ADVANCED VERSION
27/01/2015
Draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other
People Working in Rural Areas
Explanatory note:
References in footnotes indicate that the rights proposed are inspired by
the instruments quoted, and when relevant reframed to respond to the
specific needs and vulnerabilities of peasants and other people working in
rural areas.
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STRUCTURE OF THE DECLARATION
Preamble
Part I – Definition and Fundamental Principles
Article 1 – Definition of peasants and other people working in rural areas
Article 2 – States’ obligations
Article 3 – Dignity, equality and non-discrimination
Article 4 – Gender equality
Article 5 – Rights to sovereignty over natural resources, development and food
sovereignty
Part II – Substantive Rights
Article 6 – Rural women’s rights
Article 7 – Rights to life, liberty, physical and personal security
Article 8 – Rights to a nationality and legal existence
Article 9 – Freedom of movement
Article 10 – Freedoms of thought, opinion and expression
Article 11 – Freedom of association
Article 12 – Right to participation and information
Article 13 – Right to information in relation to production, marketing and distribution
Article 14 – Access to justice
Article 15 – Right to work
Article 16 – Right to safety and health at work
Article 17 – Right to food
Article 18 – Right to decent income and livelihood
Article 19 – Right to land and other natural resources
Article 20 – Right to a safe, clean and healthy environment
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Article 21 – Right to means of production
Article 22 – Right to seeds
Article 23 – Right to biological diversity
Article 24 – Rights to water and sanitation
Article 25 – Right to social security
Article 26 – Right to health
Article 27 – Right to housing
Article 28 – Right to education and training
Article 29 – Cultural rights and traditional knowledge
Article 30 – Responsibility of the UN and other international organisations
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PREAMBLE
The Human Rights Council,
Affirming that peasants and other people working in rural areas are equal to all other
people and, in the exercise of their rights, should be free from any form of
discrimination, including discrimination based on race, colour, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, wealth, birth or other
status,
Recognizing the past, present and future contributions of peasants and other people
working in rural areas in all regions of the world to conserving and improving
biodiversity and to ensuring food sovereignty, which are fundamental to attaining
internationally agreed development goals,1
Convinced that peasants and other people working in rural areas should be provided
with the means to promote and undertake environmentally sustainable practices of
agricultural production which support and are in harmony with Mother Earth, including
the biological and natural ability of ecosystems to adapt and regenerate through natural
processes and cycles,
Concerned that peasants and other people working in rural areas suffer
disproportionately from poverty and malnutrition and from the burdens caused by
environmental degradation and climate change, and that an increasing number of
peasants and other people working in rural areas are forcibly evicted or displaced every
year to make way for large-scale development projects,2
Stressing that peasant women and other rural women perform a disproportionate share
of unpaid work and often do not have equal access to land, productive resources,
financial services, information, employment and social protection,3
Deeply concerned about the pervasiveness of violence against rural women and girls in
all its forms and manifestations worldwide,4
Stressing that several factors make it difficult for small-scale fishers and fish workers to
make their voices heard, defend their human rights and tenure rights, and secure the
sustainable use of the fishery resources on which they depend;5
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 22 December 2011, [on the report of the Second
Committee (A/66/446)] A/RES/66/222; International Year of Family Farming, 2014; Voluntary
Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty
Eradication, FAO's Committee on Fisheries, June 2014.
2 Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, ECOSOC Substantive session of 2014
New York, 23 June-18 July 2014, Item 17 (g) of the provisional agenda, Social and human rights questions:
human rights, at: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E%2F2014%2F86.
3 Commission on the Status of Women, fifty-sixth session, The empowerment of rural women and their
role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges, Chair’s summary, 2012.
4 Commission on the Status of Women, fifty-sixth session, The empowerment of rural women and their
role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges, Chair’s summary, 2012.
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Recognising that access to land, water, seeds and other natural resources is an increasing
challenge for rural people; and stressing the importance of improving access to
productive resources and investment in appropriate rural development, including
agroecological approaches,6
Considering further the hazardous and exploitative conditions under which labourers in
agriculture and fisheries, and other activities have to work, often lacking living wages
and social protection,7
Deeply concerned that human rights defenders working on land and natural resources
issues face a high risk of being subject to different forms of intimidation and of
violations of their physical integrity, including attempted killings, killings, attacks,
assault and ill-treatment, criminalization and excessive use of force by the police and
other private bodies during demonstrations,8
Noting that peasants and other people working in rural areas often face difficulties in
accessing courts, police officers, prosecutors and lawyers so that they are unable to seek
immediate redress or protection from violence, abuse and exploitation,9
Acknowledging that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, the Convention on the Eradication of Racial Discrimination, the
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families, as well as the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action, affirm the
universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights, civil, cultural,
economic, political and social,
Recalling that in order to address the labour protection gaps and decent work deficits
faced by peasants and other people working in rural areas, the International Labour
Organization has developed an extensive body of Conventions and Recommendations10
and that these standards represent the minimum rights to which these workers are
entitled;
FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security
and Poverty Eradication (2014), preface, p. 5.
6 Human Rights Council Resolution 16/27, The right to food (2011), paras. 14-15.
7 FAO-ILO-IUF, Agricultural workers and their contribution to sustainable agriculture and rural
development, Geneva: ILO, 2007.
8 Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders,
UN Doc. A/HRC/4/37, para. 45; and UN Doc. A/HRC/19/55, paras. 66, 68 and 70.
9 Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, UN Doc. A/67/278, paras. 37,
39, 56.
10 ILO Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention (No. 11) (1921), Minimum Wage Fixing machinery
(Agriculture) Convention (No. 99) and Recommendation No. 89 (1951); Plantations Convention (No.110)
and Recommendation No.110 (1958); Protocol of 1982 to the Plantations Convention (No.110); Labour
Inspection (Agriculture) Convention (No.129) (1969); Rural Workers’ Organisations Convention (No. 141)
and Recommendation No. 149 (1975); Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (No. 169) and
Recommendation No. 104 (1989); Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention (No.184) and
Recommendation No. 192 (2001); Work in Fishing Convention (No. 188) and Recommendation No. 199
(2007).
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Recognizing that, in order to guarantee peoples’ food sovereignty, it is essential to
respect, protect and promote the rights recognized in this Declaration,
Affirming that freedom of association is a key enabling right to ensure that peasants and
other people working in rural areas can join together to access and freely exercise the
rights contained in this Declaration,
Affirming that according to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, indigenous peoples, including indigenous peasants and other indigenous
people working in rural areas, have the right to self-determination in matters relating to
their internal and local affairs,
Recalling the outcomes of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural
Development (WCARRD) in 1979 and the Peasants´ Charter, which emphasized the need
for the formulation of appropriate national strategies for agrarian reform and rural
development, and their integration with overall national development strategies.
