This October 16, 2023, we, the peasants of the world, once again call to commemorate the International Day of Action for Peoples’ Food Sovereignty against Transnational Corporations. It is unacceptable that more and more people in the world are going hungry and that food insecurity is intensifying, affecting one third of the world’s population. No more false solutions! Without Food Sovereignty, we will not be able to ensure a future for humanity!
Within the industrial food system, “safety” is all about managing the high risks created by this model of food production. Food is produced on monoculture fields or factory farms, with uniform breeds of plants and animals that are highly vulnerable to pests and diseases. In this context, diseases can grow or mutate into more lethal forms. To deal with their vulnerabilities, crops are genetically modified or doused with toxic pesticides, and animals are fed antibiotics and drugs.
It is alarming that the process in the lead up to the updated draft has been marked with an unacceptable level of arbitrariness by the Chair. For instance, the weeks leading up to the 8th session of the OEIGWG were riddled with inconsistencies that give rise to important procedural and ethical concerns. It is time for transparency, coherence, collaboration, and, above all, it is time for justice.
The UN Food System Summit was taglined as the “People’s Summit”. In fact, the opposite is true. From its onset, the UNFSS and its ongoing events have been led by those beholden to agrochemical corporations and economic forces that do not serve the interests of people and the planet.
In these times of growing hunger and multiple crises, it is more urgent than ever that governments and the UN listen to us. We call on you: change direction, and support our demands and efforts for a food sovereign future based on human rights and the principles of agroecology, care, justice, diversity, solidarity and accountability.
36 years ago, a tragedy struck Haitian peasantry when 139 peasants, members of the organization Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen, lost their lives in one of the largest massacres ever seen in the country. The regime of Henry Nanphy, the Lucas family, the Poitvien family, and a faction of the Catholic Church in collusion with the American embassy in Haiti were responsible for this terrible atrocity. This massacre is one of the bloodiest episodes in the country’s history.
The controversy surrounding next month’s UN Food Systems Summit+2 began two years ago, when it sparked a global outcry due to the escalating influence of corporations and their proxy organizations in decision-making spaces – within the Summit and across organizing UN agencies.
Just five companies known as the “ABCD group” control 90% of the world grain trade – and the B in this group is about to get much bigger. B is for Bunge, which has announced it is in the process of buying Viterra.
This document compiles the reasoning and most important arguments the Global Campaign for Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and Human Rights as mandated by Resolution 26/9 of the UN Human Rights Council.
Bagnolet | 02.11.2022 | La Via Campesina This October, La Via Campesina marked the International Day… Read more →
