La Via Campesina Urges UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to support a Food Sovereignty-Based Global Trade Framework

In an open letter addressed to Ms. Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis, Secretary-General of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), La Via Campesina extends regards for UNCTAD’s 60th anniversary, recalling its founding ideals for fair global trade. The letter points to current times, reveals failures in global trade governance, and urges UNCTAD to embrace new solutions promoting food sovereignty and social justice worldwide.

Here is the full text of the letter:

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To:

Greetings,

From La Via Campesina, one of the world’s largest networks of small-scale food producers, comprising 180 peasant and indigenous peoples’ organizations in 81 countries, we convey our best regards and wishes for the 60th anniversary of the UN Trade and Development, UNCTAD.

We recall the noble intentions behind the creation of UNCTAD: the drive for independence among many Southern countries and the aspiration to overhaul the world trade order inherited from colonization, aiming for trade that benefits people, particularly in the Global South. However, we find ourselves in extraordinary times that betray these intentions, and we hope that UNCTAD @ 60 is mindful of the realities confronting humanity today.

Global geopolitics is shifting towards multipolarity, a consequence of the longstanding hegemonic foreign policy of Western superpowers and of the increasing power of transnational companies. This policy dictated global trade rules crafted to benefit and expand the economic interests of a small oligarchy, enabling them to firmly control the finite resources of countries around the world. This multipolar world emerges amidst recurring climate catastrophes, stemming from an extractivist model of industrialization initially devised in the Global North and systematically exported to the South. Structural adjustment programs, free trade agreements, and economic partnership frameworks perpetuate this model, exacerbating the loss of lives, livelihoods, and exacerbating global hunger and malnutrition.

We contend that globalization has failed to deliver on its promise of inclusivity and prosperity, both for people and the planet. La Via Campesina emerged in 1993 as a response to globalization’s perceived cover for the neocolonization of our territories. We warned against the expansion of capital, commodification of resources, and the erosion of rural economies, advocating for cooperation over competition in international trade. Repeatedly, we sounded alarms against institutions like the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, which promoted privatization, deregulation, and financialization of ecosystems. We cautioned against the commodification of seeds and crops, dismantling of public food programs, and the rise of factory farms and global agrifood transnational companies foreseeing the concentration of the global food chain and its catastrophic consequences.

Since 2023, protests have erupted in nearly 90 countries, led by marginalized groups disillusioned by the false promises of globalization. Governments of the Global South, long deceived by these promises, are awakening to the reality of their resentment. The desire to integrate into the WTO, once seen as a solution, has proven illusory, as the trade order has consistently favored transnational corporations and Northern oligarchies. Even those Southern governments that have demonstrated the political will to implement public agricultural policies that promote better market regulation, price support and poverty reduction programmes are being insidiously trapped by the global financial institutions into huge external financial debts – limiting their ability to implement meaningful public policies.

Extraordinary times demand extraordinary solutions, from the people.

In 2016, we cautioned UNCTAD against neoliberalism’s “free trade paradigm” and “market-driven development” schemes, which consolidate corporate control over food systems. Since the early 1990s, UNCTAD shifted its activities from trying to build a fair international trade system to try to support Southern countries in WTO negotiations. Its premises was that WTO could be beneficial to Southern countries if they were able to get organized and get the best of it.

La Via Campesina believes that this strategy has failed. The WTO has continued to be the tool of Northern oligarchies in order to increase market access for transnational corporations. It has never been beneficial for the people, in particular in Southern countries. We call on UNCTAD and all member countries to recognize this failure and to reconnect with its original mandate: creating a fair international trade framework towards people’s sovereignty and social justice. Today, as UNCTAD marks its 60th year, we remind you that true solutions must arise from those most affected by decades of neoliberal policies: peasants, small scale-farmers, agricultural workers, indigenous peoples, workers, rural and urban women, urban poor, in particular those in Southern countries

We call on UNCTAD to heed the voices from the ground clamoring for food sovereignty. Food Sovereignty embodies the right of peoples to healthy, culturally appropriate food produced sustainably. It places the needs of small-scale food producers, distributors, and consumers at the forefront, rather than the interests of markets and corporations.

In 2022, La Via Campesina embarked on the creation of a global trade framework in collaboration with peasant and indigenous peoples’ organizations across 80 countries. This framework is grounded in the principles of Food Sovereignty, Internationalism, and Solidarity.

It aims to address the social and ecological crises gripping our world today. This framework empowers each country to determine its agricultural and food policies, safeguarding and nurturing local food systems through various regulatory measures such as minimum support prices, public stocks, and supply management. The goal is to stabilize agricultural prices over the costs of production and combat speculation.

Moreover, it pledges to prevent any country from being forcibly excluded from international agricultural trade. It advocates for regulated international trade in agricultural inputs, aiming to reduce dependency on these inputs and transition towards peasant agroecology. This framework strives for international trade free from geopolitical pressures and prohibits practices like dumping and export subsidies for agricultural and food products.

It upholds the highest standards of human rights, including the right to food, UNDROP, UNDRIP, and ILO regulations protecting workers’ rights. It defends the rights of agricultural workers, women, fisherfolk, pastoralists, indigenous peoples, migrant workers, and others in the food system. Additionally, it condemns the use of food as a weapon in international conflicts.

We invite UNCTAD and its member states to collaborate with us in building this framework. We propose a participatory process within the UN, with active involvement from the Food and Agriculture Organization. Our goal is to create a society where hunger is eradicated, and social justice prevails.

A delegation from La Via Campesina eagerly awaits the opportunity to discuss our proposals further. Together, we can pave the way for a future where no one goes hungry, and where equity and justice prevail. We anticipate your response.

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For press inquiries write to press@viacampesina.org

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