Convinced of the need for increased protection of the human rights of peasants and other
people working in rural areas and for a coherent interpretation and application of
existing international human rights norms and standards in this matter,
Emphasizing that the United Nations has an important and continuing role to play in
promoting and protecting the rights of peasants and other people working in rural
areas,
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PART I – DEFINITION AND FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
ARTICLE 1 – DEFINITION OF PEASANTS AND OTHER PEOPLE WORKING IN RURAL
AREAS
1. For the purposes of this Declaration, the term peasant means any woman or man who
engages in—or who seeks to engage in—small-scale agricultural production for
subsistence and/or for the market and who relies significantly, though not necessarily
exclusively, on family or household labour and other non-monetized ways of organizing
labour.11
2. This Declaration applies to any person engaged in artisanal or small-scale agriculture,
livestock raising, pastoralism, fishing, forestry, hunting and gathering, and handicrafts
related to agriculture or a related occupation in a rural area.
3. This Declaration also applies to indigenous peoples working on the land, transhumant
and nomadic communities and the landless.12
4. This Declaration also applies to salaried workers, regardless of their legal status, on
plantations and large farms and in agro-industrial enterprises.
ARTICLE 2 – STATES’ OBLIGATIONS
1. States shall respect, protect and fulfil the rights of peasants and other people working
in rural areas, both in their territory and extra-territorially.13 They shall take legislative,
administrative and other appropriate steps to achieve progressively the full realization
of the elements of the rights of this Declaration that cannot be immediately guaranteed.
2. States shall transform the rights recognized in the present Declaration into legal
entitlements and secure their realization through accountability mechanisms.14
3. Particular attention shall be paid in the implementation of this Declaration to the
rights and special needs of peasants and other people working in rural areas who are
older persons, women, youth, children and persons with disabilities.15
4. In the development and implementation of legislation and policies and in other
decision-making processes concerning the rights of peasants and other people working
in rural areas, including international agreements, States shall obtain free, prior and
This article is largely inspired from the Advisory Committee’s Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and
Other People Working in Rural Areas (2012), article 1, and the Rural Workers' Organisations Convention
(No. 141) (1975).
12 According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization definition, the following categories of people
are considered to be landless and are likely to face difficulties in ensuring their livelihood: (i) Agricultural
labourers’ households with little or no land; (ii) Non-agricultural households in rural areas, with little or
no land, whose members are engaged in activities such as fishing, making crafts for the local market,
collecting or harvesting forest resources, or providing services; (iii) Other rural households of pastoralists,
nomads, peasants and indigenous people practicing shifting cultivation, hunters and gatherers, and people
with similar livelihoods.
13 FAO Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the
context of national food security (2004), Introduction, para. 17; Committee on Economic Social and
Cultural Rights, General Comment 12, para. 36.
14 For a more detailed description of this dimension, see FAO Voluntary Guidelines in support of the
progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security, guideline 7.
15 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 22(1).
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informed consent of peasants and other people working in rural areas, including
through their representative organisations.16
5. States must elaborate, interpret and apply relevant international agreements and
standards in a manner consistent with their human rights obligations. Such obligations
include those pertaining to international trade, investment, finance, taxation,
environmental protection, development cooperation, and security.17
6. States must take necessary measures to ensure that non-State actors which they are in
a position to regulate, such as private individuals and organizations, and transnational
corporations and other business enterprises, do not nullify or impair the enjoyment of
the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas.18
7. States recognize the importance of international cooperation in support of national
efforts for the realization of the purpose and objectives of the present Declaration, and
will undertake appropriate and effective measures in this regard, between and among
States and, as appropriate, in partnership with relevant international and regional
organisations and civil society, in particular organisations of peasants and other people
working in rural areas. Such measures could include:
(a) Ensuring that international cooperation, including international development
programmes, is inclusive of and accessible to peasants and other people working in
rural areas;
(b) Facilitating and supporting capacity-building, including through the exchange and
sharing of information, experiences, training programmes and best practices;
(c) Facilitating cooperation in research and access to scientific and technical knowledge;
(d) Providing, as appropriate, technical and economic assistance, including by
facilitating access to and sharing of accessible technologies, and through the transfer of
technologies.19
(e) Improving the management of markets at the global level, including information
about and coordination of global grain stocks to limit price volatility and the
attractiveness of speculation.20
ARTICLE 3 – DIGNITY, EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas are equal to all other people in
dignity and rights.21
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to the full enjoyment,
individually and collectively, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), article 4(3).
Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligation of States in the Area of Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, adopted by a group of 40 international law experts in 2011, para. 17.
18 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 16 (on State obligations regarding the
impact of the business sector on children’s rights), UN Doc. CRC/C/GC/16, 17 April 2013; ETO Maastricht
Principles, para. 24.
19 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), article 32.
20 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food to the 12th Session of the Human Rights Council,
UN Doc. A/HRC/12/31 (2009), para. 39.
21 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), article 1.
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in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
other international human rights instruments.22
3. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to be free from any
kind of discrimination and any incitement to discrimination in the exercise of their
rights, individually or collectively, in particular to be free from discrimination based on
grounds such as race, colour, descent, sex, language, marital status, property, disability,
nationality, age, political or other opinion, religion, or their economic, social, cultural
and birth status, among others.23
4. States shall take affirmative action in order to diminish or eliminate conditions which
cause or help to perpetuate discrimination against peasants and people working in rural
areas.24
ARTICLE 4 – GENDER EQUALITY
1. States recognize that peasant women and other women working in rural areas often
experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, and in this regard shall
take measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment by peasant women and other
women working in rural areas of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
2. States shall take all appropriate measures, including special measures aimed at
accelerating de facto equality between rural men and women, to ensure the full
development, advancement and empowerment of women, for the purpose of
guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental
freedoms set out in the present Declaration and other international human rights
instruments.
3. States shall ensure that gender identity is not a barrier to realizing the human rights
and fundamental freedoms set out in the present Declaration and other international
human rights instruments.25
ARTICLE 5 – RIGHTS TO SOVEREIGNTY OVER NATURAL RESOURCES,
DEVELOPMENT AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to sovereignty over
the natural resources in their communities. They have the authority to manage and
control their natural resources and to enjoy the benefits of their development and
conservation.26 They have the right to decide whether or not to grant access to the
natural resources in their communities, and to obtain fair and equitable participation in
benefits arising from their utilization.
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to participate in
decision-making in matters that would affect their rights, directly or through their
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 1; Advisory Committee
Draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (2012), article 2.2.
23 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 2; Advisory Committee
Draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (2012), article 2.3.
24 Human Rights Committee General Comment 18, para. 10.
25 Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 20.
26 UN General Assembly Resolution 1803 (1962).
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representative organizations in accordance with their own customary laws and
practices.27
3. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to determine and
develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development.28
4. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to food sovereignty.
Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food
produced through socially just and ecologically sensitive methods. It entails peoples’
right to participate in decision-making, and to define their own food and agriculture
systems.29
5. States shall elaborate, in partnership with peasants and other people working in rural
areas and their organisations, and through international collaboration, public policies to
advance food sovereignty, at the local, national, regional, and international levels as well
as mechanisms for ensuring coherence with the other agricultural, economic, social,
cultural and development policies.
