Another Step Towards a Declaration for the Rural World

The Human Rights Council (HRC), in its recently approved resolution, has made good on its promise to work towards adopting a declaration that defends the needs and rights of people working in rural settings. Thus, the Intergovernmental Working Group’s mandate has been extended for two more years. The resolution also grants the group the means necessary to ensure that it employs a participatory process. Welcoming this decision, FIAN International, along with La Via Campesina (LCV) and CETIM,  will continue to advocate for the immediate adoption of such a declaration.

The vote on this resolution took place on 1st October 2015. 31 countries, primarily from Asia, Africa and Latin America, voted in favor. The United States, by contrast, voted against the resolution, while Japan, the Republic of Korea, Qatar and Mexico abstained, along with all the European countries.

These results indicate a positive evolution as compared to 2012 when 9 States voted against, and then in 2014, just 5 States voted against. Such a tendency is also evident with Europe (with the exception of Switzerland) where the general attitude has been resistant: the entire Union voted against the resolution in 2012, and then the majority abstained in 2014, while the Czech Republic, Romania and the UK voted against the resolution. Though the European Union has again voted as a block this year, a general shift towards abstention can be observed.

Given this atmosphere, FIAN International encourages all those countries who abstained or voted against the resolution to reflect on the systematic violation of the rights of peasants and other persons working in rural areas, and on the fact that this does not occur solely in the Global South. Ana Maria Suarez Franco, FIAN International’s representative at the United Nations, insisted that these countries “should participate in the process actively and with goodwill, especially in the third session of the Intergovernmental Working Group which will take place next year”.

The approval of this resolution comes as a result of the work of LVC and other groups, including rural workers, landless people, fishing and herding communities, and indigenous peoples. Such a declaration would be a means to protect the rights of these communities against the harmful impacts of the current production system. “The current model will  impact severely in such groups’ enjoyment of the right to food and nutrition and eventually make them abandon their customary ways to sustain their livelihoods”, concluded Suarez Franco.