Skip to main content
Menu

Author Archives: fredsaxo

Older posts
Newer posts

CEDAW Sri Lanka: Government must ensure equal rights to land, natural resources and decision making

Posted on by

Rural women, including peasants, fish workers, plantation workers  and other small-scale food producers make up more than 50 percent of all food production in Sri Lanka. However, they are facing significant challenges, including access to land and other natural resources, financial support and participation in governance and decision making.

They continue to face marginalization without legitimate membership-based organizations to access resources, services, and welfare benefits. There is limited attention to their welfare in social security programs, and their rights of association and access to fair markets remain limited. This situation is further aggravated by environmental marine pollution, climate change and the extensive use of agro-toxics in the country.

These and other issues were highlighted in a parallel report by a collective of grassroots organizations including FIAN Sri Lanka and the National Fisheries Solidarity (NAFSO), engaged in advocacy during the review of Sri Lanka by the CEDAW Committee in February 2025.

“Fisherwomen’s concerns are overlooked, and gender-sensitive policies in the sector are lacking,” says NAFSO’s Chandra Kanthi Abeykoon, who represented the CSO collective during the CEDAW review in Geneva.

“The contribution of women to food production is not valued adequately. They are hardly involved in decision-making about the food production process and not recognized legally as members in cooperatives.”

The CEDAW review of Sri Lanka made a series of recommendations to the government including the adoption of a national action plan on rural women and girls, adequate access to income-generating opportunities, social benefits and health care. It also called for them to be equally represented in decision-making processes, including on rural development programmes.

The CSO collective will closely monitor how the government follows up the recommendations, according to Thilak Kariyawasam, Executive Director of FIAN Sri Lanka.

“We will continue our advocacy towards the development of a comprehensive national strategy on agriculture and food security for all, with a view towards a transition to agro-ecology including binding transition plans that include gender-sensitive support mechanisms for rural populations and Indigenous Peoples, in line with UNDRIP, UNDROP, CEDAW and ILO conventions,” he added.

In Sri Lanka, around 1.1 million people are undernourished and more than half of the population (approx. 12.3 million people) cannot afford a healthy diet. Around 15 percent of children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition. Malnutrition among children of tea plantation workers is more than twice as high as in urban areas. Climate change also threatens the right to food, especially for poorer people.

For more information, please contact Sabine Pabst pabst@fian.org

CEDAW Nepal: Government must ensure disadvantaged women’s access to employment and decision-making

Posted on by

Women and girls in Nepal, in particularly those belonging to marginalized communities, like rural and indigenous women, are more likely to be poor than males, despite the significant contribution they make to the economy.

In Nepal land, forest and river resources play a vital role in rural women's day-to-day livelihood. Most of them sustain their livelihoods and supplement their income from resources in forests, rivers and wetlands. FIAN Nepal in its parallel report to the CEDAW highlights how marginalized Dalit and indigenous women are denied employment with equal and living wages and lack of access to agricultural land and social security.

 “In FIAN Nepal’s experience, women farmers, indigenous and Dalit women are facing extreme food insecurity when they are working full time as farmers,” says Tilak Adhikari, FIAN Nepal Programme Manager.

“The local government operating programs have a focus on farmers, however, women farmers, especially from marginalized indigenous and Dalit communities, are not able to access the programs due to not being able to follow the complicated procedure adopted by government, and due to nepotism and widespread corruption.”

The parallel report further sheds light on the impact of industrial destruction and pollution on women’s right to safe drinking water and a clean and healthy environment. It also highlights the negative impact of declining agriculture production, deteriorating health of livestock, landslides and other environmental challenges. It shows how women and girls disproportionately suffer the impacts of climate change and environmental destruction due to their greater reliance on natural resources and primary roles in securing food, water and fuel.

The CEDAW Committee, in its concluding remarks, expressed concerns, that in particular, rural women, indigenous women, migrant women, women with disabilities and women living in poverty, are disproportionately affected by climate change related impacts including natural disasters and the loss of biodiversity. It regreted the lack of consultations with rural and Indigenous women on construction projects by foreign investors and private enterprises.

The committee recommended the government of Nepal to enable women’s active participation in the creation and operation of new funding arrangements for responding to environmental loss and damage and to ensure that women are equally represented in the development, adoption and implementation of legislation, policies and programmes on climate change, disaster response and disaster risk reduction.            