6. States shall take measures to ensure that any exploitation of the natural resources
peasants and other people working in rural areas traditionally hold or use, is only
permitted if:
(a) a social and environmental impact assessment has been conducted by independent
and technically capable entities with individual and collective involvement of peasants
and other people working in rural areas;
(b) the free, prior and informed consent of peasants and other people working in rural
areas has been obtained;
(c) the modalities for sharing the benefits of such exploitation between those exploiting
the natural resources and the peasants and other people working in rural areas have
been established, on mutually agreed terms.30
PART II – SUBSTANTIVE RIGHTS
ARTICLE 6 – RURAL WOMEN’S RIGHTS
1. States shall take into account the particular problems faced by peasant women and
other women working in rural areas and the significant roles which they play in the
economic survival of their families, communities, regions, and nation states, including
their work in the non-monetised sectors of the economy, and shall take all appropriate
measures to ensure the application of the provisions of the present Declaration to
women and girls.31
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 18.
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 23.
29 Advisory Committee’s Draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas (2012), article 2(5); Declaration of the Forum for Food Sovereignty, Nyéléni (2007), para. 3.
30 FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources (2001), article 9.2.b; Convention on Biological
Diversity (1992), article 8j; Akwé: Kon Voluntary Guidelines for the Conduct of Cultural, Environmental
and Social Impact Assessment regarding Developments Proposed to Take Place on, or which are Likely to
Impact on, Sacred Sites and on Lands and Waters Traditionally Occupied or Used by Indigenous and Local
Communities (2004).
31 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 14(1).
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2. States shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against peasant
women and other women working in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis of
equality of men and women, that they freely determine their political status and freely
pursue, participate in, and benefit from their economic, social and cultural
development.32 In particular, States shall ensure to such women the right:33
a. to participate in the decision-making processes around, and the elaboration and
implementation of development planning at all levels;34
b. to be free from discrimination in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis
of equality of all men and women, access to health care facilities, information, counseling
and services, including those related to family planning, HIV/AIDS transmission
prevention and treatment, pregnancy, confinement and the post-natal period, granting
free services where necessary, as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy, lactation
and across women’s life spans;35
c. to autonomy, privacy, confidentiality, informed consent and choice in relation to their
own bodies in all spheres of life;36
d. to decent and productive employment and income-generating activities,37 including
equal remuneration, benefits and treatment in respect of work of equal value, as well as
equality of treatment in the evaluation of the quality of work;38 particular attention
should be given to the right to protection of health and to safety in working conditions;39
e. to benefit directly from social security programmes,40 in particular for women who
work without such benefits in enterprises owned by a family member;41
f. to obtain all types of training and education, formal and non-formal, including that
relating to functional literacy, as well as, inter alia, the benefit of all community and
extension services, in order to increase their technical proficiency;42
g. to organise self-help groups and co-operatives in order to obtain equal access to
economic opportunities through employment or self-employment;43
h. to participate in all community activities;44
Draft Preamble of this declaration.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 14(2).
34 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 14(2)(a).
35 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, articles 12 and 14(2)(b);
UNSCN 6th Report on the World Nutrition Situation, at:
www.unscn.org/files/Publications/RWNS6/report/SCN_report.pdf .
36 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 24.
37 Concept note for the General Recommendation on Article 14 of Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women, at www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CEDAW/Pages/RuralWomen.aspx .
38 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 11(1); ILO Equal
Remuneration Convention (No. 100) (1951) article 1; and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women, General Recommendation 13.
39 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 11(1)(f).
40 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, articles 14(2)(c) and
11(1)(e).
41 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 16.
42 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 14(2)(d).
43 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 14(2)(e).
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i. to have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities, appropriate
technology and equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in access to and
resettlement schemes regarding land and other natural and productive resources;45
j. to enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to housing, sanitation,
electricity and water supply, transport and communications;46
k. to be free from gender-based violence, including domestic violence, sexual
harassment, and physical, sexual, verbal and psychological violence, in particular taking
into consideration that peasant and other women working in rural areas are at special
risk because of traditional attitudes regarding the subordinate role of women that
persist in many rural and peasant communities;47 particular attention should be given to
gender-based violence during armed conflicts and post-conflict situations, which results
in violations of the rights to productivity, livelihood, access to food and healthcare of
peasant women and other women working in rural areas in addition to violations of
basic human rights such as the right to life, safety and freedom of movement;48
l. to be treated with equality and justice in marriage and in family relations both at law
and in private regardless of whatever form the concept of the family takes and whatever
the legal system, religion, custom or tradition within the country or region;49
m. to be free from multiple forms of discrimination, in recognition that gender
compounds other forms of discrimination based on sex, gender, ethnic origin, disability,
levels of poverty, gender identity, migrant status, marital and family status, literacy and
other grounds;50
ARTICLE 7 – RIGHTS TO LIFE, LIBERTY, PHYSICAL AND PERSONAL SECURITY
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the rights to life, physical and
mental integrity, liberty and security of person.51
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas shall not be subjected to arbitrary
arrest or detention, to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.52
3. Peasants and other people working in rural areas shall not be held in slavery or
servitude.53
4. States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress for:
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 14(2)(f).
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 14(2)(g).
46 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 14(2)(h).
47 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 19;
Advisory Committee Draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas
(2012), article 3(11).
48 Concept note for the General Recommendation on Article 14 of Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women; Accra Expert Group Meeting (2011), Final Report.
49 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 21.
50 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 27.
51 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), articles 6(1) and 9; UN Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 7; Advisory Committee’s Draft Declaration on the Rights of
Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (2012), article 3(1).
52 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), articles 7 and 9.
53 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), article 8.
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(a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as
peasants or other people working in rural areas, or of their cultural values or economic
and social systems;
(b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands,
territories or resources, or depriving them of their means of subsistence;
(c) Any form of forced sedentarization or population displacement which has the aim or
effect of violating or undermining any of their rights;54
(d) Any form of forced assimilation or integration;
(e) Any form of propaganda designed to promote or incite economic, social or cultural
discrimination directed against them.55
ARTICLE 8 – RIGHTS TO A NATIONALITY AND LEGAL EXISTENCE
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to recognition
everywhere as persons before the law.56 Peasant women and other women working in
rural areas have equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality.57
ARTICLE 9 – FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to freedom of
movement and residence within the borders of the States in which they are working, as
well as the right to return to their country. They have the right to freely choose their
place of residence and to leave any country, including their own.58
2. States shall cooperate to create the appropriate legal and political frameworks to
allow for the seasonal migration across borders of peasants and other people working in
rural areas.59
3. States shall take appropriate measures, including by means of international
agreements, to facilitate contacts and co-operation between peasants and other people
working in rural areas across borders, including activities in the economic, social,
cultural and environmental fields. 60
4. States shall cooperate to administer transboundary tenure issues affecting peasants
and other people working in rural areas, such as indigenous peoples and those related to
rangelands or seasonal migration routes of pastoralists, and fishing grounds of small-
UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (1998), Principle 9.
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 8(2); Declaration of the Advisory
Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, article 11.4 and 11.5.
56 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), article 16
57 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 9.
58 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 13; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(1966), article 12; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article
15(4); International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, article 5; Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities, article 18; American Convention on Human Rights, article 22.
59 Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and
Poverty Eradication adopted by the Committee on Fisheries of FAO (2014), para. 6.10.
