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…

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

ByMarie-Pierre Smets

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’

ByDefending Peasants' Rights

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

ByAntonio Inacio Andrioli - Profesor de la Universidad Federal de la Frontera Sur (Brasil)

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

ByUnion of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC-Palestine)

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

ByDefending Peasants' Rights

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

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…

Colombia: Constitutional Court Decision Protects Peasants Displaced by Natural Disasters
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Colombia: Constitutional Court Decision Protects Peasants Displaced by Natural Disasters

BySeynabou De Coster (CETIM)

In a groundbreaking decision issued on April 16, 2024 (Ruling No. T-123/24), the Colombian Constitutional Court granted protection to an elderly peasant couple forced to leave their land after repeated flooding. This ruling marks a turning point in how Colombian jurisprudence addresses internal displacement linked to natural disasters. To do so, the Court relied on…

Sri Lanka: MONLAR asks the governement to reform the Law to Align with UNDROP
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Sri Lanka: MONLAR asks the governement to reform the Law to Align with UNDROP

ByLa Via Campesina

This article was first published on La Via Campesina’s website on April 25th, 2025. You can find it here. The Movement for Land and Agriculture Reform (MONLAR), representing over 5,000 peasant workers in Sri Lanka, recently made a submission to the government listing out several instances of the violation of the UN Declaration on the…

When rural communities claim their rights! The rights-holders of the UNDROP
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When rural communities claim their rights! The rights-holders of the UNDROP

ByDefending Peasants' Rights

The process that led to the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) was, above all, an exemplary mobilization and convergence of rural movements. These movements came together in their advocacy efforts to secure this common instrument to fight for the transformation of…