UN experts urge binding accountability for agribusiness to safeguard peasants’ rights and global food security
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UN experts urge binding accountability for agribusiness to safeguard peasants’ rights and global food security

Ahead of the upcoming UN negotiation session (20–24 October 2025) to elaborate a legally binding treaty on transnational corporations, the UN Working Group on Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas and the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food have issued a powerful joint statement calling for “binding accountability for agribusiness to safeguard…

UN Working Group on UNDROP Demands Urgent Action to Uphold Rights of Rural Women
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UN Working Group on UNDROP Demands Urgent Action to Uphold Rights of Rural Women

Image: https://www.rvasia.org/history/international-day-rural-women GENEVA – October 15, 2025 – On the International Day of Rural Women, the UN Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas issued an urgent call to action, demanding States and corporations end the systemic discrimination, violence, and economic exclusion faced by rural women worldwide. Despite…

Side event at the UN: Challenges and best practices in promoting the rights of peasants and rural workers in Latin America
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Side event at the UN: Challenges and best practices in promoting the rights of peasants and rural workers in Latin America

On 18 September 2025, on the occasion of the 60th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, a parallel conference brought together actors committed to the protection of the rights of rural communities at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Entitled “Advancing the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas through…

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

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.

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

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…

Tierra Viva: UNDROP Training, Connection and Resistance in Peasant Territories of Latin America
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Tierra Viva: UNDROP Training, Connection and Resistance in Peasant Territories of Latin America

For several years now, civil society‑led initiatives have sought to make alive and effective the rights recognised in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). While this historic text, adopted in 2018 thanks to a sustained international mobilisation, represents an important milestone in recognising collective…

3rd Nyéléni Global Forum: Sri Lanka hosts the largest gathering of social movements calling for ‘systemic transformation’
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3rd Nyéléni Global Forum: Sri Lanka hosts the largest gathering of social movements calling for ‘systemic transformation’

Image: https://nyeleniglobalforum.org/ Sri Lanka is ready to host the world’s largest gathering of social movements, taking place from 6 to 13 September. The 3rd Nyéleni Forum comes at a crucial moment, as multiple overlapping crises intensify and plunge the world into more inequality, social injustice, and warfare. A historical cross-sectoral Forum Named after a legendary…

Synergies and Complementarity between Agroecology and the UNDROP: The Example of Brazil
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Synergies and Complementarity between Agroecology and the UNDROP: The Example of Brazil

Photo: MST (Brazil) This article draws on the example of Brazil to illustrate the synergies and complementarities between agroecology and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). What do we actually mean by agroecology? In summary, one could say that agroecology is a life project:…

URGENT | Israeli Forces Attack UAWC’s Seed Bank Multiplication Unit in Hebron
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URGENT | Israeli Forces Attack UAWC’s Seed Bank Multiplication Unit in Hebron

Defending Peasants Rights hereby republishes the statement issued by UAWC on 31/07/2025 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…

Video of our webinar: RURAL STRUGGLES IN ACTION! UNDROP’s rights holders fight for sustainable and just food systems
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Video of our webinar: RURAL STRUGGLES IN ACTION! UNDROP’s rights holders fight for sustainable and just food systems

Held on 25 June 2025, this webinar showcased and brought visibility to the wide diversity of UNDROP rights holders, highlighting their struggles for sustainable and just food systems. It also shed light on their efforts and views regarding the mobilisation of the UNDROP in rural peoples’ struggle for their rights. The webinar was honoured by…

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

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…