60 ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (No. 169) (1989), article 32.
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scale fishers, which lie across international boundaries.61 Where appropriate, States
should harmonize legal standards of tenure governance.
ARTICLE 10 – FREEDOMS OF THOUGHT, OPINION AND EXPRESSION
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the rights to freedom of
thought, conscience, religion, opinion, expression and peaceful assembly.62 They have
the right to express their opinion, in accordance with traditions and culture, including
through claims, petitions and mobilizations, at the local, regional, national and
international levels.63
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas, individually or collectively, have the
right to expression of their local customs, languages, culture, religions, literature and
art.64
3. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right, individually and
collectively, to participate in peaceful activities against violations of human rights and
fundamental freedoms. States shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection
by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others,
against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination,
pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise
of the rights referred to in the present Declaration. 65
ARTICLE 11 – FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the same rights of association
and combination as industrial and other formal sector workers and should not be
excluded from labour legislation or other relevant legal protections.66
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to form and join
organisations, trade unions, cooperatives, or any other organisation or association of
their own choosing, for the protection of their interests. Peasant and other people
working in rural areas’ organisations shall be independent and voluntary in character
and shall remain free from all interference, coercion or repression.67
3. States should adopt and carry out a policy of active encouragement to these
organisations, particularly with a view to eliminating obstacles to their establishment,
their growth and the pursuit of their lawful activities, as well as such legislative and
Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the
context of national food security (2012), guideline 22.2.
62 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), articles 18(1), 19(1), 19(2), 21, 22(1).
63 Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas (2012), article 12(1).
64 Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas (2012), article 12(3).
65 Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote
and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1998), article 12.
66 ILO Convention concerning the right of association and combination of agricultural workers (N. 11)
(1921), article 1.
67 ILO Convention concerning organisations of rural workers and their role in economic and social
development (N.141) (1975), article 3; Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants
and Other People Working in rural areas (2012), article 12(2).
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administrative discrimination against such organisations and their members as may
exist.68
4. States shall support the establishment of cooperatives and other organisations of
peasants and other people working in rural areas and provide them with support to
reinforce their negotiation positions when engaging in contractual arrangements, in
order to ensure that conditions and prices are fair and stable and do not violate the
rights to dignity, decent life and sustainable livelihood of peasants and other people
working in rural areas.69
ARTICLE 12 – RIGHT TO PARTICIPATION AND INFORMATION
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to active, free,
effective, meaningful and informed participation, directly and/or through their
representative organisations in the elaboration, implementation and assessment of
policies, programs and projects that may affect their lives, lands and livelihoods.70
2. States shall facilitate the creation and activities, on a voluntary basis, of strong and
independent organisations of peasants and other people working in rural areas as an
effective means of ensuring the participation of peasants and other people working in
rural areas, and shall put in place mechanisms to ensure their full participation in
decision-making on matters that affect their lives, land and livelihoods.71
3. States shall ensure meaningful participation of peasants and other people working in
rural areas in decision-making processes directly and/or through their representative
organisations for scientific research and innovation. This includes participation in
problem-identification, priority and direction-setting, resource allocation, data
identification, research, resource allocation, analysis, and interpretation of findings.72
4. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to participate directly
and/or through their representative organisations in the elaboration of, and compliance
with, food safety, labour and environmental standards, whether by private or public
actors.73
5. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to seek, receive,
develop and impart information.74
6. States shall ensure that peasants and other people working in rural areas have access
to information relating to policies, programs and projects that may affect them, in a
language and form and through means which ensure effective participation of peasants
and other people working in rural areas.
ILO Convention concerning organisations of rural workers and their role in economic and social
development (N.141) (1975), article 5.
69 Report of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE), “Investing in
Smallholder Agriculture for Food Security” (Committee on World Food Security, 2013), p. 90.
70 Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas (2012), article 2.4.
71 ILO Convention concerning organisations of rural workers and their role in economic and social
development (N.141) (1975), article 4.
72 IAASTD Global Report, p. 535.
73 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food to the Human Rights Council, “Agribusiness and
the Right to Food”, UN Doc. A/HRC/13/33, Human Rights Council (2009), para. 53 (i).
74 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 19.
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ARTICLE 13 – RIGHT TO INFORMATION IN RELATION TO PRODUCTION,
MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to full, transparent,
timely and adequate information about the factors that may affect the production,
processing, marketing and distribution of their products.75
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to a fair and impartial
system of evaluation of the quality of their products, locally, nationally and
internationally.76
3. States shall ensure that relevant information can be adequately disseminated and
appropriated by peasants and other people working in rural areas, including where
necessary, through their representative organisations.
4. States shall enact laws that support full disclosure of the economic, environmental,
and social conditions behind production and distribution.
ARTICLE 14 – ACCESS TO JUSTICE
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to access to, and
prompt decision through, just and fair procedures for the resolution of disputes. 77 States
shall provide non-discriminatory access through impartial and competent judicial and
administrative bodies to timely, affordable and effective means of resolving disputes and
should provide effective remedies, which may include a right of appeal, as appropriate.
Such remedies should be promptly enforced and may include restitution, indemnity,
compensation and reparation.78 States shall respect and promote customary approaches
and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms used by peasants and other people
working in rural areas to resolving conflicts in a manner that is consistent with human
rights.
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to effective remedies
in case of violations of their rights. They have the right to a fair justice system and to
have access to effective and non-discriminatory access to courts.79
3. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to legal assistance.80
States shall consider additional measures for peasants and other people working in rural
areas who could not otherwise access administrative and judicial services. These
measures should include inter alia affordable legal aid, the provision of services of
Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas (2012), article 7.1.
76 Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas (2012), article 8.6.
77 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 40.
78 Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the
context of national food security (2012), guideline 4.9; Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable
Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (2014), guideline 5.11.
79 Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas, article 13.1.
80 Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas, article 13.2.
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paralegals and public advocates and mobile services for remote communities and
mobile pastoralists, fishers and indigenous peoples.81
4. States shall strengthen the mandates and the functioning of national human rights
institutions in rural areas.
ARTICLE 15 – RIGHT TO WORK
1. Peasants and other people in rural areas have the right to work, which includes the
right to freely choose the way they gain their living.82
2. States shall create an enabling environment with opportunity for work and that
provides remuneration allowing for an adequate standard of living for peasants and
other people working in rural areas and their families.83 In countries facing important
levels of rural poverty and in the absence of employment opportunities in other sectors,
States shall establish and promote food systems that are sufficiently labour-intensive to
contribute to employment creation.
3. Taking into account the specific characteristics of peasant agriculture and small-scale
fisheries, States shall monitor compliance with labour legislation by devoting
appropriate resources for an effective functioning of labour inspectorates in rural areas.
4. States shall, in consultation and cooperation with peasants and other people working
in rural areas and their representative organisations, take appropriate measures to
protect these people from economic exploitation.84 No one shall be required to perform
forced, bounded or compulsory labour.85
ARTICLE 16 – RIGHT TO SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORK86
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas, irrespective of whether they are
temporary, seasonal or migrant workers regardless of their legal status, have the right to
work in safe and healthy conditions, to participate in the application and review of
safety and health measures, to select safety and health representatives and
representatives in safety and health committees, to receive adequate and appropriate
protective clothing and equipment and health and safety training and to remove
themselves from danger resulting from their work activity when they reasonably believe
that there is an imminent and serious risk to their safety and health.
