It is part of a series marking the 70th anniversary of the 1955 Bandung Conference. A turning point in anti-colonial and South-South solidarity, Bandung’s legacy endures in today’s global struggles for justice and self-determination. Read the rest of the series here.

Good afternoon everyone. I am Shalmali Guttal. I am a member of the Working Group (WG) on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). I am joining you from India.

UNDROP was adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2018. The WG for its implementation was established in April 2024.

For me, it is a double honour to be invited to speak at this commemoration event in Indonesia, whose leaders birthed and enabled the Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung in 1955, and UNDROP several decades later. There are some important parallels between the two that I would like to highlight.

It was an Indonesian leader, Ali Sastroamidjojo, who proposed a conference of leaders from newly decolonized countries in Asia and Africa, which, after a planning meeting in Bogor in December 1954, resulted in the Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung from 18-24 April 1955. The Bandung conference led to the Non-Aligned Movement, the creation of the G77, and new sensibilities of South-South solidarity and cooperation across all the regions of the Global South.

And it was an Indonesian leader, Henry Saragih, from the Federation of Indonesian Peasants, who launched discussions in the early 1990-s with social movements and civil society organisations on the importance of articulating, realizing and defending the rights of peasants. These discussions intensified in La Via Campesina (LVC) in the following years and resulted in a charter on peasant rights drafted by SPI in 2002, and then a broader declaration on peasant rights collectively drafted by other LVC member organisations, which was presented by LVC in the UN Human Rights Council in August 2008.

From 2008 onwards, SPI and LVC built alliances with and won the support of numerous other social movements, CSOs, human rights experts and UN member states from the South. After a period of intense negotiations in the UN Human Rights Council from 2013-2018, UNDROP was adopted by the HRC and UNGA in 2018.

UNDROP is regarded as a “United Nations Declaration” after having been endorsed by the United Nations, but it remains first and foremost a “peasants’ bill of rights.” It was not States who launched the process, but peasants themselves, with the support of their representative organisations. And it was not States who shaped its content, but peasants, based on their knowledge and first-hand experience of the discrimination, oppression and social exclusion they have been subject to. This is evident in the inclusion in UNDROP of food sovereignty; agroecology; regulation of markets; rights of rural women; rights to seeds and biodiversity; rights to land, water and natural resources; protection of rural and migrant workers regardless of their status; right to participation; rights to justice; and numerous other civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights.

The UNDROP WG pays tribute to all social movements who have been involved in the negotiating process of the Declaration for their resolve and clear-sightedness. The Declaration would not have seen the light of day without their unwavering commitment to the equal and effective realisation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all individuals and groups who live and work in rural areas. In keeping with this spirit, the WG elected as our first Chair-Rapporteur, Ms. Genevieve Savigny, who is a peasant herself, and was closely involved in the negotiations that resulted in the adoption of UNDROP.

Just as the 29 independent nations represented at the Bandung Conference in 1955 constituted more than half the world’s population. UNDROP’s rights holders also constitute more than half the world’s population: they include peasants, fisherfolk, Indigenous Peoples, forest peoples, herders, nomadic rural peoples, rural and migrant workers in agricultural and food systems, rural women, and their families. Article 1 of UNDROP lays out the breadth and diversity of UNDROP’s rights holders. Rural women are highlighted as those facing persistent, intersectional discrimination and rights violations.

The ”Bandung Spirit” became—and remains to this day—a banner for the ideals of anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, peace, sovereignty, self-determination, solidarity, and South -South cooperation to build robust domestic economies based on equality, justice and dignity of all peoples.

These ideals were not dreamed up by the state leaders who participated in the Bandung conference; they emerged from and were shaped by the struggles of the peoples in Asia and Africa, who were at the forefront of struggles for liberation from colonialism and resistance to imperialism, who gave their lives for liberty. These included peasants, Indigenous Peoples, fishers, workers and working classes, intelligentsia, women from numerous classes and backgrounds, local merchants, lawyers and many more.

The heroes of the Bandung Spirit were, very regrettably, not at the Bandung conference in 1955. Women were noticeably absent even among the leaders, although so many were at the forefront of freedom struggles back home. Even more regrettably, the decades after Bandung did not bring peace, liberation from settler colonialism and self determination to everyone. In many countries, the benefits of liberation and independence were enjoyed by particular classes, castes, races, ethnicities and religions, with women usually at the end of the line.

