Source: http://ecoruralis.ro/web/en/The_Rights_of_Peasants/
Timestamp: 2017-11-22 16:30:34
Document Index: 371222644

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 1', 'Art. 2', 'Art. 3', 'Art. 4', 'Art. 5', 'Art. 6', 'Art. 7', 'Art. 8', 'Art. 9', 'Art. 10', 'Art. 11', 'Art. 12', 'Art. 13', 'Art. 14', 'Art. 15', 'Art. 16', 'Art. 17', 'Art. 18', 'Art. 19', 'Art. 20', 'Art. 21', 'Art. 22', 'Art. 24', 'Art. 25', 'Art. 26', 'Art. 27']

Ecoruralis - The Rights of Peasants
- Public conference -
- the 15th of November 2017, Bucharest, Cervantes Institute -
Eco Ruralis association with European Coordination Via Campesina and its partners organizes on the 15th of November 2017, in Bucharest, at Cervantes Institute, the public conference for the Rights of Peasants in the context of the United Nations process towards the adoption of the “UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas”.
PROGRAM: the program of the event can be consulted here.
The list of speakers can be consulted here.
History of the Declaration for Peasants' Rights.
The event will bring together peasants from Romania and other countries, national and international experts, as well as representatives of the relevant decision making bodies, in an exchange of views regarding how the process towards adopting the Declaration can be consolidated in Eastern Europe.
The event will take place at Cervantes Institute, in Bucharest:
38 Blv. Regina Elisabeta
If interested in participating in the event, please register until the 10th of November 2017, with an e-mail to raluca @ ecoruralis.ro or via telephone at Eco Ruralis Association’s office: 0264 599 204.
For more information about the event, draft agenda, as well as about the UN process towards the adoption of the Declaration, contact person: Ramona Duminicioiu, member of Eco Ruralis Coordination Committee and of European Coordination Via Campesina’s Coordination Committee (ECVC) – tel. 00-40-264-599-204 / e-mail: ramona @ ecoruralis.ro.
- The updated version (March 2017) of the Declaration for the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas, presented by the Chair-Rapporteur of the 4th session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group within the Human Rights Council: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/WG.15/4/2
- The Rights of Peasants_info note: http://tinyurl.com/y8ekz2c5
- The report of the 36th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (September 2017): http://tinyurl.com/y7vcoprh
- Info materials released by Via Campesina and its partners in support of the Declaration: https://peasantsrights.eu/ro_ressources.html
Context. Why do we need a Declaration on the Rights of Peasants?
The process [1] towards the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and othe rpeople working in rural areas was initiated 16 years ago by the international peasant movement of La Via Campesina [2], representing more than 200 million members around the world. In this process, La Via Campesina has the support of various social movements and NGOs, such as FIAN International [3] and CETIM (Europe Third World Centre) [4].
Negotiations among governments substantially started in 2010, within the United Nations Human Rights Council. The first session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the rights of peasants took place in 2013 [5]. This working group is constituted by member states (democratically elected for 3 year mandates) of the UN Human Rights Council. Up to the present, 4 sessions took place: in 2013, 2015, 2016, respectively 2017. The next round of negotiations will take place in April 2018, at United Nations Palace, in Geneva.
The current draft Declaration [6], as it was negotiated in March 2017, numbers 27 articles as follows:
Art. 1: Definition of peasants and other people working in rural areas
Art. 2: General obligations of States
Art. 3: Equality and non-discrimination
Art. 4: Rights of peasant women and other women working in rural areas
Art. 5: Rights to natural resources and the right to development
Art. 6: Right to life, liberty and security of person
Art. 7: Freedom of movement
Art. 8: Freedom of thought, opinion and expression
Art. 9: Freedom of association
Art. 10: Right to participation
Art. 11: Right to information with regard to production, marketing and distribution
Art. 12: Access to justice
Art. 13: Right to work
Art. 14: Right to safety and health at work
Art. 15: Right to food and food sovereignty
Art. 16: Right to a decent income and livelihood and the means of production
Art. 17: Right to land and other natural resources
Art. 18: Right to a safe, clean and healthy environment
Art. 19: Right to seeds
Art. 20: Right to biological diversity
Art. 21: Rights to water and to sanitation
Art. 22: Right to social security
Art. 24: Right to adequate housing
Art. 25: Right to education and training
Art. 26: Cultural rights and traditional knowledge
Art. 27: Responsibility of the United Nations and of other international organizations
The process towards the adoption of the Declaration aims at creating an international instrument to protect human rights, addressing peasants and other people working in rural areas. The Declaration would improve the protection and protection of their rights and drawing attention to the threats and discrimination suffered by peasants and people involved in small-scale food production across the world.
[photo – March 2017 – Human Rights Hall, United Nations Palace, Geneva – La Via Campesina Delegation at the 4th session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group for Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in the rural areas]
Peasants, fishers, pastoralists, beekepers and othe rpeople working in rural areas produce the most diverse and healthy food that we eat every day. In Europe and all over the world, they play a leading role in ensuring the food sovereignty of our communities and countries, According to FAO [7], about 80% of the world’s food comes from family farms via local and regional markets. The peasant model of production creates employment and manages natural resources in a sustainable way, addressing climate change issues.
However, small farms are rapidly disappearing due to the expansion of industrial agriculture, land grabbing and lack of support form the public authorities. We, peasants and other people working in rural areas, face systematic social and economic discrimination, with rural women particularly affected.
There is an abundance of evidence about the widespread and systematic violations of the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, and the main causes are:
Unequal access and control over land, genetic resources and other natural resources;
Restricted access to markets and means of production to ensure a decent livelihood;
Agricultural policies skewed in favour of a tiny elite of farmers and of industrial agriculture
Together with the 2 billion peasants and other people working in rural areas, we are claiming our rights to be able to continue to feed our families, our communities and countries. We need legal instruments to protect us and promote our rights, in order to create alternatives based on agroecology and sustainable food systems for the future.
We, peasant men and women, come with solutions at the highest level, supporting the creation of the most powerful international instrument to protect human rights: United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas.
The role of Eastern Europe in the negotiation process of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas
In Eastern Europe, where the majority of peasants from geographical Europe live, this Declaration has a similar relevance to the one of the Common Agricultural Policy. Despite this, Eastern European states absented themselves from the debates and working sessions of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group in the United Nations Human Rights Council. Considering the advanced state of negotiations toeards the adoption of the Declaration, the peasant movement send a wake-up call towards the governments in the region. The process for the Declaration is reaching the end and this last stage must include a constructive participation and firm engagement from Eastern-European states towards the recognition and support of the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas.
Romania is the ideal place to host the first intergovernmental debates on this topic, as beoing the country with the highest number of peasants, more than 4 million active peasants, representing almost 50% of European Union’s peasantry.
[1] The history of the international peasant movement of La Via Campesina regarding The Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas: https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-for/human-rights/peasants-right-resources/
[2] La Via Campesina’s website: https://viacampesina.org/en/
[3] FIAN International’s website: http://www.fian.org/
[4] CETIM’s website: http://www.cetim.ch/en/
[5] The official page of the process on the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and othe rpeople working in rural areas on the websire on the United Nations Human Rights Council: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RuralAreas/Pages/WGRuralAreasIndex.aspx
[6] The draft Declaration (March 2017) of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas, presented by the Chair-Rapporteur of the process within the 4th session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group of United Nations Human Rights Council: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/WG.15/4/2
[7] FAO report 'State of Food and Agriculture 2014' – introduction edited by the General-Director of FAO, Mr. Jose Graziano da Silva: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/260535/icode/