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to work free from
harassment, in particular sexual harassment.
Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the
context of national food security (2012), guideline 6.6.
82 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), article 6(1).
83 FAO Voluntary Guidelines in support of the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the
context of national food security (2004), guideline 8.8; International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (1966), article 7.
84 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 17.2.
85 ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) (1930) and Protocol (2014); Voluntary Guidelines for
Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (2014),
guidelines 6.6 and 6.13.
86 ILO Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention (No. 184) (2001), articles 4, 5 and 8; ILO Working in
Fishing Convention (No. 188) (2007); Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries
in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (2014).
81
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3. States shall take appropriate measures to protect these rights, and in particular:
(a) designate the competent authority responsible for the implementation of the policy
and for the enforcement of national laws and regulations on occupational safety and
health in agriculture, agro-industry, and fisheries;
(b) establish mechanisms of inter-sectoral coordination among relevant authorities and
bodies for the agricultural sector and define their functions and responsibilities, taking
into account their complementarity and national conditions and practices.
(c) provide for corrective measures and appropriate penalties in accordance with
national laws and regulations, including, where appropriate, the suspension or
restriction of those agricultural activities which pose an imminent risk to the safety and
health of peasants and other people working in rural areas, until the conditions giving
rise to the suspension or restriction have been corrected;
(d) establish adequate and appropriate systems of inspection for rural workplaces and
provide them with adequate means.
ARTICLE 17 – RIGHT TO FOOD
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to adequate food and
the fundamental right to be free from hunger.87 This includes the right to produce food
and the right to adequate nutrition that guarantees the possibility of enjoying the
highest level of physical, emotional and intellectual development.88
2. States shall ensure that peasants and other people working in rural areas have the
right to physical and economic access at all times to sufficient, adequate and culturally
acceptable food, that is produced and consumed sustainably, preserving access to food
for future generations, and that ensures a physically and mentally fulfilling and dignified
life for them, individually and collectively.89
3. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to produce and have
access to adequate food that is culturally acceptable and, as a whole, contains a mix of
nutrients necessary for physical and mental growth, development and maintenance and
for physical activity, that is in compliance with human physiological needs throughout
the life cycle and according to gender and occupation90, including ensuring to women
adequate nutrition during pregnancy and lactation.91
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), article 11, paras. 1 and 2.
Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (San Salvador Protocol), article 12.
89 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 12 (1999): The right to food
(article 11 of the Covenant), UN Doc. E/C.12/1999/5, paras. 6-7. For the requirement of sustainability, see
also FAO Voluntary Guidelines in support of the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the
context of national food security (2004), guideline 8.13.
90 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food to the 25th session of the Human Rights Council,
UN Doc. A/HRC/25/57, para. 2; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No.
12 (1999): The right to food (article 11 of the Covenant), E/C.12/1999/5, para. 9. The notion of adequacy
and the dimension of nutrition could be further detailed by taking into account FAO Voluntary Guidelines
in support of the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food
security (2004), guideline 10.
91 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), article 12(2).
87
88
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4. States shall take appropriate measures to combat malnutrition of rural children, 92
including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the
application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate
nutritious food. States shall also ensure that all segments of the society, in particular
parents and children, are informed, have access to nutritional education and are
supported in the use of basic knowledge of child nutrition, and the advantages of
breastfeeding.93
ARTICLE 18 – RIGHT TO DECENT INCOME AND LIVELIHOOD
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to a decent income
and livelihood for themselves and their families through the sale or use of their own
production.94
2. States shall organize, strengthen and support local, national and regional markets in
ways that facilitate and ensure that peasants and other people working in rural areas
have full access to these markets to sell their products at prices that allow them and
their families to achieve an adequate standard of living.95 These prices shall be set
through a fair and transparent process involving peasants and other people working in
rural areas and their organisations.
3. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to develop
community-based commercialization systems.96 States shall facilitate direct farmer-toconsumer sales.97
ARTICLE 19 – RIGHT TO LAND AND OTHER NATURAL RESOURCES
1. Peasants and other people living in rural areas have the right, individually or
collectively, to the lands, water bodies, coastal seas, fisheries, pastures and forests which
they need in order to make from them an adequate standard of living, to have a place to
live in security, peace and dignity and to develop their cultures.98
2. States shall remove and prohibit all forms of discrimination related to land tenure
rights, including those resulting from change of marital status, lack of legal capacity, and
lack of access to economic resources. In particular, States shall ensure equal tenure
rights for women and men, including the right to inherit and bequeath these rights.99
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), article 27(1).
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), article 24(2)(c), (d), and (e).
94 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), article 11.
95 Advisory Committee Draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural
Areas (2012), article 8.2; Report of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE),
“Investing in Smallholder Agriculture for Food Security” (Committee on World Food Security (2013). p.
73.
96 Advisory Committee Draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural
Areas (2012), article 8.7; IAASTD Global Report, p. 390.
97 International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development
IAASTD Global Report, p. 184..
98 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 26; Committee on Economic Social
and Cultural Rights, General Comments 4 and 12.
99 Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the
context of national food security (2012), guideline 4.6.
92
93
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3. States shall provide legal recognition for land tenure rights, including customary land
tenure rights, not currently protected by law. All forms of tenure, including tenancy,
must provide all persons with a degree of tenure security which guarantees legal
protection against forced evictions.100 States shall recognize and protect the natural
commons and their related systems of collective use and management.101
4. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to be protected
against being arbitrarily displaced from their lands and other natural resources or place
of habitual residence.102 States shall incorporate protections against displacement into
domestic legislation, consistent with international human rights and humanitarian law
standards.103 States shall prohibit forced eviction, demolition of houses, destruction of
agricultural areas and the arbitrary confiscation or expropriation of land and other
natural resources as a punitive measure or as a means or method of war.104
5. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to return to the land
and have restored access to natural resources of which they were arbitrarily or
unlawfully deprived, or to receive just and fair compensation when their return is not
possible. 105 States shall restore access to land and other natural resources to those that
have been displaced by natural disasters and/or armed conflict.106
6. States shall grant preferential access of small-scale fishers to fish in waters under
national jurisdiction.107 States shall carry out redistributive reforms for social, economic
and environmental reasons in order to facilitate broad and equitable access to land and
other natural resources, particularly to the youth, and inclusive rural development.
Redistributive reforms must guarantee equal access of men and women to land,
fisheries and forests.108 Landless peasants and other rural workers should be given
priority in the allocation of public lands, fisheries and forests.109
7. States shall adopt measures for the long-term conservation and sustainable use of
land and other natural resources including through agro-ecology; and ensure the
conditions for re-generation of biological and other natural capacities and cycles.110
Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the
context of national food security (2012), guidelines 4.4 and 5.3.
101 Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the
context of national food security (2012), guideline 8.3.
102 Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons (Pinheiro
Principles) (2005), principle 5.1; AU Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced
Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention), article 4.
