#25Nov24 – Call to Action: Peasant women united for justice and Food Sovereignty! Stop violence, hunger, and wars!
November 25 – International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
(Bagnolet, November 8, 2024) The current context of multiple crises, exacerbated by brutal occupations, wars, and conflicts that cause poverty, hunger, migration, death, and femicides in in the world, and specially, in Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan, Yemen, Haiti, Niger, Peru, Ecuador and Mali, urgently requires us to place gender and social justice at the center of our political agenda. We need the deliberation and action at the global, regional, and local levels; within our movements, and in our communities, societies, and countries.
The structural violence that we women experience within the capitalist system is worsening today due to conservatism, the loss of rights, and patriarchal and imperialist practices. That is why we demand an urgent political will and action from the States, the justice system, and the commitment of various social actors, along with substantial financial resources, to promote rights and investment in public policies for women, children, and diversities. This must end impunity and guarantee a dignified life free from violence.
Peasant, Indigenous, landless, pastoralist, fisher, nomadic, gathering, and agricultural working women play a fundamental role in Food Sovereignty and food security, in our countries’ economies, and in eradicating poverty in rural areas. We are responsible for more than half of global food production and contribute to building climate resilience, conserving biodiversity, and caring for families, communities, and Mother Earth. However, we continue to experience the structural violence of patriarchy, capitalism, and imperialism against our bodies and territories.
Worldwide, women, especially peasant women, face hunger, malnutrition, poverty, dispossession, and other forms of violence, including political violence by being excluded from decision-making and power structures, and patrimonial violence by being denied the right to the land we work on. Less than 1 in 5 landowners in the world are women, according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
As noted by Marcos Orellana, UN Special Rapporteur on toxic substances and human rights, peasant women and girls are the most vulnerable to the effects of toxic substances from agribusiness, extractive production, and agriculture, which can impact generations.
That is why, within the framework of #25Nov24, La Via Campesina reaffirms its commitment to our Global Campaign “Stop Violence against Women” and denounces the responsibility of agribusiness in perpetuating violence in rural areas, and in the environmental, social, and food crises. We demand a change in the agro-food model, towards one based on Food Sovereignty and peasant agroecology, where women play a leading role in cooling the planet and nourishing humanity with healthy food.
We affirm that combating violence, climate change, and hunger in rural areas requires implementing popular agrarian reforms and beginning to build a new model of food production worldwide. We want to radically change the economy to focus on life’s reproduction. For this reason, we call for the fulfillment of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants, UNDROP, especially Article 4, on non-discrimination against women.
This #25Nov24, we call on our regional and local organizations, allies, social movements, and collectives to mobilize together to end violence against women, girls, and diversities in rural and urban areas. ¡We stand in solidarity with all women fighting and resisting capitalism, extractivism, and wars!
Join the global action!
Throughout November, we invite you to self-organize and share your local actions with us. We also invite you to form alliances with our national and regional organizations and to amplify their struggles. We will achieve this by building unity in action! We must peasantize feminisms, and join forces in the fight for food sovereignty!
➢ Communication kit here: Official poster + social media materials – Adapt the poster to your local language, we include a blank version as well.
➢ Global Action Wall: Upload your local and regional actions during this day to this link. Also, use this wall as a reference tool to find out about all the actions worldwide.
➢ Follow our official communication, ¡Join our Telegram channel! t.me/lvcstruggles
➢ Use these hashtags #25N24 #StopViolenceAgainstWomen #WomenInStruggle #PeasantAndPopularFeminism
➢ Tag us on social media:
Twitter: @via_campesina | Facebook: @ViaCampesinaOfficial | Instagram: @la_via_campesina_official
➢ Send your actions (press releases, invitations, photos or videos) to communications@viacampesina.org
➢ Press requests, write to press@viacampesina.org