As former colonizing powers regrouped in the subsequent decades, the Bandung spirit was undermined by political demonization and persecution, criminalization of liberation ideologies, and the weaponization of debt, trade, and other economic and financial policies that recreated global structures of colonialism, imperialism and slavery.

The Bandung ideals of Asia -African cooperation on agriculture, rural development, technology sharing, and industrialization fell off the table. National development models were subverted by neoliberalism, and the expansion of corporate power in the economy, finance and governance. Countries of the South have grouped again through BRICS and regional formations, but competition has replaced cooperation and solidarity. The ten Bandung principles have been captured and reinterpreted on the basis of geopolitical and geoeconomic interests.

Reviving the spirit of Bandung in the present context demands urgent attention to long standing priorities: agrarian reform and rights of rural working classes to land, water and territories; food sovereignty and the right to food and nutrition; stable, secure employment and workers’ rights; social protection, and secure access to essential goods and services; economic and political systems that serve and respond to the needs of vulnerable peoples, and address the structural conditions of vulnerability to prevent vicious cycles of poverty and deprivation from recurring; protecting environments, eco systems and biodiversity; tackling debt and climate change through the principles of justice and historical responsibility; dismantling structures of historical discrimination among races, genders, ethnicities; and ending settler colonialism and extractivism that continue to dispossess people.

UNDROP and other international human rights instruments are important tools in rebuilding the spirit of Bandung in the present political, economic and environmental context. As multilateralism itself is faltering under the pressures of multistakeholderism, unilateral actions by a powerful few and cynical alliances among some countries, the international human rights architecture offers people all over the world a strategic tool to rebuild peoples’ multilateralism based on justice, equality, non-discrimination, peace, dignity and self-determination. UNDROP and other human rights instruments can serve as ethical benchmarks and criteria for assessing national, regional and international laws, policies, agreements, institutions and actions

In the present context, those at the forefront of struggles for liberation from the multiple, cascading and inter-meshed crises of our times–hunger, poverty, inequality, climate change, biodiversity loss, authoritarianism, military occupation and conflicts, gender based and other social-cultural violence and injustice, and extractivism–have been working classes, peasants and small-scale food providers, workers, Indigenous Peoples, women, students, journalists, lawyers, academics, parliamentarians and civil society organisations.

Despite facing persecution from authoritarian, fascist, patriarchal and oligarchic regimes, today’s heroes–like the heroes who fought for our liberation from colonial subjugation and rule–are not abandoning the terrains of struggle. UNDROP and other human rights instruments make these heroes visible, offer ways to protect their lives and efforts, and provide a basis for reviving the spirit of Bandung.

For us in the WG, UNDROP constitutes a new starting point, a paradigm shift towards a more inclusive society that recognises and values the essential contribution of peasants and people working in rural areas in the fight against poverty, hunger, exploitation and persecution in all their forms and dimensions; to the protection of the natural environment from pollution and degradation; to the nurturing and regeneration of biodiversity crucial for sustaining life; to the economic and social progress of our societies; and to the realisation of peaceful, just and inclusive societies where everyone’s rights are equally protected.

On behalf of the UNDROP WG, I urge governments, social movements, civil society, academics, parliamentarians and all those committed to equality, justice, peace, dignity, human rights and self-determination, to join us in implementing UNDROP.

Thank you.

La entrada The Bandung Spirit and UNDROP se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

Today, we join hands with peasants, landless rural workers, small-scale food producers, Indigenous Peoples, and other peoples working in rural areas around the world to mark the International Day of Peasant Struggles.

Land grabbing continues to intensify, driven by agribusiness, mining, energy projects, and so-called “development” plans. Forests and ancestral lands are cleared, our territories are converted into commercial sites, and water sources are privatized – all to make way for profit-driven investments.

When peasants resist, they are met with repression. They are harassed, surveilled, and falsely labeled as “anti-development” and enemies of the state. Many are imprisoned on fabricated charges. Others never return home. Their right to organize is under attack and their communities live in fear. Meanwhile, those who destroy the land and violate human rights enjoy protection, and are even rewarded.

This is a systematic effort to dismantle resistance, silence dissent, and clear the way for capital accumulation. And yet, peasants continue to rise. They organize, resist, and assert their right to land, food, and life with dignity.