103 Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons (Pinheiro
Principles) (2005), principle 5.2.
104 Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons (Pinheiro
Principles) (2005), principle 5.3.
105 Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons (Pinheiro
Principles) (2005), principle 2.1.
106 Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and
Poverty Eradication (2014), guideline 5.12.
107 Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and
Poverty Eradication (2014), guideline 5.7.
108 Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the
context of national food security (2012), guidelines 15.1 and 15.3.
109 Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the
context of national food security (2012), guideline 8.7.
110 Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and
Poverty Eradication (2014), guideline 5.13.
100
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ARTICLE 20 – RIGHT TO A SAFE, CLEAN AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to a safe, clean and
healthy environment.111
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to the conservation
and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or
territories and resources. States shall protect that right and take appropriate measures
to ensure its full realization for peasants and other people working in rural areas,
without discrimination.112
3. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to be free from any
adverse impacts that climate change may have on their human rights. States shall
comply with international obligations to combat climate change.
4. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to contribute to the
design and implementation of national and local climate change adaptation policies,
including through use of practices and traditional knowledge.
5. States shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous
materials or substances shall take place in the lands or territories of peasants and other
people working in rural areas without their free, prior and informed consent.113
6. States shall ensure that studies are carried out, in co-operation with the peoples
concerned, to assess the environmental, social, and cultural impact on them of planned
development activities. The results of these studies shall be considered as fundamental
criteria for the implementation of these activities.114
7. States shall cooperate to address the threats to the enjoyment of the rights of peasants
and other people working in rural areas that result from transboundary environmental
harm.115
8. States shall take all necessary measures to ensure that peasants and other people
working in rural areas receive information about the environmental effects of the use of
and exposure to chemicals. These measures shall include:
(a) requiring manufacturers and sellers to provide information in appropriate forms and
local languages;
(b) developing and implementing educational and public awareness programmes on the
health and environmental effects of chemicals commonly used in rural areas, and on
alternatives to these chemicals.116
9. States shall protect peasants and other people working in rural areas against nonState actors’ abuses, including by enforcing environmental laws that directly or
Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas, article 11.1.
112 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, article 29.1; Declaration of the Advisory
Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, article 11.2.
113 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, article 29.2.
114 ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (No. 169) (1989), article 7.3.
115 Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/25/L.31 of 24 March 2013, op. 10.
116 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001), article 10.
111
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indirectly contribute to the protection of the rights of peasants or other people working
in rural areas.117
ARTICLE 21 – RIGHT TO MEANS OF PRODUCTION
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to the means of
production they need to achieve a decent income and livelihood, in ways that respect
their social, cultural and ethical values.118 They have the right to use traditional ways of
farming, fishing and livestock rearing, individually or collectively. The means of
production to which they are entitled include but are not limited to: credit and
insurance, tools to produce, technical assistance, and access to the materials and
production tools needed for their productive activities.
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to the means of
transportation, processing, drying, and storage facilities for selling their products on
local, national and regional markets at prices that guarantee a decent income and
livelihood.119
3. States shall provide technical assistance to peasants and other people working in rural
areas in adjusting to climate change and other environmental stresses and system
shocks, for example through integrated resource management and agroecologicallybased extension and education programs. States shall stimulate agroecological, organic
and sustainable production whenever possible, notably through support mechanisms,
training programs, special credit lines and mechanisms of commercialisation.120
4. States shall ensure that their rural development, agricultural, environmental, and
trade and investment policies and programmes effectively contribute to reinforcing local
livelihood options and to the transition to environmentally sustainable modes of
agricultural production.121
Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/25/L.31 of 24 March 2013, op. 4(e).
This combines Articles 6.1 and 6.2 of the Advisory Committee Draft Declaration on the Rights of
Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (2012). It is also relevant to note that the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) guarantees the right
to women without discrimination to "bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit" (article
13 (a)), as well as the right of rural women to "access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities,
appropriate technology and equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement
schemes" (article 14, (g)).
119 Advisory Committee Draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural
Areas (2012), article 6.4.
120 IAASTD Global Report, p. 411.
121 Report of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE), “Investing in
Smallholder Agriculture for Food Security” (Committee on World Food Security, June 2013), list of
recommendations, p.108; Addendum to the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food to the
Human Rights Council, UN Doc. A/HRC/13/33/Add.2, “Large-Scale Land Acquisitions Leases: A Set of
Minimum Principles and Measures to Address the Human Rights Challenge” (Human Rights Council,
2009), principles 4 and 9.
117
118
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ARTICLE 22 – RIGHT TO SEEDS
1. Peasants of all regions of the world have made, and will continue to make, enormous
contributions to the conservation and development of plant genetic resources, which
constitute the basis of food and agricultural production throughout the world.122
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to conserve, use,
maintain and develop their own seeds, crops and genetic resources, or those of their
choice. They also have the right to decide which crops to cultivate.
3. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to save, store,
transport, exchange, donate sell, use and re-use farm-saved seeds, crops and
propagating material. States should take appropriate measures to respect, protect and
fulfil these rights.
4. States should take measures to respect, protect and promote traditional knowledge
relevant to plant genetic resources.123
5. States should respect, protect and promote peasant seed systems, and recognize the
validity of peasants’ seed certification systems.
6. States should take steps to ensure that planting material of sufficient quality and
quantity are available to peasants that need them at the right time for planting, and for
an affordable price.
7. States should ensure that agricultural research and development is directed towards
the needs of peasants and other people working in rural areas. To this end, in
accordance with Article 12.3 above,124 and in accordance with peasants’ rights to
participate in making decisions on matters related to the conservation and sustainable
use of plant genetic resources,125 States should ensure that peasants’ experience and
needs are effectively reflected when priorities for agricultural research and
development are defined.
ARTICLE 23 – RIGHT TO BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
1. States recognize the enormous contribution that local, indigenous peoples and
peasants of all regions of the world have made and will continue to make to the
conservation and development of agricultural biodiversity, which constitutes the basis
of food and agricultural production throughout the world.126
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas, individually or collectively, have the
right to conserve, maintain and develop agricultural biodiversity, and their right to
associated knowledge, including in crops and animal races. This includes the right to
save, exchange, sell or give away the seeds, plants and animal breeds they develop.127
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2001), article 9.
Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2001), article 9(2)(a).
124 Article 12. 3 reads: “States shall ensure meaningful participation of peasants and other people working
in rural areas in decision-making processes directly and/or through their representative organisations for
scientific research and innovation.”
125 International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2001), article 9(2)(c).
126 International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2001), article 9.
127 Advisory Committee Draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas (2012), articles 5.8 and 10.1; International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture (2001), article 9.1.
122
123International
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States shall recognize the collective use and rights to agricultural biodiversity and the
right to associated knowledge established and managed by peasants and other people
working in rural areas.
3. States shall ensure that peasants’ seeds and livestock systems are protected from
genetic contamination, biopiracy and theft. Peasants and other people working in rural
areas have the right to maintain their traditional agrarian, pastoral and agro-ecological
systems upon which their subsistence and their renewal of agricultural biodiversity
depend.
4. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to exclude from
intellectual property rights genetic resources, agricultural biological diversity and
associated knowledge and technologies that are owned, discovered or developed by
their own communities.128
5. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right not to accept
certification mechanisms established by transnational corporations. They have the right
to use certification mechanisms established or adopted by their governments. Guarantee
schemes run by peasants’ organisations with government support should be promoted
and protected.129
6. States shall ensure that peasants and other people working in rural areas are free to
conserve and develop their knowledge in agriculture, fishing and livestock rearing.130
7. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to be protected from
measures threatening biological diversity and traditional knowledge, including forms of
intellectual property that might adversely affect their traditional knowledge and use of
genetic resources.
8. Peasants and others working in rural areas have the right to participate in decisionmaking on matters related to the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural
biodiversity.
ARTICLE 24 – RIGHTS TO WATER AND SANITATION
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the human right to safe and
clean drinking water and sanitation, that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all
human rights131, and the right to water for farming, fishing, livestock keeping and
securing other water related livelihoods.132 They have the right to equitable access to
water and water management systems, to be free from arbitrary disconnections or
contamination of water supplies, and the right to a system of water supply and to
sanitation facilities that are available, of good quality, affordable and physically
accessible, non-discriminatory and acceptable in cultural and gender terms.
Advisory Committee Draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas (2012), article 10.3.
129 Advisory Committee Draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas (2012), article 10.4.
130 Advisory Committee Draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in rural
areas (2012), article 5.4.
131 UN Doc. A/RES/64/292 The human right to water and sanitation. Resolution adopted on 28 July 2010
132 Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 15, paras. 7 and 37; Report of the
UN Special Rapporteur on the right to water and sanitation, UN Doc. A/HRC/12/24.
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2. In order to realize the human right to water and sanitation of peasants and other
people working in rural areas, States shall guarantee at all times the following
conditions:
(a) access to the essential amount of water that is sufficient and safe for personal,
domestic and productive uses to be able to conduct a life in dignity133;
(b) access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation on a non-discriminatory basis,
especially for disadvantaged or marginalized groups such as, inter alia, nomadic
pastoralists, workers in plantations, migrants regardless of their legal status, and people
living in irregular/informal settlements;134
(c) physical access to water facilities or services that provide sufficient, safe and regular
water;
(d) personal security, particularly of girls and women, is not threatened when having to
physically access to water and sanitation;
(e) equitable distribution of all available water, including groundwater, and sanitation
facilities and services;
(f) economic accessibility/affordability of water for domestic and productive uses.
States shall provide water supply, sanitation and decentralized, small-scale and
community-based irrigation services that are affordable;
(g) protection of natural water resources from overuse and contamination by harmful
substances particularly by industrial effluents and concentrated minerals and chemicals
that result in slow and fast poisoning. 135
3. States shall respect, protect and fulfil access to water particularly in customary and
community-based water management systems. States shall prevent third parties from
interfering in any way with the enjoyment of the right to water of peasants and other
people living in rural areas.136 States shall prioritize water use for human needs, smallscale food production, ecosystem needs and cultural use before other uses.137
4. States shall protect and ensure the regeneration of watersheds, aquifers and surface
water sources, including wetlands, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams.
5. States shall cooperate and engage with upstream and downstream neighboring states
in order to jointly safeguard the right to water of peasants and other people working in
rural areas. 138
ARTICLE 25 – RIGHT TO SOCIAL SECURITY
1. Peasants and other people working in the rural areas have the right to social security,
including social insurance.139
Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 15, para. 6.
UN Doc. A/HRC/21/42/Add.2, paras. 36 and 57.
135 Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 15, para. 8.
136 Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 15, para. 23.
137 Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 15, para. 6.
138 Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 15, paras. 30-36.
133
134
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2. With a view to ensuring progressively the full realization of this right, States should, in
accordance with national circumstances, establish as quickly as possible and maintain
their social protection floors comprising basic social security guarantees. The
guarantees should ensure at a minimum that, over the life cycle, all in need have access
to essential health care and to basic income security which together secure effective
access to goods and services defined as necessary at the national level.
3. The social protection floors referred to in the previous paragraph should comprise at
least the following basic social security guarantees for peasants and people working in
rural areas:
(a) access to a nationally defined set of goods and services, constituting essential health
care, including maternity care, that meets the criteria of availability, accessibility,
acceptability and quality;
(b) basic income security for children, at least at a nationally defined minimum level,
providing access to nutrition, education, care and any other necessary goods and
services;
(c) basic income security, at least at a nationally defined minimum level, for persons of
working age who are unable to earn sufficient income, in particular in cases of sickness,
unemployment, maternity and disability; and
(d) basic income security, at least at a nationally defined minimum level, for older
persons.
4. States should move progressively towards the full realization of these basic social
security guarantees for migrant workers in rural areas, regardless their legal status.
5. Basic social security guarantees should be established by law. National laws and
regulations should specify the range, qualifying conditions and levels of the benefits
giving effect to these guarantees. Impartial, transparent, effective, simple, rapid,
accessible and inexpensive grievance and appeal procedures should also be specified.
Access to grievance and appeal procedures should be free of charge to the applicant.
Systems should be in place to enhance compliance with national legal frameworks.140
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), Article 9.
Paras. 2-5 of this draft article are borrowed from ILO Recommendation (No. 202) concerning National
Floors of Social Protection (2012), paras. 4-7. The only addition is the second sentence of draft para. 4,
concerning the extension of social security guarantees to migrant workers working/living in rural areas.
Another source is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(1979), Article 11, which provides: “1. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in the field of employment in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men
and women, the same rights, in particular: (…) (e) The right to social security, particularly in cases of
retirement, unemployment, sickness, invalidity and old age and other incapacity to work, as well as the
right to paid leave (…).” However, ILO Recommendation No. 202 is more detailed.
139
140
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ARTICLE 26 – RIGHT TO HEALTH
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to the enjoyment of
the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.141
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas, in order to protect their right to
health, have the right not to use or to be exposed to agro-chemicals or agricultural and
industrial pollutants.142
3. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to their traditional
medicines and to maintain their health practices, including the access to and
conservation of their medicinal plants, animals and minerals. Peasant and other people
working in rural areas also have the right to access, without any discrimination, all
social and health services.143
4. In order to realize the right to health of peasants and other people working in rural
areas, States shall guarantee at all times the following minimum conditions:
(a) access to health facilities, goods and services on a non-discriminatory basis,
especially for vulnerable or marginalized groups;
(b) access to essential medicines;
(c) equitable distribution of all health facilities, goods and services;
(d) access to reproductive, maternal (pre-natal as well as post-natal) and child health
care;
(e) immunization against major infectious diseases;
(f) measures to prevent, treat and control epidemic and endemic diseases;
(g) education and access to information concerning the main health problems in the
community, including methods of preventing and controlling them;
(h) appropriate training for health personnel, including education on health and human
rights.144
(i) appropriate national system for establishing and enforcing specific criteria for the
importation, classification, packaging and labelling of chemicals used in agriculture and
for their banning or restriction.145
5. States shall take all necessary measures to ensure that peasants and other people
working in rural areas receive information about the health effect of the use of and
exposure to chemicals. These measures shall include:
(a) requiring manufacturers and sellers to provide information in appropriate forms and
local languages;
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), article 25; International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights (1966), article 12; Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants
and Other People Working in Rural Areas, article 3(9) and 3(14).