“The government must apply special gender-sensitive support mechanisms to eliminate poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and the lack of enjoyment of the right to adequate food and nutrition among women and girls particularly of those groups who belong to underprivileged and marginalized communities,” says Laxmi Gurung, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator at FIAN Nepal.

“This includes climate and environmental justice for women and girls and the support of the transition to agroecology and other traditional ways of livelihood including fishing”.

Download the FIAN Nepal parallel report here

For more information, please contact Sabine Pabst pabst@fian.org

All community members should receive compensation from Kaweri Coffee

Posted on by

In January 2025 the government of Uganda compensated 54 plaintiffs (representing almost 550 evictees). This was a first step towards putting into effect a Kampala High Court ordered consent for compensation. The whole case concerned 401 plaintiffs (representing approximately 4,000 evictees); 143 of them rejected the amount offered as being far below the value of their lost land belongings, and their suffering due to the eviction and violence and are continuing their legal battle.

“What we encountered since 2001 is an injustice and violence due to the loss of our land. Those of us who chose to continue the battle in the court will do so until justice is done,” says Peter Kayiira, one of the complainants.

Powerful advocacy

Over the last decade of their struggle, and in a remarkable display of creativity and resilience, women evictees formed an advocacy group using art to amplify their message. They composed songs and skits that captured the difficult realities of their struggle and their demands for justice.

These performances served as a unique way to communicate their plight to decision-makers, making their voices heard in a way that resonated deeply with both the local community and the broader audience. They also galvanized support for their cause, proving that advocacy can take many forms and be as powerful as it is creative.

This court-ordered compensation is a step forward but also a drop in the ocean. The lives of the evictees have worsened in the last 23 years, and many are destitute. At the same time Kaweri Coffee Plantation Ltd., a subsidiary of the Hamburg based Neumann Kaffee Gruppe continues to make profits.

“We have suffered a lot; we lost everything – this compensation is symbolic and I am in poverty conditions so I can’t refuse it,” said one community member.

FIAN has been supporting the evictees in advocacy and monitoring work since the beginning of their struggle, submitting regular reports to UN human rights mechanisms (ESCR/CEDAW/UPR) and assisting with the making of a documentary.

“The Ugandan government must ensure that the rights of the evictees are restored and adequate legal remedies and compensation are provided as suggested by the UN ESCR committee,” says Valentin Hategekimana, Africa Coordinator at FIAN International

Together with other allies, FIAN will continue to support the evictees in their struggle for justice.

Read more about the Kaweri case in this factsheet

For more information, please contact Valentin Hategekimana hategekimana@fian.org

Beyond numbers: rethinking food security monitoring in conflicts and crisis

Posted on by

As climate disruptions, war, and systemic inequality intensify, the world is confronted with a deepening food emergency. Yet the international systems in place to address it are failing to deliver effective, coordinated solutions.

Areas that are often quoted in the media as “teetering on the brink of famine” or being at “the edge of starvation” already have several thousands of people dead or rapidly dying of starvation and of illnesses related to or exacerbated by a lack of adequate food. Gaza and Sudan are two prominent examples.

In Beyond Numbers: Rethinking Food Security Monitoring in Conflict and Crisis (also available in Arabic here) FIAN analyzes the international community’s approach to starvation, posing several key questions including: What is a “famine”? Who decides whether a famine is occurring? How is it monitored? And what are the implications for the food sovereignty and human rights community?

“We must rethink how we measure famine — too often, we focus on body counts and crisis thresholds, while ignoring the deeper, structural causes that set the stage for disaster,” said FIAN policy officer for corporate accountability Ayushi Kalyan.

“The real challenge is not just counting the dead, but identifying the real, structural risks earlier and addressing the root causes of famine and starvation before they spiral into catastrophe.”

Situations of right to food and nutrition violations in crisis situations, including famines, do not emerge in a vacuum. They are the result of long-term, systemic marginalization of communities, of their exclusion in monitoring efforts and decision-making, and of long-term violations of economic, social, and cultural rights.

In such cases, what can early action and real prevention look like? In a recent report, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, offers a human rights lens to starvation, indicating that starvation reflects “a State’s fundamental abandonment of its human rights obligations… and when a State or any other actor systemically violates the right to food, this is an early warning that indicates some degree of intention to starve a population.”

“Mainstream monitoring tools are not designed to assess the root causes of food crises in conflict or occupation settings,” said FIAN policy officer for monitoring and advocacy Emily Mattheisen.

“These methods obscure the power dynamics at play and miss the voices of those most affected. To truly address hunger, we must integrate grassroots insights and human rights indicators into our monitoring systems.”

