April 17, 2025 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…
This report was first published on Fian International’s website in June 2024. The introduction below was written specifically for Defending Peasants’ Rights, to highlight the UNDROP’s role. You can find the original introduction here and the report below. Carbon markets vs. peasant autonomy: UNDROP’s role in safeguarding rights and data sovereignty There is an urgent…
We are publishing here a chapter of the book The United Nations’ Declaration on Peasants’ Rights, edited by Mariagrazia Alabrese, Adriana Bessa, Margherita Brunori, and Pier Filippo Giuggioli. This book was published by Routledge in 2022. The chapter is entitled The Right to Land, written by Lorenzo Cotula, who is principal researcher and head of…
Thesis to obtain the Master in International and Development Studies of the Graduate Institute in International and Development Studies in Geneva AbstractFocusing on the Guarani Mbyá and the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) in Santa Catarina, this thesis explores the similarities and differences between indigenous and landless food sovereignty. It shows how their narratives are intertwined…
This publication catalogues FAO’s extensive work under six key themes central to UNDROP: family farming; youth and gender equality; the right to a decent income and livelihood; the right to land and other natural resources; the right to seeds and biodiversity; and the right to adequate food. It can be useful for policymakers, practitioners, and…
Since its adoption in 2018, UNDROP has been included in the work of some United Nations human rights mechanisms. We present how this has been done in this contribution, in which we also present the new Working Group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas created by the Human Rights…
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a human rights protection mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council. It is a process based on the review of each UN member state’s compliance with its human rights obligations and commitments. All member States are assessed by other States, which may make recommendations on different issues and with…
In Thailand, the government has been rolling out a climate change mitigation policy since 2014. One of the components of this policy concerns the protection of the country’s forests. For this strand, the government has decided to sanctuary these lands in defiance of the lives and rights of the people who live and depend on…
This publication is a selected chapter of The Oxford Handbook of Land Politics, edited by Saturnino M. Borras Jr. and Jennifer C. Franco. This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. Defending Peasants Rights is thankfull for the authors giving access to their work. Abstract This chapter…
In 2023, European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) wrote a proposal for a European directive on agricultural land based on Article 17 – right to land – of UNDROP. European directives are legislative acts that give general objectives to the member countries of the European Union, and the countries must then take measures to make these…
Victory for Peasants’ Rights! The United Nations Human Rights Council votes in favor of creating a Working Group on UNDROP On October 12th, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted, with a very wide majority, for the creation of a Working Group dedicated to the UN Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people…
La Via Campesina and CETIM have organized a training course for La Via Campesina members in August 2023, and are now making training materials available to all. This material is also available in PDF version here. Session 2 of the UNDROP training seminar aims to provide a general overview and analysis of the key rights…