On this day, we honor the farmers of Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Mamamayan ng Barangay Sumalo (SANAMABASU) Hermosa, Bataan for their courage. Since 2009, the organization has been tirelessly defending their land against Litton & Co., Inc and Riverforest Development Corporation (RDC)’s attempt to convert it into industrial use, leading to their criminalization by the corporation. Although the farmers, charged with non-bailable offenses, were released on bail on January 8, 2025, the community now faces renewed repression, as RDC has filed ejectment cases to displace them from their homes and farmlands.

On September 16, 2024, the mandates of five United Nations Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups sent a joint communication to Litton & Co., Inc. and Riverforest Development Corporation (RDC), as well as to the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. This communication highlighted significant human rights concerns regarding the situation in the community. Key issues included forced evictions, housing demolitions, restricted access to cultivated land, criminalization, and the prohibition of agricultural activities.

In a response dated January 16, 2025, RDC refuted the allegations. They asserted that the land in question was unsuitable for agriculture, claiming that no legitimate farmers were tilling it. They accused certain community members of exploiting the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for personal gain and described their actions as illegal. RDC defended its eviction efforts as lawful, claiming that they are targeting only those obstructing development plans.

Meanwhile, the response from the government of the Philippines dated January 23, 2025 claimed that the syndicated estafa¹ case filed against the farmers “have already been dismissed due to insufficiency of evidence.” They also laid down some other efforts of the government on agrarian reform. However, this is untrue as farmers continue to attend court hearings in the two pending cases of syndicated estafa cases.

On January 28, 2025, the House Committee on Agrarian Reform conducted a Congressional inquiry on the criminalization and harassment faced by farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in the country. Despite this being a positive development, the Congress is now in session break until June to give leeway for the upcoming elections in May. This means that another lobbying effort would be needed in the next Congress starting July, as a new set of representatives will occupy the Congressional seats.

With these developments, we reaffirm our commitment to their cause and to all farmers facing the same dilemma. We raise our voices in unity to demand:

1. The implementation of agrarian reform and the redistribution of land to those who till it;
2. The protection of ancestral domains and Indigenous territories;
3. An end to land grabbing and corporate-led development aggression;
4. The repeal of laws and policies that favor corporations over communities;
5. Justice for victims of land-related killings, arrests, and harassment;
6. An end to the criminalization, militarization, and red-tagging of peasant leaders and advocates;
7. The recognition and protection of the rights of peasants, as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP); and
8. Food sovereignty, not corporate-controlled food systems.

We honor those who have fallen, those imprisoned for defending the land, and those who continue to fight in the face of threats and fear. Your courage lives on in every seed planted, every barricade built, every piece of land reclaimed, and every collective struggle for justice won.

Land to the tillers. Justice for the oppressed.

Long live peasant resistance!

Signed:

Organisations:

• Kilusan para sa Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang Panlipunan (KATARUNGAN), Philippines
• FIAN International
• FIAN Indonesia
• FIAN Switzerland
• FIAN Austria
• FIAN Nepal
• FIAN Sri Lanka
• Focus on the Global South 
• Centre Europe – Tiers Monde (CETIM)
• Habitat International Coalition-Housing and Land Rights Network
• National Fisheries Solidarity Movement in Sri Lanka 
• LOAM Sri Lanka
• Gaza Urban & Peri-urban Agriculture Platform (GUPAP), Gaza, Palestine   
• Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, Pakistan  
• Participatory Research & Action Network- PRAAN, Bangladesh
• Bangladesh Food Security Network- KHANI, Bangladesh
• Anti-jindal & Anti-POSCO Movement (JPPSS) Odisha, India
• Youth’s Forum for Protection of Human Rights, Manipur, India   
• Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB) 
• Seed and Knowledge Initiative (SKI) 
• UBINIG, Bangladesh 
• Coastal Action Network (CAN), India
• Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO), Nepal 

Individuals:

• Claudio Schuftan, PHM and WPHNA
• Prof. Dr. Anne C Bellows, Syracuse University, USA

1 Syndicated estafa is defined under Presidential Decree No. 1689 and involves a group of five or more individuals forming a syndicate to defraud the public, typically with the intent to misappropriate funds or property on a large scale, punishable by life imprisonment.