This briefing aims to open a dialogue between the right to food and humanitarian communities, in order to learn from each other while also imagining new ways of supporting affected communities and populations, creating effective human rights-based monitoring mechanisms and greater accountability around actions and structural conditions that result in right to food violations, including starvation and famine.

Download briefing here.

Download Arabic version here

Read Arabic press release here.

For more information please contact Ayushi Kalyan Kalyan@fian.org or Emily Mattheisen Mattheisen@fian.org

FIAN International pays tribute to outgoing Secretary General and welcomes new leadership

Posted on by

Sofia strengthened the International Secretariat’s strategic capacity, linking its mission to critical global issues such as climate change, digitalization, financialization, war and conflict and the often-overlooked realm of care work.

Her remarkable ability to inspire, unite, and lead has earned her immense respect and admiration among colleagues, partners, and government counterparts worldwide.

“Sofia’s leadership of FIAN and strong personal commitment to supporting grassroots struggles and advocating internationally has placed FIAN at the center of the right to food movement,” said FIAN International Board President Priscilla Claeys. 

“FIAN International expresses our deepest gratitude to Sofia for her exceptional leadership, unwavering dedication, and lifelong commitment to advancing the right to food and nutrition,” added Juana Camachos, FIAN International Vice President.

“Her legacy will continue to inspire us, and we wish her every success and fulfillment in her future endeavors. In 2025 Sofia will continue to be part-time with FIAN in other capacities, contributing with her huge experience and inspiring us in our shared pursuit of human dignity and human rights for all.”

Sofia will be succeeded by Ana Maria Suarez Franco, who has extensive experience of international advocacy. Ana Maria has been with FIAN for more than two decades, most recently serving as permanent representative to the UN in Geneva.  

FIAN’s International Council welcomed the change of leadership approved by the International Board and reaffirmed its commitment to stand alongside communities, Indigenous Peoples, peasants, fishers, food workers and others fighting for systemic change in food systems.   

The council, made up of representatives from FIAN national Sections in almost 20 countries, also adopted a new strategic plan to guide FIAN International’s work in the coming years.  

For more information please contact Yifang Slot-Tang: slot-tang@fian.org

Sowers of Life and Resistance: Building collective feminist leadership for food sovereignty

Posted on by

The Sowers of Life and Resistance booklet is a profound testimony of women and young women from across the region who participated in the first edition of the Feminist School, organized by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty of the Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. This initiative provided a much-needed political and educational space to confront the intersecting challenges of patriarchy, racism, and neoliberalism.

The school, held virtually and in-person throughout 2023, was about more than training — it was a collective reimagining of food power relations within food systems. With sessions addressing agroecology, the linkage of the right to food and women’s rights, the impact of systemic gender violence, and the construction of intergenerational collective leadership, the participants shared experiences, knowledge, and tools to strengthen their communities and struggles.

“We are not just defending food sovereignty; we are transforming relationships with nature and within our communities,” shared one participant. “Through collective care and action, we amplify our voices and confront injustices that silence us.”

The booklet invites readers into this vibrant journey, offering reflections and methodologies that grassroots women leaders are using within their territories and organizations. Chapters cover themes such as feminist economy, political participation, and the fight against gender violence, emphasizing agroecology and collective care as vital practices for resistance against all forms of discrimination.

By weaving together diverse knowledge systems and the ancestral knowledge of Indigenous and Afro-descendant women, the school builds bridges across generations. Its methodologies, like the Agroecological Booklog, reveal the hidden contributions of women to local economies, highlighting their vital role in food production and care.

“Without feminism, there is no agroecology,” states the booklet, which calls for a depatriarchalization of food systems and governance. This collective effort challenges the exploitation of women’s labor and the corporate control of resources, advocating instead for equitable policies rooted in solidarity and sustainability.

As a living document, the booklet aims to inspire action in communities worldwide, providing tools to replicate the school’s methodologies and continue the fight for a feminist and human rights-based transformation of corporate food systems and towards food sovereignty.

Download the booklet in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

 

For more information please contact Teresa Maisano: maisano@fian.org

Stop Big Food and transform food systems

Posted on by

FIAN Brazil and the Zago Brothers have created a satirical film exposing the cynical nature of this industry fueled by an unholy alliance of Big Food, Big Money, Big Agro and Big Tech, who portray themselves as heroes but whose interests rarely align with the needs of the people.  

