When Civil Society Plants the Seeds of Normative Change: the Role of Non-state Actors in the Adoption of UNDROP
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When Civil Society Plants the Seeds of Normative Change: the Role of Non-state Actors in the Adoption of UNDROP

ByAlexandre Mortelette

Image: La Via Campesina Article first published in July 2025 by the Padova University Press. In this academic article, Alexandre Mortelette examines how civil society actors, primarily La Vía Campesina, CETIM and FIAN International, contributed to the co-construction of UNDROP by translating grassroots demands into international legal standards through an inclusive, participatory, and iterative process.

Exclusive interview with Carlos Duarte, Chair of the UN Working Group on UNDROP.
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Exclusive interview with Carlos Duarte, Chair of the UN Working Group on UNDROP.

ByDefending Peasants' Rights

Defending Peasants’ Rights conducted an exclusive interview with Carlos Duarte, current Chair of the UN Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. The conversation took place during his visit to Geneva, on the occasion of the presentation to the Human Rights Council of the newly released report on…

Systemic Challenges and Good Practices in Rural Areas – The 2nd Report of the UN Working Group on UNDROP
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Systemic Challenges and Good Practices in Rural Areas – The 2nd Report of the UN Working Group on UNDROP

ByCETIM

This article was originally published on the website of La Via Campesina on 25 September 2025 (available here). Seven years after the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), the situation remains mixed: undeniable legal and political progress has been made, but violations…

Challenges facing the Brazilian Peasantry: The UNDROP as a Tool for Struggle
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Challenges facing the Brazilian Peasantry: The UNDROP as a Tool for Struggle

ByLa Via Campesina Brasil, Terra de Direitos, CETIM

Contribution from La Via Campesina Brazil to the UN Working Group on the UNDROP La Via Campesina Brazil has submitted a written contribution in response to the call from the UN Working Group on peasants’ rights, outlining the main challenges faced by the Brazilian peasantry. Drafted collectively following a training session on the UNDROP for…

Call for input from the Special Rapporteur on the right to food
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Call for input from the Special Rapporteur on the right to food

ByDefending Peasants' Rights

Call for Input : Concentration of corporate power in global food systems and its implications for the realization of the right to food All the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council can published calls for inputs. These calls are addressed to any interested parties to the subject. Civil society organizations and human rights…

Contributions to the second call for input of the UN Working Group on UNDROP

Contributions to the second call for input of the UN Working Group on UNDROP

ByDefending Peasants' Rights

The UN Working Group on UNDROP has launched a call for contributions for its two annual thematic reports for 2025. The first focuses on global trends and challenges affecting peasants and other people working in rural areas. To this end, it identifies and assesses persistent or emerging risks and vulnerabilities faced by peasants and other…

Calls for inputs from the Special Rapporteur on Climate change
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Calls for inputs from the Special Rapporteur on Climate change

ByDefending Peasants' Rights

Elisa Morgera, the UN Special Rapporteur on on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, has issued 2 calls for inputs that can be related to Peasants’ Rights: Fossil Fuel-based Economy and human rights and Human Rights in the life cycle of Renewable Energy and Critical Minerals. All the…

The role of international and regional organizations in the UNDROP
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The role of international and regional organizations in the UNDROP

ByChristophe Golay

This text was orginally published in a Research brief of the Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. This text tackles and puts light on the content of article 27 of the UNDROP, which establishes the responsabilities of international and regional organizations in terms of promotion and implementation of the provisions of the…

Advocacy efforts to the first session of the UN Working Group on Rights of Peasants in Geneva
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Advocacy efforts to the first session of the UN Working Group on Rights of Peasants in Geneva

ByLa Via Campesina

This article was first published on La Via Campesina’s website on November 14th, you can find it here. From the 21st to the 25th of October 2024, the United Nations Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (the Working Group) held its second session in Geneva. The Working…

The Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and COP16:Advancing Peasants’ Rights in Biodiversity Conservation

The Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and COP16:Advancing Peasants’ Rights in Biodiversity Conservation

ByDefending Peasants' Rights

Prior to the COP 16 to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October 2024, the UN Working Group on the Rights of Peasants released the following statement on the interrelation between the Convention and UNDROP. They argued that the COP is a critical space and moment for advancing the rights of peasants and other people…

Dossier: Activities surrounding the first report of the UNDROP Working Group
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Dossier: Activities surrounding the first report of the UNDROP Working Group

ByDefending Peasants' Rights

In September 2024, the UN Working Group on UNDROP presented its first annual report to the Human Rights Council. The presentation of this first official report was an opportunity for La Via Campesina and allied organizations to take part in discussions at international level. La Via Campesina was able to position itself as a constant…

Civil society organizations’ written statement to the first report of the UN Working Group on UNDROP
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Civil society organizations’ written statement to the first report of the UN Working Group on UNDROP

ByDefending Peasants' Rights

On the occasion of the presentation of the first report of the UN Working Group to the Human Rights Council, Cetim and Fian International made a written statement to the Council. The statement was written and sent prior to the publication of the Working Group’s report. The statement puts into context the adoption of the…