Authors: Pramesh Pokharel [1], Youth ICC [2]. Asia, La Via Campesina [3]
General Secretary, All Nepal Peasants Federation
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| Photo Source: Social Media |
UN Declaration on Peasants' Rights
We know about various United
Nations instruments to protect the rights of people and communities. such as
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), the Covenant on
Economic and Socio-Cultural Rights (CESCR, 1966), Rights of Disabled Persons
(1975), Indigenous Peoples' Rights (2007), VienaDeclaration (1993), ILO 169,
Refugee Rights (1951), Women's Rights (CEDAW, 1979), and Children's Rights
(1989), etc. These international instruments have played an important role in
protecting the rights of respective groups, democratically transforming
communities, and harmonising national laws.However, in the case of For small
food producers, who are mainly the victims of systemic and structural crises,
these UN Standards were insufficient. This is why and how peasants around the
world have fought for their rights. declaration for at least 30 years. This
campaign, started by La Via Campesina 30 years ago, started the formal process
20 years ago, after a long and tedious struggle at different levels, the
UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural
Areas (UNDROP) has been areality today. Many of us still may not know, but on
December 17, 2022, it will have already been four years since that great
historical day when it was passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018.
The History of UNDROP: The Journey from a Small Village in Indonesia to the
United Nations
Yes, history has been created. After a really tough fight against corporations
and corporate-led governments, and reactionary forces, as well as the struggle of
peasants all over the world under the direction of the global peasant movement.
La Via Campesina has been successful. Those who feed the world and live in
harmony with nature have a moment of joy after the United Nations General
Assembly [5] approved the UNDROP on December17, 2018. The movement led a
bottom-up journey that started in the villages of Indonesia in 2001 A.D. and
ended with a historical achievement. 119 votes in favor, 7 votes against,
approved the resolution against, and 49 abstentions. The issue of
"peasants' rights" started with the LVC's struggle against
neo-liberalism and the birth of the concept of food sovereignty With the
initiative of SPI [6] (Serikat Petani Indonesia), the process from2001 to 2008
was internal, with the Indonesian government. La Via Campesina adopted the
draft declaration in 2008. Two years later, the UN Human Rights Council
instructed the 18 independent expert members of its Advisory Committee to
propose ways and means to protect the rights of peasants and other people
working in rural areas. The Advisory Committee strongly proposed the need for
protecting peasants' rights and presented its final study. The Human Rights
Council adopted the draft declaration in September 2012. Then, in 2012, UNHCR
created an open-ended intergovernmental working group to negotiate the draft
declaration. There were many changes in the draft during its fifth round [7] of
the open-ended intergovernmental working group (OEIWG) in the Human Rights
Council Geneva for five years.
Success: A Glorious Victory
This declaration is
now a historical document. The rights enshrined under the Declaration are not
just of farmers but also of fisher folks, pastoral communities, indigenous
people, migrant and seasonal workers, dairy workers, rural women, youth, etc.
It recognises all of them as rights holders (individual and collective) and
provides for various protections from the state. Through this declaration,
millions of Peasants around the world will be able to reclaim their rights to
feed their families and communities, as It recognises the fundamental role of
small-scale food producers while also offering them tangible prospects for
decent working and living conditions, consequently making this world a safer
place for peasants.
The document has now bridged the legal gaps with regard to the
protection of peasants’ rights and other people working in rural areas at the
international human rights level. Though it is not legally binding, it is
sufficient to argue in legal instances at all levels. For peasant movements,
this new instrument can be an important point of reference in their local
struggles for seeds, land, or better working conditions.
