under cultivation represent approximately 80% of the seed stock intended for deposit in the main Seed Bank in Hebron, which was scheduled to be distributed to hundreds of farmers in the upcoming planting season.
• Destruction and loss of large quantities of essential agricultural inputs, including irrigation networks, organic fertilizers, and daily-use farming equipment and tools.
• The most immediate and critical threat is the total loss of the current season due to the water disruption, which could severely undermine national seed sovereignty efforts and impact food security for smallholder farmers.

A full damage assessment is underway, and a detailed report will be released in the coming days.

Images available thus far of the attacked site:

Image source: UAWC

—

Defending Peasants Rights strongly condemns this targeted attack on a civilian infrastructure dedicated to food sovereignty and the preservation of peasant seeds in Palestine.

The destruction of this facility is not an isolated act, but part of a deliberate strategy not only to eradicate the livelihoods of Palestinian peasants and the Palestinian population, but also to shatter Palestinian agricultural resources and fertile land. We express our absolute solidarity with members of the UAWC and call on States as well as all social, trade union and popular movements to mobilise to denounce these violations and defend the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people.

La entrada URGENT | Israeli Forces Attack UAWC’s Seed Bank Multiplication Unit in Hebron se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

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 Brazilian organisations of La Via Campesina (LVC), the text also presents a collective vision on the current state of peasants’ right to participation in Brazil.

La Via Campesina Brazil has submitted a written contribution in response to the call from the UN Working Group on the UNDROP, outlining the main challenges faced by the Brazilian peasantry. Drafted collectively following a training session on the UNDROP for Brazilian organisations of La Via Campesina (LVC), the text also presents a collective vision on the current state of peasants’ right to participation in Brazil.

During the months of January and March 2025, a training session on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) was held for member organisations of La Via Campesina Brazil, with support from the human rights organisation Terra de Direitos and CETIM. This was the first training focused on the UNDROP for social movements and grassroots rural organisations in Brazil, serving as a practical example of the implementation of La Via Campesina International’s strategy of conducting training on the Declaration for its bases in various countries.

The aim of the training was not only to make the UNDROP known among its rights-holders, but also to facilitate and encourage a popular appropriation of this Declaration by peasants and other rural peoples in their political and legal struggles at local, national, regional, and international levels. The training also had the central objective of drafting a strategic plan for advocacy vis-à-vis various governmental, legal, and political bodies, aiming for the implementation of the Declaration with the active participation of peasants and other rural peoples whose rights are enshrined in the UNDROP.

In the framework of this first training in Brazil, participants from the various social movements that make up La Via Campesina in the country studied the history of the process leading up to UNDROP’s adoption, as well as the content of the instrument – highlighting peasants’ rights to land, biodiversity, seeds, and food sovereignty. In a second stage, they discussed concrete cases of violations of the rights enshrined in the UNDROP that have occurred in their national territory, perpetrated mainly by transnational corporations and agents of the agribusiness sector.

Leveraging the political capital of the social movements present in the training, driving the implementation of the UNDROP from a popular perspective is crucial within the scope of the arduous and long-standing work for social justice, agrarian reform, and food sovereignty in rural Brazil. In this sense, the strategic plan collectively drafted during the training provided important clarity on the path to be taken towards promoting and implementing the UNDROP in Brazil and translating its provisions into both legal frameworks and public policies.

Among the various initiatives to be carried out is engagement and advocacy with the United Nations (UN), particularly with its newly established Working Group (WG) on the UNDROP. By participating in the WG’s debates and collaborating with its work, peasant and rural organisations around the world can use this international mechanism to advance the implementation of the UNDROP in their respective countries. After all, one of the WG’s functions is precisely to recommend, support, and monitor UN member states in implementing the Declaration, so that it can serve as a direct vector in the elaboration of public policies, programmes, and laws that truly address rural inequalities.

In March 2025, the WG issued a public call for peasant and rural organisations, as well as governments and other institutions, to contribute to its next two studies which will address the following themes: i. global trends in the challenges affecting peasants; ii. peasants’ right to equal participation. Thus, La Via Campesina Brazil, through the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), the Small Farmers’ Movement (MPA), the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB), the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST), together with Terra de Direitos and with technical support from CETIM, submitted a document to contribute to the WG’s studies based on the challenges faced by the Brazilian peasantry. The document, available here, presents a collective perspective on the current situation of rural peoples’ challenges in Brazil, summarised as follows:

Peasants, artisanal fishers, traditional peoples, and rural workers in Brazil face structural challenges that threaten their livelihoods and fundamental rights. Land concentration and agrarian conflicts are exacerbated by the lack of agrarian reform and the privatisation of common lands, leading to violence and impunity. Moreover, access to public policies is limited by bureaucracy, lack of technical assistance, and infrastructure, while the climate crisis and large-scale projects, such as dams, displace communities and degrade the environment. Peasant cultural identity is also threatened by the advance of agribusiness, which replaces sustainable practices with monocultures and intensifies the use of agrochemicals. The criminalisation of struggles for territorial rights and the lack of access to justice further perpetuate the vulnerability of these populations, particularly indigenous peoples, quilombolas (Afro-Brazilian communities), and extractive communities, who suffer violence and social exclusion.

The right to participation of peasants and rural workers in political decision-making still faces significant barriers in Brazil. The exclusion of these groups is evident in the lack of access to information, the difficulty of effective political representation, and the absence of free, prior, and informed consultations, especially in environmental licensing processes and public policy formulation. Traditional communities, such as indigenous and quilombola peoples, frequently have their rights violated, with no adequate channels to influence decisions that impact their territories and ways of life. Furthermore, political marginalisation is worsened by the dominance of agribusiness, which concentrates power and resources, limiting the voice of family farming and small producers in national and international decision-making spaces.

Despite these challenges, there are mechanisms and policies aimed at expanding rural participation, such as agricultural development councils (CONDRAF), discussion forums, and programmes to strengthen family farming. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP) and ILO Convention 169 provide legal bases to demand participatory consultations. However, the effectiveness of these instruments depends on social pressure, access to justice, and the State’s commitment to ensuring rural voices are heard. Social movements have played a crucial role in this struggle, promoting marches, land occupations, and political advocacy to ensure participatory rights are not merely formal but concrete and transformative.

Following the example of LVC Brazil, conducting training processes on the declaration at national and/or regional levels, developing a strategic plan by local movements for its promotion, and participating in the UN Working Group on UNDROP are essential steps to implement the declaration at national, regional and international levels. This is a fundamental path to breathe life into the declaration from the grassroots, through rights holders' appropriation of their rights and the integration of the UNDROP into their political and legal struggles for social justice and human rights for rural peoples.

La entrada Challenges facing the Brazilian Peasantry: The UNDROP as a Tool for Struggle se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.