La entrada Joint Statement of Peasant and Solidarity Organizations on the International Day of Peasant Struggles se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

La entrada Nyeleni Newsletter n°59 March 2025 – Waves of resistance: Fisher peoples defending food sovereignty se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

The Working Group received just over 80 contributions, 10 from States, 10 from national human rights institutions, 60 from civil society organizations and 1 from a UN entity. You can find all the contributions here.

On this page, we have compiled contributions from organizations representing rights holders, as well as from a number of other sources. These contributions are a mine of information on the realities of both the violations and the advances of the rights contained in UNDROP.

We are highlighting some of the contributions, particularly from parties who have so far been less visible in the struggles to implement UNDROP.

Crispin Hernández, Institute for Migrant Rights, and Cornell Law School Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic

World Forum of Fisher People

Rural Women’s Assembly

Sea Nomads – Apintlaw

La Via Campesina, Cetim et Fian International

Helena Morgera, Rapporteuse Spéciale sur le changement climatique et les droits humains

Fastenaktion

• Kenyan Peasants League
• Masifundise & Coastal Links (South Africa)

La entrada Contributions to the first call for input of the UN Working Group on UNDROP se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

The indigenous nomadic peoples’ organization Wamip, which you will find throughout this newsletter, took an active part in the UNDROP negotiation process at the Human Rights Council alongside La Via Campesina. Wamip is calling for 2026 to be declared the International Year of Rangelands and Shepherds, and we relay its appeal here.

“Our way of life has existed since time immemorial, evolving together with the landscape. But today pastoralism is threatened as never before by the forced industrialization of livestock farming. We have to stop the loss of grazing land, “land grabbing” and the restrictions on mobility that make it impossible to maintain a viable pastoralist system. Currently we are defining a possible campaign on Pastoralists Rights.“

La entrada Nyeleni: Introducing the message of pastoralist communities – a voice from the land se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

Unjust criminalization

14 members of the Isan minority practicing family peasantry in the village of Sab Wai, Thailand, have been unjustly accused of destroying and “encroaching on the forests” even though they inhabited and lived off this land before the area became the protected Sai Thong National Park in 1992.

These accusations stem from an instrumentalization of the government’s 2014 climate change mitigation standards (Forest reclamation policy, NCPO Orders 64 and 66). These policies, adopted as part of Thailand’s participation in the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, were supposed to prevent the misuse of forest land by big business. In practice, however, 10 million people – 2,700 forest communities – across Thailand are threatened with eviction from their land¹. While these norms stipulated that “any operation must not have an impact on the poor people who have lived on these lands”, over 7,000 villagers are imprisoned every year on charges of “encroaching on forests” (and over 46,000 people have been arrested since the policy was implemented²).

“The Thai government instrumentalizes its commitment to the Paris Agreement and the need to reduce carbon emissions and criminalizes poor villagers, while indigenous peoples and forest-dependent communities actually contribute to forest protection through their traditional ways of life and culture.³”

Manushya Foundation, August 4, 2022

In 2018, the 14 Sab Wai villagers in question were ordered to pay fines, leave their land and destroy all their facilities. 11 of them were placed on probation and 3 others were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 5 months to 4 years. These sentences were confirmed by the Court of Appeal in 2019, and by the Supreme Court in 2021.

Recourse to UN special procedures

Faced with this situation, human rights organizations⁴ supported the Sab Wai villagers and turned with them to the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council.

On June 23, 2019, they submitted their requests to seven special rapporteurs: on extreme poverty, on the right to food, on the right to adequate housing, on the right to a healthy environment, on freedom of opinion and expression, on freedom of peaceful assembly, and on human rights defenders. Special Rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council to report on the situation of human rights and advise on their implementation. To this end, they can issue thematic reports, carry out country visits, receive complaints and communicate with the States concerned.

The Special Rapporteurs who were contacted by the villagers asked the Thai government to explain their actions and their compatibility with international law. In their communication with the Thai government, they also warned that any evictions would violate the villagers’ human rights, in particular their rights to housing, food, water, health and work. The Special Rapporteurs underline that: “If the environment must be protected to guarantee the enjoyment of human rights, the environment itself depends on the exercise of human rights. It is therefore essential that conservation policies integrate these rights.⁵“

On June 10, 2020, a year after the rapporteurs’ referral, the Thai government partially answered their questions, evading in particular the frequent threats made by Sai Thong park officers towards the 14 villagers. As the situation did not improve for them, a second urgent complaint to the UN special procedures was sent in August 2022.