La Via Campesina, along with some other organisations (International Land
Coalition, La Via Campesina, The International Union of Food, Agricultural,
Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco, and Allied Workers’ Association (IUF),
World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP), Federation of Rural Adult Catholic
Movement (FIMARC), International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), Association
Centre Europe-Tiers Monde (CETIM), FIAN International, International
Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), Bread for All, South Asian The
Feminist Alliance for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, among other
groups, was very important in this process. Human Rights Council Chair
Ambassador of Bolivia Angélica NNavarro,and progressive states of
Bolivia, Cuba, Venezuela, Nepal, etc. strongly favoured the declaration from
the beginning, whereas few neo-liberal states including the UK, US, and some
members of the EU were against it.
Contents of the Declaration
The final declaration has 28 articles and a two-page-long preamble. The preamble
has recognised and addressed the challenges faced by small food producers
around the world and highlighted the need for Ensured food sovereignty will
solve many peasant and agricultural problems. With the clear definition of
peasants (Article One), it has highlighted the duties and obligations of the
state to ensure the rights enshrined in the declaration. Similarly, the
declaration demands that the rights to food, to land, rights to seeds, and
biodiversity, and safeguarding traditional knowledge and practises of Peasants
should be protected. The declaration also protects, recognizes, and values the
work of small food producers, mainly peasant women.
The peasant's rights declaration has also addressed the fact that neoliberal
policies and corporate agriculture are the major threat to small food
producers. Being a compromised document, the document may not be as progressive
as we expect or want, but to have such a document from the UN system is really
a success. Though, it could not ask the state to ensure the right to food
sovereignty and move towards sustainable local agroecological practises banning
harmful transgenic seeds, poisonous pesticides, and chemicals; there are
provisions that have clearly mentioned that agroecological practices and food sovereignty
are the right way. Therefore, it is really a progressive document to ensure the
rights of small food producers and ensure their dignified lives.
Time to celebrate, time to act
If we do not use the documents in our struggle, if we do not ask our
states to ratify and implement this, we will fail declaration, and it will
not have an impact on the lives of peasants around the world. Therefore, we
have a huge responsibility ahead. We must counter existing anti-peasant
provisions in the legislation that are not in accordance with the declaration.
We need to pressurise the governments of all levels—local, provincial, and
federal to make it necessary to implement the provisions of the Declaration.
There are more tasks ahead. Immediately, the declaration is translated into the
local language, and Training trainers for massive awareness is important.
Formation of pro-peasants Public policies and The right of peasants to live
under the rule of law is equally important. At the same time, at the global level,
lobbying in the United nations, especially in the International Fund for
Agricultural Development, Food, and Agriculture Organizations and United
Nations human rights commissions are equally important to form the Mechanisms
for implementation and integration into other agendas of a decade of family
farming, Sustainable development goals are urgent. Peasant activists need to
use these tools at all levels of advocacy, campaigning, and organisational
work.
Addressing the Dilemmas of Humanity
At the moment, not only peasant communities, but humanity as a whole, are
threatened by various threats. manifestations of neoliberal capitalist crises
such as health crises, ecological crises, and food crises. For the present
generation of the world, it was evident again that Capitalism is the major
cause of all the challenges we are facing today. With increasing inequality,
injustices, and hunger in the world, the devastation of the natural environment
resulting in the climate crisis; degradation of the agricultural The
environment and peasant marginalisation are direct consequences of neoliberal
corporate policies. Capitalist system. The clear difference in socialist and
capitalist responses to crises, especially the The pandemic of COVID-19 has
called for a shift in policies from neoliberal to socialist. while countries
with socialist governments such as Cuba, China, Kerala State of India, etc were
successful in containing the Pandemic as well as protecting people from the
food and other crisis, people in capitalist states suffered the most.
Therefore, the demands put forward by La Via Campesina under the banner of
"food sovereignty" have been proven to be the right way to address
the challenges faced by humanity today, especially to face the challenge of the
food crisis, agrarian crisis, and ecological crisis. UNDROP is an important
tool to achieve food sovereignty.
