Newsletter - February 2017


	NEWSLETTER - FEBRUARY 2017


Global Peasants' Rights Congress around the corner Despite feeding the majority of the world‘s population, peasants are increasingly repressed by governments, as well as by the food and agro industries. From 7th to 10th of March, over a hundred peasant and food producer representatives from all over the world will meet with politicians, human rights advocates and Global South activists to pave the way for stronger legal protection of their basic rights in the German town Schwaebisch Hall. Read more...

The Right to Feed Off Inclusion Forceful eviction of Laxmanpur dam floods-affected Securing communal lands and forests

The Right to Feed Off Inclusion

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexual, queer and asexual people (LGBTIQA) do not often fit into the dominant heterosexual structures of our societies and have therefore a non-normative sexual orientation and/or gender identity. On these grounds, they are likely to face major challenges when it comes to receiving adequate education, entering the labor market and being eligible for social programs. These restrictions have a great impact on their ability to access adequate (culturally acceptable) and nutritious food.

Forceful eviction of Laxmanpur dam floods-affected

A forceful eviction was initiated in Durgamata community forest where more than 260 households of people affected by Laxmanpur dam floods had been taking temporary shelter, complying with a 2016 decision by the District Disaster Relief Committee. According to the Laxmanpur Dam Affected Struggle Committee, officials from the District Forest Office entered the area on 1 February and destroyed 23 huts out of the 41 households of Holiya VDC (Village Development Committees - lower administrative part in Nepal), before they were stopped by affected people who started a protest in front of the officials.

Securing communal lands and forests

The findings of a three-year participatory action research project on the impact of and responses to land grabbing shows that large-scale land acquisition impacts women and men differently. These findings were presented to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to the Land Policy Initiative of the African Union, the African Development Bank and the Economic Commission for Africa (LPI-UNECA) and to the regional office of FAO. Held in Abuja, the dialogue which followed focused on what ECOWAS can do to support efforts of bottom-up accountability across West Africa, particularly in the framework of the Land Policy Initiative of the African Union and of the implementation of the CFS VGGT.