Time has come for the implementation of UNDROP to be tackled at the international level. It is in this context that La Via Campesina (LVC) and its allies, advocate for the creation of an international follow-up mechanisms on peasants’ rights, in the form of a UN Special procedure. In the 54th session of the Human Rights Council that started on September 11th, the Permanent Mission of the Plurinational State of Bolivia will present a resolution to create this mechanism.
Following the coup d’état that took place on 26 July 2023, very harsh sanctions were decreed against Niger, such as the blocking of the banking system and the trade embargo on the country. In addition to these unjust and inhumane sanctions, the Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has announced a military intervention in Niger, supported by the United States and France.
“A Haitian Solution for the Haitian Crisis,” free from the intrusion of corrupt and imperialist powers responsible for the social, political, and economic violence. We vehemently reject the threats of military interventions from the “core group”. Previous invasions further deteriorated the living conditions of the Haitian people. We commit to continuing our support for the Haitian people in their just demands.
Over the past twelve months, coconut farmers in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu have witnessed a drastic decline in the prices of raw coconuts and dried kernels (Copra). They claim that the support price for ball copra doesn’t even cover the cultivation costs. In the last six months alone, the prices of dried kernels have dropped by nearly 40%.
The situation in Sfax, Tunisia, has reached a critical point since July 2023, with extreme tension surrounding migrants from various sub-Saharan African countries. Last week, thirteen migrants from the sub-Saharan region lost their lives at sea off the coast of Sfax, when their boat sank. Despite being a transit country for migrants on their way to Europe, Tunisia resolutely refuses to be seen as an alternative solution for migrants.
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 Basic Law on Food, Agriculture, and Rural Areas in Japan, the most important legislation in the agricultural sector, is currently under review by the Japanese government. Alarmed at the threat to the country’s food sovereignty, the Japan Family Farmers Movement (Nouminren) has presented a proposal advocating for a departure from the neoliberal food and agricultural policies that have been in place.
Within the CFS data definition, there is space for data to enable food sovereignty by facilitating exchange on farming techniques and agroecological climate adaptation, increasing the viability of smallholder food producers, or revealing the true cost of the industrial agricultural system.
Efforts to tackle the climate crisis through the much-herald “ecological transition” run the risk of being in vain if they are not accompanied by support for peasant agroecological practices, which are the fruit of thousands of years of experience and traditional knowledge aimed at achieving a balance between food production and natural cycles.
For the International day of Peasants’ Struggles, La Via Campesina and Defending Peasants’ Rights organized a webinar on the uses of the UN Declaration on Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) in peasant’s struggles since its adoption. Here are eight instances of how the Declaration is being put to use.
