As delegates converge in Bogotá, the capital city of Colombia, to partake in the 8th International Conference of La Via Campesina, leaders of the international peasant movement who have already arrived in the city participated in the Bogotá march, commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. Summoned by Colombian labor movements, the march was attended by nearly two thousand people.
Gaza faces an imminent risk of starvation under a complete blockade imposed by the Israeli army. The silence of the CFS Plenary on the situation is shameful. Measures taken so far are not only modest but insufficient to move towards effective and operational proposals to address the food situation.
At its core, Food Sovereignty defends the right to healthy and culturally appropriate food, produced sustainably and ecologically. It empowers people to define their own food and agriculture systems, ensuring small-scale food producers’ control over essential resources such as land, water, seeds and biodiversity.
ESAFF Uganda Women participated in the 5th Women in Agriculture Conference, an annual event that empowers small-scale women in agriculture. Women as primary producers and custodians of our food systems are committed to ensure their contributions are valued and recognised but face numerous challenges.
The High Court has extended the ban on GMOs in Kenya and the hearing deferred to February 2024 for further directions on how to proceed and pronounce final determination of the petitions. Kenyan Peasants League and other petitioners are challenging the lifting of the ban on GMOs in Kenya.
La Via Campesina stands in solidarity with the Kenyan Peasants League in their legal struggle to continue the ban on GMOs in Kenya. In October 2022 the Kenyan Government lifted the ban on importation and cultivation of GMOs that had been in place for ten years.
The CSIPM reaffirms the call for peace and respect for international law in its closing statement at #CFS51. The right to food must be realized everywhere, for everyone. The CFS cannot stop the war, but can strive to realize the right to food for all.
On October 28, armed settler groups violently attacked several Palestinian agricultural communities in east Hebron. Homes of 55 families vandalized and children traumatized. Livestock stolen. Families given a 24-hour ultimatum to vacate their homes and lands or risk being killed.
The ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip has reached alarming proportions, with its impact echoing far beyond its immediate geographic confines. At the core of this escalating disaster is the fundamental human right to food—a right that is now perilously under threat for the Palestinian residents of Gaza.
We, signatory organizations, would like to express our concern about the World Food Forum, which seems to sideline the most inclusive global governance spaces for policy dialogue, like CFS and FAO Governing Bodies while strengthening the multistakeholder approach in favor of a wider collaboration with the private sector.