The special rapporteurs have once again turned to the Thai government. In their communication, they deplore the fact that eviction orders have been issued without offering alternative housing or farmland, or providing adequate compensation. They underline the contradiction (or hypocrisy) of the authorities, who criminalize communities dependent on forests and on subsistence and family farming under the pretext of combating climate change, while at the same time authorizing numerous investors to operate in protected areas and even withdrawing hectares from nature reserves to transform them into special economic zones.

The Special Rapporteurs also request precise information on this situation and, pending a response from the Thai authorities, demand that they take all necessary precautionary measures to put an end to the alleged violations and prevent their recurrence.

According to recent information from the Manushya Foundation, the threat of eviction has been lifted for a year while the authorities find a solution.

Welcome convening of the Declaration of the Rights of Peasants

In their most recent communication, the Special Rapporteurs express grave concern that the Thai government is failing to take into account the impact of its policies on the human rights of forest-dependent communities, in particular their right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food and housing. This right is recognized in article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It is also mentioned in several articles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other Rural Workers (UNDROP), for example in articles 16 and 17.

The Special Rapporteurs drew on these international human rights instruments at the end of their communication to remind Thailand of its obligations. Indeed, Thailand has ratified the above-mentioned Covenant – which is a binding treaty – and voted in favor of the adoption of UNDROP at the United Nations General Assembly.

Two articles of the Declaration were invoked by the Rapporteurs in the case of the Sab Wai villagers:
Article 17.1 recognizes the right of peasants and workers in rural areas to land, water bodies, coastal and fishing zones, pastures and forests. They can use and “manage them in a sustainable manner, to ensure an adequate standard of living, to have a place to live in security, peace and dignity, and to develop their cultures“.
Article 18.3 states that: “States shall comply with their respective international obligations to combat climate change. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to contribute to the design and implementation of national and local climate change adaptation and mitigation policies, including through the use of traditional knowledge and practices.“

The mention of these articles is welcome, as it testifies to the increasingly frequent use of this young declaration – adopted in 2018 – in the UN system (See C. Golay’s article). The use of the Declaration by the rapporteurs contributes in particular to raising awareness of this text, but above all to establishing its scope and pointing out to States the need for them to integrate these rights into their national policies and legislation. It also highlights the need for a special mechanism dedicated to the Declaration within the Human Rights Council.

The more the various UN bodies and farmers and others working in rural areas mobilize the Declaration, the more it will take root in the human rights landscape, becoming an essential instrument at all levels.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sai_Thong_National_Park#cite_note-SCMP-20200202-4 ︎
2. https://www.mekongeye.com/2023/01/16/thailan-troubled-forest-policy/ ︎
3. Petition to the United Nations for urgent measures to protect the 14 inhabitants of Sab Wai https://www.manushyafoundation.org/_files/ugd/a0db76_b0596c8c728849b2b163130b061f4548.pdf p.4 ︎
4. Isaan Land Reform Network, Manushya Foundation, Focus on the Global South, iLAW, Protection International, Institute of Human Rights and Peace STudies Mahidol University, Rangsit University ︎
5. Communication from the special rapporteurs to the Thai Government, AL THA 7/2019, August 19, 2019. ︎

La entrada In the name of climate: The criminalization of peasants and forest guardians in Thailand se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

This activity was held as one of SPI’s efforts to continue implementing UNDROP, especially on this occasion placing UNDROP as the main reference in legal work. This formation is also a solution to the lack of advocates and legal assistants.

Introduction with a seminar on Agrarian Reform

Before this formation began, the Indonesian Peasants’ Union worked together with PUSKAHAP FISIP USU (Center for Agrarian and Peasants’ Rights Studies) and the Sintesa Foundation to hold a seminar entitled “21st Century Agrarian Reform: The Unfinished Struggle for Agrarian Reform in Indonesia”. The speakers in this seminar were Henry Saragih (SPI), Randa Putra Sinaga (USU’s FISIP PUSKAHAP), Saturnino M. Borras (ISS), Shalmali Guttal (Focus on the Global South) and Nelson Mudzingwa (ZIMSOFF). The aim of holding this seminar is to be able to provide context to the participants about the situation of land grabbing and the struggle for agrarian reform in Indonesia and other countries.

