Agreements include Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Mechanisms that hamper governments from enacting new legislation and regulations to protect human and environmental health. Canadian investors in the mining, oil and gas sector have initiated the highest number of Canada’s ISDS cases – 70 percent! The warning Mr Lee left us is especially relevant as Mexico currently struggles to uphold its food sovereignty by prohibiting GM corn.
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.
The National Farmers’ Union of Canada has called on the French government to cease its violations of human rights, in particular the rights of farmers and peasants recognised in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other Rural Workers (UNDROP).
Jessie explains how UNDROP has been used in Canada, a country which abstained from voting in 2018 when the Peasants’ Rights Declaration was adopted, highlighting the opportunities and challenges of implementation.
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.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) calls on the federal government to immediately adopt the 2018 UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), which defines the rights that must be upheld to ensure that a diversity of food producers are respected and have their voices heard, and which Canada has yet to support.