142 Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural
Areas, article 3(10).
143 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, article 24(1); Declaration of the Advisory
Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, article 3(9).
144 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 14: The right to the highest
attainable standard of health (article 12), UN Doc. E/C.12/2000/4, para. 43.
145 ILO Safety and Health in Agriculture (No.184)(2001), article 12 (a).
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(b) developing and implementing educational and public awareness programmes on the
health and environmental effects of chemicals commonly used in rural areas, and on
alternatives to these chemicals.146
ARTICLE 27 – RIGHT TO HOUSING
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to adequate
housing.147 They have the right to gain and sustain a secure home and community in
which to live in peace and dignity.148
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right not to be forcibly
evicted from their home, and to be protected against harassment and other threats.149
3. States shall not proceed to permanent or temporary removal against their will of
peasants and other people working in rural areas from the homes they occupy, without
the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection.150 When
eviction is unavoidable, and necessary for the promotion of the general welfare, the
State must provide or ensure fair and just compensation for any losses.151
4. States shall guarantee the right to resettlement of peasants and other people working
in rural areas, which includes the right to alternative housing that must satisfy the
following criteria for adequacy: accessibility, affordability, habitability, security of
tenure, cultural adequacy, suitability of location, and access to essential rights such as
health, education and water.152
5. In order to realize the right to housing of peasants and other people working in rural
areas, States shall guarantee at all times the following minimum conditions:
(a) legal security of tenure, including protection against forced eviction;
(b) availability of essential services, materials, facilities and infrastructure;
(c) affordability, including for the poorest, through housing subsidies, protection against
unreasonable rent levels or rent increases;
(d) habitability, including protection from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind or other threats
to health;
(e) accessibility for disadvantaged groups, including older persons, children, the
physically disabled and victims of natural disasters;
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001), article 10.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 25; International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, article 11(1); Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other
People Working in Rural Areas, article 3(7).
148 Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, UN Doc.
E/CN.4/2001/51, para. 8.
149 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 7: The right to adequate
housing (article 11.1 of the Covenant): forced evictions, UN Doc. E/1998/22, Annex IV, para. 3.
150 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 7: The right to adequate
housing (article 11.1 of the Covenant): forced evictions, UN Doc. E/1998/22, Annex IV, paras. 3, 15 and 16.
151 Human Rights Council, Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-Based Evictions and
Displacement, Annex 1 of the report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the
right to an adequate standard of living, UN Doc. A/HRC/4/18, para. 60.
152 Human Rights Council, Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-Based Evictions and
Displacement, Annex 1 of the report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the
right to an adequate standard of living, UN Doc. A/HRC/4/18, para. 16.
146
147
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(f) a suitable location, far from sources of pollution while close to schools, health-care
and other services.153
ARTICLE 28 – RIGHT TO EDUCATION AND TRAINING
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to education and
training.154 Education and training programmes for peasants and other people working
in rural areas shall be based on their economic environment, social and cultural
conditions and practical needs, and shall incorporate their histories, knowledge, and
value systems.155 These education and training programmes shall be developed and
implemented in co-operation with peasants and other people working in rural areas.156
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to adequate training
on topics that include but are not limited to: improving productivity, marketing, and
ability to cope with pests, pathogens, system shocks, climate change and weatherrelated events.157 Training should be co-produced and co-conducted by peasants
themselves, and shall be adapted to the specific agroecological, socio-cultural, and
economic environments in which they find themselves. 158
3. Children of peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to attend
school and to be free from child labour.159
4. States shall encourage equitable and participatory farmer-scientist partnerships such
as farmer field schools, participatory plant breeding, and plant and animal health clinics
to respond more appropriately to the immediate and emerging challenges faced by
peasants and other people working in rural areas.160
5. States shall invest in the provision of training, market information, and advisory
services at the farm level to ensure that local, national and regional markets can function
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 4: The right to adequate
housing (Article11 (1)), UN Doc. E/1992/23, para. 8.
154 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), article 26; International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, article 13; Declaration of the Advisory Committee on the Rights of Peasants and Other
People Working in Rural Areas, article 3(8).
155 ILO Tribal and Indigenous Peoples Convention (No. 169) (1989), article 27(1); UN Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples, article 15(1).
156 ILO Tribal and Indigenous Peoples Convention (No. 169) (1989), article 22(3).
157 FAO Voluntary Guidelines in support of the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the
context of national food security (2004), guideline 8.4, which stipulates that: “States should promote
agricultural research and development, in particular to promote basic food production with its positive
effects on basic incomes and its benefits to small and women farmers, as well as poor consumers”.
158 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Presented at the 16th Session of the United
Nations Human Rights Council, UN Doc. A/HRC/16/49, “Agroecology and the Right to Food” (United
Nations, March 8, 2011), para. 44, which insists on the importance of “supporting decentralized
participatory research and the dissemination of knowledge about the best sustainable agricultural
practices by relying on existing farmers’ organisations and networks, and including schemes designed
specifically for women”.
159 ILO Convention on the minimum age for admission to employment and work (No. 138) (1973) and ILO
Convention on the worst forms of child labour (No. 182) (1999).
160 IAASTD Global Report, p. 58, which states: “Effective options include but are not limited to experiential
learning groups, farmer field schools, farmer research circles, Participatory Plant Breeding, social forestry
and related community-based forest landscape management, study clubs and community interaction with
school-based curriculum development”.
153
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better and ensure that peasants and other people working in rural areas have a decent
life and sustainable livelihood.161
ARTICLE 29 – CULTURAL RIGHTS AND TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to enjoy their own
culture, without interference or any form of discrimination.162 No one may invoke
cultural rights to infringe upon human rights guaranteed by international law, nor to
limit their scope.163
2. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to freely pursue their
cultural development and knowledge and the right to maintain, control, protect and
develop their cultural or traditional knowledge, including their technologies, genetic
resources, seeds, and medicines.164
3. States shall respect and adopt measures to protect and curb discrimination against
the traditional knowledge, practices and specific technologies of peasants and other
people working in rural areas.
ARTICLE 30 – RESPONSIBILITY OF THE UN AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL
ORGANISATIONS
1. The organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations system and other
intergovernmental organisations shall contribute to the full realization of the provisions
of this Declaration, including through the mobilization, inter alia, of development
assistance and cooperation. Ways and means of ensuring the participation of peasants
and other people working in rural areas on issues affecting them shall be established.165
2. The United Nations, its bodies and its specialized agencies shall promote respect for
and full application of the provisions of the present Declaration and follow up on its
effectiveness.166
Report of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE), “Investing in
Smallholder Agriculture for Food Security” (Committee on World Food Security, 2013), p. 73.
162 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), articles 11 and 14; United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities,
article 2 (1); Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), article 7, International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), article 2 (2).
163 UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, article 4.
164 UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, article 31 (1); International Treaty on Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2001), article 9.
165 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 41.
166 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), article 42.
161
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