Learning about the UNDROP

After the seminar, the formation began. The material focused on the history of UNDROP’s struggle and deepening the understanding of the UNDROP’s articles and the different implementation strategies. In the material on articles, participants were asked to be able to dissect the phenomena around them by using the articles in UNDROP. This formation focused on right to land, right to food and right to justice, bearing in mind that violations of rights that often occur on the island of Sumatra are violations of right to land in agrarian conflicts. Peasants are often victims of violence, criminalization and intimidation by corporations. These violations occurr in various sectors, from the plantation sector, forestry to the coastal areas.

The topic of the implementation strategy was carried out by providing successful examples of the recognition of people’s collective rights in Indonesia and other forms of advocacy that can be carried out. In addition to the topic regarding UNDROP, practical material was also provided such as how to face trials or investigations when agrarian conflicts occur.

La entrada Indonesian Peasants’ Union Organized Formation on UNDROP and other legal ressources for its Members se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

For the International day of Peasants’ Struggles, La Via Campesina and Defending Peasants’ Rights organized a webinar on the uses of UNDROP in peasant’s struggles since its adoption. La Via Campesina members around the world are using UNDROP in their struggles, the aim of the webinar was to present these examples to inspire others. To this end, eight peasants presented how their movements incorporate UNDROP in their struggles. You will find videos of each of these presentations below.

Zainal Arafin Fuad – SPI – Indonesia

Zainal Arafin Fuad is a member of the Indonesian peasant union Serikat Petani Indonesia. He is also a member of La Via Campesina’s International Coordinating Committee. Zainal took part in a large part of the negotiations for the Declaration. In this video, he presents the progress made in Indonesia since the adoption of UNDROP, in particular the launch of food sovereignty zones by his union.

Nury Martinez – FENSUAGRO – Colombia

Nury Martinez is a member of the Federación Nacional Sindical Unitaria Agropecuaria. In her presentation, she looks back at the process of integrating peasants as subjects of rights in the Colombian Constitution.

Jessie MacInnis – National Farmers Union of Canada – Canada

Jessie MacInnis is Youth President of the National Farmers Union of Canada. She is also a member of La Via Campesina’s youth group. In her talk, she explains a Canadian court ruling based, among other things, on UNDROP.

David Cidi Otieno – Kenyan Peasants League – Kenya

David Cidi Otieno is national convenor of the Kenyan Peasants League. In his talk, he describes, among other things, his organization’s fight to maintain Kenya’s ban on GMOs, and how UNDROP is used in this context.

Hortense Kinkodila – CNOP-Congo – Congo

Hortense Kinkodilla is a member of Coordination Nationale des Organisations Paysannes et des Producteurs Agricoles. She tells us about the initiatives taken by her organization to transmit the Declaration to the peasants of the Congo and their participation in the negotiations on the next Agricultural Orientation Law.

Ramona Dominiciou – Ecoruralis – Roumania

Ramona Dominiciou is a member of the Ecoruralis organization. She took part in the negotiations for UNDROP at the UN Human Rights Council and at European level. In her speech, she recalls the peasants struggles in several Eastern European countries: Romania, Moldavia and Ukraine. She also reviews the concerted efforts of peasants in this region at the FAO.

Pramesh Pokharel – All Nepal Peasant’s Federation – Nepal

Pramesh Pokharel is President of the All Nepal Peasant’s Federation of Nepal. He is also a member of La Via Campesina’s Youth International Coordination Committee. He tells us about the progress made for peasants’ rights in Nepal and the ongoing struggle for the approval of a law protecting peasants’ rights, obtained after three years of negotiations in committee.

Alberto Silva – Uniterre – Switzerland

Alberto Silva is a member of the farmers’ union Uniterre. He tells us about the creation of the coalition Friends of the Declaration in Switzerland and the work this coalition of organizations is doing to implement the Declaration.

La entrada Videos of our webinar : The UNDROP Alive and Kicking, Peasants’ Rights in practice – A regional perspective se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

This food sovereignty area is a concrete example of the local realization of the rights of peasants, as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Others Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). It is an inspiring example that demonstrates that the work of implementing the UNDROP can and should start from the grassroots, the peasant communities, and then be articulated with the other levels (national, regional and international).