We all know that neoliberalism exacerbated global inequality and
injustice, which is why food sovereignty is so important. is the right way to
transform agriculture and address hunger and poverty. Consider the following
example: during the pandemic period, when the borders were sealed, industries
and transport were closed, and most people in the world were under lockdown,
the peasants of the world were producing food and feeding the world. They were
the ones who were following the health protocol of staying at home as well as
doing their farm work. The same small-scale food producers around the world who
rarely rely on outside assistance for inputs, markets, labor, and transport,
whom the capitalist world undermines as traditional, rural, unprofessional
farmers; actually, they were feeding the world when the world trade regime
collapsed and industrial farming shut down. That is why we say, small producers
are the stewards of nature; they feed the world. The message given by small
producers, that peasant agriculture is not only eco-friendly, healthy, and
humanitarian but also can feed the world; has been validated. They are saying
that now is the right time to change the system and move to a localised food
system and food sovereignty.
Why do we need the Peasants' Rights Law in Nepal?
Food sovereignty is
enshrined as a fundamental right of the people in Nepal's constitution. We
already have the law to implement it. It's time to implement it. The protection
of the rights of Peasants also facilitate and support the implementation of
principles of food sovereignty. Similarly,The government of is also one
of the countries that have voted for the peasants' rights declaration at the
United Nations. Therefore, it is bound to ratify and implement it in the
context of Nepal. Now is the time has come to be the first country to draught
the bill and release the peasants' rights law.
The peasants' movement, especially ANPFa in Nepal, has been very active to make
sure that the rights of farmers are respected of peasants;. At the
international level, ANPFa has been a core part of UNDROP. Therefore, to
address The government must initiate the process in order to meet the demands
of the peasants' movement.In fact, we have already started the process, and the
National Peasants Commission has submitted the draft bill to the Ministry of
Agriculture. Therefore, it is urgent to move forward.
It is also urgent to have this law as peasants' rights are highly neglected and
undermined in Nepal. The image of agriculture and peasants is very bad.
To ensure the dignity and protect the rights of the majority of For the people
whose lives and livelihoods depend on agriculture, we need a legal tool at the
national level.
Conclusion
The capitalist world is full of contradictions and paradoxes. This, along
with the historically highest levels of inequality, system lives with the
paradox that those small food producers—peasants, landless people, rural
workers, herders, forest dwellers, pastoralists, fisherfolk, and people living
in rural areas who produce more than 70% of the world's food in harmony with
nature are not having a dignified life like other human beings. Peasants
are sidelined by mainstream policies of neoliberal capitalism, highly
neglected, and excluded from the though called "politico-economic
development." Unfortunately, the same population constitutes the majority
of people living with poverty and hunger, suffering from violence, displacement,
and Marginalization lacks access to and control over resources. If we see the
reported formal statistics too, They are not only the primary victims of civil
and political rights violations [4, but also of inhumane treatment]. seed laws,
profit-mongering agri-policies, dislocation of multinational corporations, and
chemical farming practices. Surprisingly, no specific human rights or
international law instrument existed to safeguard their rights. Therefore,
let's hope that the government of Nepal acts accordingly to address the reality
of food sovereignty and move forward with drafting the peasants' rights bill.
***
[1] Pokharel is a peasant activist and the author of Krisiko Samajbadi
Rupantaran (2075).
[2] ICC means International Coordination Committee, the Executive Board of LVC.
[3] La Via Campesina (LVC) is the largest peasant network of peasants and other
people working in rural
areas with the membership of around 180 organisations from more than 80
countries around the world.
[4] In 2017 only, around 1000 peasants were killed in many parts of the world,
including 57 in Brazil
[5] The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural) of the UN General
Assembly voted in favour
of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in
Rural Areas, through
Resolution no. A/C.3/73/L.30
[6] SPI is a member of LVC in Indonesia.
[7] The final and fifth session of the open-ended intergovernmental working
group (OEIWG) on a United
Nations Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural
areas was held in April 2018.
Labels: Social Discourse