Overwhelmed by the magnitude of a multi-billion-dollar industry that enjoys so much impunity, we can often feel paralyzed – accepting that we are powerless and unequipped to challenge it.  

But as the film shows, this exploitative system is being exposed for what it is, and it can be challenged.  

 

 

This comic strip turned animation – which began with an ESCR-Net series “The power of the 99% to stop corporate capture” – takes us through segments of big-scale food production and its consequences, from monoculture to loss of biodiversity, environmental destruction, displacement, misleading marketing, food manipulation, and more, culminating in a freakish musical presentation in an odd attempt to win over the public.  

The food sovereignty and agroecology movement is gathering momentum. People are demanding change. It is time for a binding international treaty to put an end to corporate impunity and hold business to account for environmental destruction and human rights abuses. 

For more information or media interviews please contact Amanda Cordova (cordova-gonzales@fian.org) or Tom Sullivan (sullivan@fian.org)

UN treaty on transnational corporations must put people over profit

Posted on by

Despite long-standing demands from affected communities, social movements and civil-society organizations, no binding global legal framework exists to hold big-agro, big-food, big-tech and big-financial corporations accountable for human rights abuses around the world. This lack of global regulation allows TNCs to escape accountability by finding legal loopholes, subcontracting their obligations to entities in their value chain, or using their economic groups or holding structures in different jurisdictions.

Transnational corporations, which dominate global value chains concentrate power in today’s globalized economies, frequently using their position to harm human rights and the environment in the pursuit of profit – as FIAN has witnessed in recent cases in Senegal and the Balkans, to name just two. Most of these abuses and violations have no legal consequences nor remedies for those affected.

“The existing asymmetries between trade and investment law give rights to corporations, and weak voluntary human rights standards only suggest how corporations should respect human rights, especially from a national perspective and without clear liability regimes,” says FIAN International’s permanent representative to the UN, Ana María Suárez Franco. 

“This allow corporations to exploit numerous loopholes in a globalized world where global value chains are controlled by a few powerful economic actors.”. 

Vibrant civil society participation despite setbacks

In 2024, the intergovernmental working groups negotiating the UN TNC treaty adopted a technical decision to provide more resources that will intensify the negotiations. Nonetheless, during the last year most of the consultations were held on methodologies rather than substance. Moreover, abruptly in September, the dates of the negotiations were postponed from late October to the week before Christmas, a decision which impacts the ability of many participants to attend – notably civil-society organizations, social movements and representatives from affected communities

Despite this, FIAN International and many of our civil society partners from around the world will attend negotiations from 16 to 20 December.

Beyond negotiating the text of the treaty, the 10th session will aim to define the road map of intersessional negotiations to be held in 2025 and the role of legal experts announced earlier this year.  Civil society, social movements, Indigenous Peoples part of the Treaty Alliance, the Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity (Global Campaign), the Feminists for the Binding Treaty, the ESCR-Net and the Young Friends of the Treaty will attend the negotiations and continue advocating for states to actively participate in the negotiations.

The collective aim is to strengthen the currently weakened draft text and ensure robust prevention mechanisms that go beyond mere due diligence and strong gender-responsive provisions. We are also seeking extraterritorial liability regimes that put the burden of proof on perpetrators and include joint liability along the value chains, as well as effectively ensuring people's access to remedy where controlling companies are based and where they operate.

Transnational, intergenerational justice, gender and intersectionality

Concerned with the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and destruction of biodiversity, many environmental organizations are demanding a strong environmental component in the TNC treaty, incorporating the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

“A treaty that does not protect the environment nor make those responsible for environmental harm liable, will not be effective enough to protect humanity from corporate greed and ensure the remediation of losses and damages, including regarding their intergenerational impact,” says Stephan Backes, secretary of the Consortium on Extraterritorial Obligations (ETO Consortium) and corporate accountability officer at FIAN.

“Transition, including towards more just, healthy and sustainable food systems, cannot be fair without robust corporate accountability beyond borders and generations”.

The differential impact of corporate harm on women and LGTBQ+ people has been strongly argued by the Feminists for the Binding Treaty. Access to remedy, protection of rightsholders, prevention and liability must be negotiated including gender-sensitive regulations that allow people with diverse gender identities and women to access justice and remedy and to adequately participate in their definition.

During the week of negotiations, FIAN will stay vigilant urging states to take prompt effective action and continue advocating for human dignity and nature at the UN. We urge all member States to respond to the demands of human rights and environmental defenders and actively negotiate a treaty that is effective to stop corporate injustice to ensure a more just world for all – today and in the future. 