On the day of the inauguration, the General Secretary of SPI, Agus Ruli Ardiansyah, said that KDP was an area where the population applies the concept of food sovereignty, through the use of all natural resources of the area in an agroecological and integrated manner by, from, and for the people to provide sufficient, safe, healthy and nutritious food; and have an impact on the economic development of the area that will prosper its people.

KDP has several principles. First, the main actors in agriculture are farming families and/or cooperatives. Second, land, water and seeds are equally controlled by the people living in the area. Third, agricultural production is carried out on a small scale. Fourth, the agricultural production model uses is agroecology. Fifth, the agricultural post-harvest process is carried out on a small and medium scale. Sixth, distribution of agricultural products is carried out in near and medium distances and/or local/territorial markets

“From a legal perspective, the area of food sovereignty is legitimized by the Basic Agrarian Law no.5/1960, Food Law no.18/2012, Law on Protection and Empowerment of Peasants no.19/2013, Horticulture Law no.13/2010 , Law on Livestock and Livestock Health no.18/2009, Law on Protection of Sustainable Food Agricutural Land no.41/2009 and Cooperative Law no.12/2012 and its derivative regulations, as well as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) ” said Agus Ruli in Bogor on that day.

H. Uu Ruzhanul Ulum, Deputy Governor of West Java who was also present at this event, added that he was grateful for being invited to this inauguration. “I am proud of the SPI peasants here. Congratulations on the food sovereignty area in the village, hopefully it can improve the peasants’ economy” he said.

Meanwhile, Zainal Arifin Fuad, of the International Coordinating Committee of La Via Campesina stated that La Via Campesina’s struggle was fought from the village to the international level. “We have been fighting for food sovereignty since 1996. The peak was in 2014 when FAO gave an alternative and recognized agroecological agriculture as an alternative to conventional agriculture that has made peasants dependent on chemical inputs from companies” he said.

On the same occasion, Pandi, Chair of the SPI Bogor explained that KDP in Bogor was and area of 30 hectares. “There are 150 peasants spread over 5 districts, namely Dramaga, Cibungbulang, Leuwiliang, Ciampea and Tamansari. Peasants grow leafy vegetables (spinach, caisim, kenikir, kale, basil, and others) fruit vegetables (cucumber, eggplant, chili, etc.) and fruits such as bananas, papayas, cassava, sweet potatoes” said Pandi.

Pandi explained that vegetables could be harvested two times a month. “In 1 hectare it can reach 4 tons. For bananas, papaya, cassava, sweet potatoes in 1 hectare (about 9 months) it can reach 15 tons” he explained. “SPI peasants in Bogor apply agroecology that does not consume chemical agricultural inputs, comes from nature. For marketing and distribution, we use peasants’ cooperative” he concluded.

To this date, KDP has been built in 7 Provinces in Indonesia, namely Aceh, West Sumatera, Lampung, Jambi, East Java, South Kalimantan and West Java.

La entrada Inauguration of the peasants’ union SPI Food Sovereignty Area in Bogor, Indonesia se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

It is coordinated by Action de Carême, with the Geneva Academy as strategic partner and financed by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency.

Several actions are planned within the framework of this project: trainings for peasants, youth and even children on their rights enshrined in the UNDROP, the joint elaboration of proposals for laws and programs on agriculture and food based on the UNDROP. The project also aims to sensitize the governments of the countries concerned on the dire situation of peasants and their rights, as well as on alternative systems to industrial agriculture, such as agroecology. Finally, advocacy work at the international level will also be carried out, in particular to obtain a monitoring mechanism for the implementation of UNDROP within the UN Human Rights Council.

As a strategic partner, the Geneva Academy will train the project’s partners and local peasants’ organizations of these countries on the rights of peasants and the use of national, regional and international mechanisms to protect them. The Geneva Academy team will also provide strategic guidance to national actors on the use of United Nations human rights mechanisms to ensure respect for the rights of peasants.

Defending Peasants Rights will follow the RAISE project as it works to empower peasants and implement the UNDROP.

La entrada Project RAISE – Rights-Based and Agroecological Initiatives for Sustainability and Equity in Peasant Communities se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.

La entrada Peasants fighting for justice, Cases of violations of peasants’ human rights se publicó primero en Defending Peasants' Rights.