UN HRC urged to extend IGWG mandate towards future rural world declaration

On the occasion of the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), progress by the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Living in Rural Areas (IGWG) was brought to the table. While welcoming the report of the second session, La Vía Campesina (LVC) calls on HRC to ensure that discussions and negotiations take place without unnecessary obstacles. Backed by FIAN International, and other civil society groups in a joint statement, the largest transnational social movement voices its support for the proposed 3-year extension of the IGWG mandate to facilitate the continuity of the process. 

The statement, led by LVC Europe, and supported by the Programme on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PWESCR); the International Network of Human Rights (RIDH); the International Union of Food workers; and FIAN International, stresses the need for a UN declaration stipulating how human rights should apply to  peasants and other people living in rural areas to ensure effective protection and eradicate discrimination. 

In the words of Geneviève Savigny, representative of LVC-Europe, “the work initiated is a first step, but the HRC should ensure the continuation of the debate and that the declaration is adopted as soon as possible to respond to the confidence that the world’s farmers and peasants, and people working in rural areas, have placed in this institution.” 

Next week the HRC will take a decision on the resolution and possible extension of the IGWG. It is expected that this time EU Member States and other industrialized countries support the continuation of the process and actively contribute to the debate. FIAN International will continue to support LVC and other social movements and communities working in rural areas, to guarantee that the Declaration is aligned with the needs and rights of the rural world.

For more information, please contact: Suarez-Franco[at]fian.org