ECVC and Eco Ruralis are organising a series of events on Rights of Peasants this June. Here is a list.

The European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC), together with Eco Ruralis – the Romanian peasants association, together with partners, are proud to announce the organization of several international events, in Bucharest, Romania, between 1-3 June 2019.

01 June, Nyéléni Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Food Sovereignty Movement meeting

Focus: Eastern Europe and Central Asian region

This meeting will be structured on 4 thematic working groups, that represent the main concerns for Eastern European and Central Asian peasants and civil society organizations:

a) Peasants Rights – an unifying process for the region. Presentation of the history of the process for the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in the rural areas and the perspectives of the implementation. Juridical presentations. Exchanges on regional strengths, opportunities and challenges and how can peasants connect the rights defined in the Declaration with local struggles.

b) Common Agricutural Policy – CAP Working Group. How does CAP affect small producers and consumers in the EU and outside the EU.

c) Land grabbing and access to Land. Recent developments in the region: common projects, country reports. Work related to the cooperation with FAO REU on the Land Tenure Guidelines.

d) FAO Europe and Central Asia Process. The cooperation with FAO REU with regards to the regional initiatives, the Decade for Family Farming and Peasants Rights.

This meeting will benefit from the participation of participants from 15 countries, mainly from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The objective of this meeting is to advance the regional articulation of peasant struggles in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, for the realization of their rights.

02 June, International Public Conference

Looking beyond the European Common Agricultural Policy: How can human rights prevail economic interests in public policies for food and agriculture?

The Conference will take place on 2 June 2019, at the National Institute of Statistics – Conference Center, in Bucharest, Romania.

The Program can be downloaded in RO, EN, ES.

The event will bring together representatives of United Nations and European Union institutions, academics, experts and most importantly peasants from Europe and Central Asia, in an exchange of views regarding the importance of small scale family farmers in the region. The program structured in 4 panels will propose for debate the opportunity of the Decade for Family Farming and how the process of implementation of the Declaration for the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas can be consolidated in our region. Moreover, in the second part of the program, we will deepen discussions on the strategic orientation of the Common Agricultural Policy towards small scale family farmers, as well as the common organization of the single market from a small scale family farmer perspective.

03 June, Peasant Public Event For the Rights of Peasants and a humane Common Agricultural Policy  

Starting at 08:30 am, peasants, together with their allies – national and European civil society associations, will hold a public gathering before the Romanian Parliament. The event aims to promote the rights of peasants, recently recognized by the adoption in New York, on December 17, 2019, of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in the rural areas.[1] Also, this way, we convey to the European Union that we want a Common Agricultural Policy, in which human rights prevail in the face of corporate economic interests.

Peasants in Romania and other European countries will hold public speeches in the street and express their stance and views on European public policies, to promote small-scale agriculture and family farming as an ideal model of agriculture in Romania and Europe.

This event will take place as the informal meeting of European agriculture ministers is held at the Palace of Parliament of Romania, between 3 – 4 June, in the context of Romania’s Presidency of the EU Council. [2]

The Romanian Ministry for Agriculture refused the participation of the European Coordination Via Campesina to the Informal Meeting of the Agriculture Ministers.

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La Via Campesina, with the support of ECVC and many other allies and movements, has been one of the main protagonists to the UN Declaration on the rights of peasants and people living in rural areas, and will actively participate in the UN Decade on Family Farming. [3] At regional level, ECVC has been active for the past 2 decades, in the process of reforms and implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy. [4] Eco Ruralis, the Romanian peasant organization is celebrating this year 10 years of existence and has played an important role in the Eastern European peasant articulation in the past years.

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[1] The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in the rural areas – https://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/73/165

[2] The Informal Meeting of the Agriculture Ministers – Bucharest, 3-4 June – https://www.romania2019.eu/event/informal-reuniunion-of-the-agriculture-ministers/

[3]  UN Decade on Family Farming – http://www.fao.org/family-farming/decade/en/

[4] European Coordination Via Campesina’s positions on the CAP reform process: https://www.eurovia.org/main-issue/agricultural-policy/