Newsletter - October 2016


	NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 2016


CFS 43 needs to reassure independence The 43rd session of the CFS has held a week of discussions around international food security and nutrition policies. Accredited as the foremost international policy making space on the issue, the CFS has demonstrated that it can make a difference, as echoed by the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) report on the use of the Tenure Guidelines (TGs). The Committee should also be the primary body for coherent policy making on the human right to food and nutrition (RtFN) and related rights. However, the attempt by some countries to disregard human rights as the foundation of food and nutrition policy making has skyrocketed over the last years. Read more...

Keeping Seeds in Peoples’ Hands Week of Mobilization to #StopCorporateAbuse Largest-ever European food sovereignty gathered in Romania EU launch puts seeds back on the table Civil society urges Honduras to take immediate action Monsanto Tribunal: States also accountable

Keeping Seeds in Peoples’ Hands

Launched at FAO Headquarters, the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2016 warns seeds and biodiversity are under threat as a result of the increasing corporate capture and the states’ neglect. Gathering the views of civil society organizations, social movements and scholars the world over, the renowned publication exposes how business seeks to privatize, monopolize and control seeds.

Week of Mobilization to #StopCorporateAbuse

Timed to coincide with the UN Member State negotiations to establish a legally binding instrument to regulate activities by Transnational Corporations, the Treaty Alliance mobilized in and out Palais des Nations and called for action.

Largest-ever European food sovereignty gathered in Romania

The second European Nyéléni Forum for Food Sovereignty (the largest-ever European meeting on the issue) ran from October 26-30, and brought together farmers, fisherfolk, pastoralists, gardeners, food and agricultural workers, researchers, activists and many more. After five days of discussions, the groundwork was laid to take back, relocalize our food systems and multiply food sovereignty platforms across the continent.

EU launch puts seeds back on the table

In recent years, negotiations on European regulations on seeds have been undergoing. The general trend points to an increasing defense of patented technologies of genetic modification and the monopoly of industrial seeds. Both destroy agricultural biodiversity and erode peasant seed systems, which feed most of the world population.The European Parliament will host the Brussels launch of the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2016 on November 16, bringing back discussions over the monopolization and privatization of seeds as well as the increasing criminalization of human rights defenders.

Civil society urges Honduras to take immediate action

Civil society organizations worldwide call on Honduras to investigate the recent killings of human rights defenders exhaustively as well as adopt measures for their effective protection. In a letter, together with 170 organizations, FIAN International calls on Honduras to conduct a thorough investigation into these events and put in place measures for the effective protection of those who defend life and human rights.

Monsanto Tribunal: States also accountable