Corporate impunity and seed sovereignty: An interview with the Rural Womens’ Assembly (RWA)
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Corporate impunity and seed sovereignty: An interview with the Rural Womens’ Assembly (RWA)

Interview conducted by Defending Peasants’ Rights in October 2025, on the occasion of the 11th session of negotiations for a UN legally binding treaty to regulate transnational corporations, held at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Interviewees: Lungisa Huna – RWA South Africa; Grace Tepula and Precious Shonga – RWA Zambia; Zakithi Sibandze – RWA…

17 December: The 7th anniversary of UNDROP

17 December: The 7th anniversary of UNDROP

The 17 December 2025 marks the 7th anniversary of the adoption of UNDROP!  We publish here below the statement issued by the UN Working Group of Experts on UNDROP on this occasion, which reflects on the ongoing relevance and urgency of the UNDROP. On this anniversary, the indispensable contributions of peasants, small-scale fishers, pastoralists, herders,…

Kenya’s seed sharing ruling a milestone for peasants’ rights and food security: UN experts
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Kenya’s seed sharing ruling a milestone for peasants’ rights and food security: UN experts

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…

Landmark victory for Kenyan peasants and seed sovereignty
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Landmark victory for Kenyan peasants and seed sovereignty

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…

Bridging or Excluding? Peasant Participation in the Digitalization of Agroecology
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Bridging or Excluding? Peasant Participation in the Digitalization of Agroecology

image: https://revolve.media/beyond/what-is-agroecology This article provides a summary of an academic paper written by Romberg de Sá Gondim (avaliable here) Introduction As digital tools tend to incorporate a top-down and corporate driven approach, these technologies have been easily assimilated by large-scale farms and in particular with the Green Revolution (Shelton et al., 2022). On another hand,…

Declaration of the Peoples’ Summit – COP 30 Belém
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Declaration of the Peoples’ Summit – COP 30 Belém

Defending Peasants’ Rights hereby republishes the Declaration of the Peoples’ Summit (COP 30) available here. We, the Peoples’ Summit, gathered in Belém do Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon, from 12 to 16 November 2025, declare to the peoples of the world what we have accumulated in struggles, debates, studies, exchanges of experiences, cultural activities and…

The Kandy Declaration: A Collective Roadmap for Systemic Transformation
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The Kandy Declaration: A Collective Roadmap for Systemic Transformation

From 6 to 13 September 2025, over 700 delegates from more than 100 countries gathered in Kandy, Sri Lanka for the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum. Peasants, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists, fishers, feminist movements, youth, workers, and activists united across continents to renew the global struggle for justice, dignity, and life – giving birth to the Kandy…

Statement of the UN Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas on the Occasion of COP30, Belem, Brazil
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Statement of the UN Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas on the Occasion of COP30, Belem, Brazil

Defending Peasants’ Rights hereby republishes the statement released by the UN Working Group on UNDROP on the occasion of COP30, taking place in Brazil from 10 to 21 November 2025 (also available here). Geneva, 10 November 2025 Peasants and Rural Workers Rights at the Heart of Climate JusticeAs world leaders and civil society gather for…

Ecuador postpones visit by UN Working Group on peasants’ rights
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Ecuador postpones visit by UN Working Group on peasants’ rights

Defending Peasants’ Rights hereby republishes the statement released on the website of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (available here). Editor’s note: The experts’ visit, initially planned for November 4–14, 2025, was postponed despite its critical timing, following recent protests in Ecuador that were met with a state of emergency and…

Handbook on Rural Peoples’ Right to Participation
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Handbook on Rural Peoples’ Right to Participation

In October 2025, the UN Working Group on UNDROP released a comprehensive report on rural peoples’ right to participation. Far beyond being a mere procedural formality, the right to participation enshrined in the UNDROP declaration represents a fundamental pillar of democratic governance and human dignity. It enables the diverse social and ethnic constituencies of rural…

The right to participation – The 3rd Report of the UN Working Group on UNDROP
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The right to participation – The 3rd Report of the UN Working Group on UNDROP

On 16 October 2025, the Working Group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas presented its third thematic report (A/80/180) to the UN General Assembly in New York. The report delves into the right to participation of rural peoples and highlights the entrenched barriers suffered by them when it comes…

Nyeleni Newsletter n°61 – Rooted in resistance: territories for climate justice
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Nyeleni Newsletter n°61 – Rooted in resistance: territories for climate justice

Defending Peasants’ Rights is pleased to share the Nyeleni Newsletter No. 61, which explores how the realisation of rural peoples’ rights, as enshrined in the UNDROP, is deeply connected to the advancement of collective struggles for climate justice across the world. As social movements mobilize toward Climate COP 30 and the Second International Conference on…