For more information or media interviews please contact Amanda Cordova (cordova-gonzales@fian.org) 

FIAN adopts new strategic plan

Posted on by

At a time of rising hunger, protracted conflicts, environmental destruction, climate change and corporate capture of global food governance, FIAN International has reaffirmed its commitment to stand alongside communities, Indigenous Peoples, peasants, fishers, food workers and others fighting for systemic change in food systems.

“This Strategic Plan reaffirms FIAN’s vision and pillars, emphasizing the organization's commitment to ensure the right to food using human rights mechanisms, supporting peoples' struggles, taking care of nature and tackling intersectionality,” said FIAN International Board President Priscilla Claeys, at the meeting in Lisbon last week, attended by delegates from FIAN Sections (national offices) around the world.

“It outlines the struggles FIAN addresses, the strategies it employs and paves the way for discussions on how to strengthen the organization in a changing global context. Central to this plan is the goal of dismantling colonial practices and promoting gender balance and generational diversity, both within FIAN and in its external work.

The new Strategic Plan is organized around six thematic struggles and will be coordinated with FIAN Sections and close allies around the world, including the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition. It has two new focus areas: peace, justice and self-determination; and gender justice, women’s rights and care in food systems.

“FIAN International and its Sections play a crucial role in ensuring that our plan becomes a reality in the places where those who have been traditionally marginalized and disadvantaged live, through diverse levels of impact in our work for social justice,” said FIAN International Board Vice President Juana Camacho Segura.

“The FIAN family also aims to foster critical democratic debates through awareness raising, popular education, promotion of knowledge sharing, community mobilization and advocacy that push for changes in governance, which are necessary to tackle the structural causes of poverty and inequality.”

Throughout the International Council meeting, FIAN Sections highlighted the importance of strengthening knowledge sharing and of adopting clear mechanisms of monitoring implementation of the Strategic Plan. They also agreed to reinforce efforts to ensure the sustainability of the organization, both through generational renewal and greater collaboration on funding.

The International Council approved another three-year term for the International Board and thanked outgoing board member Angela Mulenga and treasurer Thomas Albert Wolfer for their years of dedication. It also thanked outgoing Secretary General Sofia Monsalve for her many years of service and welcomed her successor Ana Maria Suarez Franco, FIAN’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, who will take on the role in January.

Download the FIAN International Strategic Plan (2024-2030) here.

For more information, please contact Tom Sullivan: sullivan@fian.org

FIAN International Stands with fisher peoples calling for food system transformation

Posted on by

This year World Fisheries Day coincides with the 8th General Assembly of the WFFP, established in 1997 to resist denial of access and destruction of water resources, combat illegal overfishing, and challenge systemic injustices. Today, the challenges have evolved and multiplied. The aggressive expansion of industrial aquaculture, conservation initiatives like 30×30, which often displace traditional communities, and mechanisms like debt-for-nature swaps that financialize oceans are undermining the very ecosystems that sustain fishing communities. These measures, touted as solutions, frequently ignore the voices of fisher peoples, exacerbating displacement and ecological damage. 

The corporate seizure of commons, including rivers, lakes, and oceans, has transformed these shared lifelines into commodities, driving environmental degradation and displacing fisherfolk from their ancestral territories. This commodification erodes cultural practices, identity, and the social fabric of fishing communities, threatening their existence as resilient, self-reliant societies. 

Adding to these systemic challenges is the escalating climate crisis. Rising sea levels, ocean acidification, warming waters, and unpredictable weather patterns are depleting fish stocks, disrupting migration routes, and displacing entire communities. For inland and coastal fisherfolk alike, these changes erode traditional knowledge, destroy cultural heritage, and deepen the vulnerability of already marginalized populations. 

“We, the fisher peoples, are fighting back,” says Herman Kumara, General Secretary of WFFP at the meeting in Brasilia, Brazil. “We are mobilizing within and beyond the food sovereignty movement to build our responses and reclaim our rights.”

This spirit of resistance is a beacon of hope, demonstrating that change is possible through solidarity and collective action. FIAN International stands with the WFFP, recognizing that their fight is not only about livelihoods. It is also a fight for human rights, ecological integrity, and the future of humanity.

Protecting the world’s waters means safeguarding the rights, dignity, and heritage of those who depend on them. Together, we can ensure a just and sustainable future for fisherfolk and for us all.

For more information please contact: Yifang Slot-Tang: Slot-Tang@fian.org

Older posts
Newer posts