Via-info-en June 2022

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LVC Geneva Declaration: End WTO! Build International Trade based on Peasants’ Rights and Food Sovereignty!
by La Via Campesina 30 Jun '22

30 Jun '22

GENEVA DECLARATION: END WTO! BUILD INTERNATIONAL TRADE BASED ON PEASANTS' RIGHTS AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY! CAPITALISM AND FREE TRADE [1], FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS [2], KEY DOCUMENTS (FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS) [3], PEASANTS' RIGHTS [4], WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION [5] ------------------------- THE 2022 GENEVA DECLARATION | LA VIA CAMPESINA | 28 JUNE 2022 We, La Via Campesina - the voice of more than 200 million peasants, indigenous peoples, migrant workers, pastoralists comprising youth and women and counting 182 peasant organizations in 81 countries as our members - are assembled in Geneva, Switzerland - from 11 June 2022 to denounce the destructive neoliberal policies of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that has decimated rural economies, worsened rural debt and aggravated hunger. La Via Campesina founded 30 years ago as an internationalist response of the small-scale food producers worldwide to resist the globalization of free-market policies and speculative trade in agriculture and food. As we predicted, the global crises that confront our world today - namely, the corporate control and concentration in the international food systems; global warming aggravated by industrial farming techniques; large-scale deforestation; the dispossession of rural communities through forceful and violent eviction from territories; criminalization of those who resist; intellectual property claims on peasant seeds; increasing distress-migration from the rural areas; horrid treatment and abuse of agricultural workers and migrants; destruction of biodiversity; proliferation of unhealthy and junk diets; soil destruction due to extensive use of agrochemicals etc - are a result of an unchecked and unregulated expansion of global financial capital, pushed by the troika of the WTO, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, through Free Trade Agreements, Investment Treaties, Strategic Economic Partnerships, Structural Adjustment Programmes, Conditional Loans and Aid programmes. These crises, we insist, have a disproportional effect on women and girls who already carry the burden of patriarchy and gender-based violence. All these have also exacerbated socio-economic inequality and hunger in the world. In June 2022, on the streets of Geneva, we led demonstrations against these destructive policies. Our rallying cry _"Free Trade Fuels Hunger, WTO Out of Agriculture"_ expressed the anguish and anger among small-scale food producers worldwide. It is indeed a matter to cheer that there has been no real breakthrough on contentious issues at the 12th Ministerial Conference, which only points to the continuing irrelevance of the WTO. Our mobilizations in Geneva (and our historic rallies against the WTO since 1999) have made it possible to expose the destructive policies of this institution. In Geneva, where we met after a gap of over two years due to the pandemic restrictions, we also embraced each other in solidarity and unity. We shared inspiring accounts of peasant struggles on all the continents and reaffirmed our commitments to bring food sovereignty to our territories. ------------------------- DRAWING IMMENSE ENERGY, HOPE AND ENTHUSIASM FROM OUR JOINT MOBILIZATIONS IN GENEVA – AND ON BEHALF OF OUR GLOBAL MOVEMENT – WE CALL FOR AN OVERHAUL OF THE CURRENT INTERNATIONAL TRADE SYSTEM. HERE IS HOW WE CAN BUILD AN ALTERNATIVE THAT REFLECTS AND RESPONDS TO THE REALITIES OF PEASANTS AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. * The WTO must end! The Agreement on Agriculture should be dismantled and all Free Trade Negotiations should keep out of Agriculture! * Set in motion a Global Multilateral Framework for Executing International Trade, based on Peoples' Food Sovereignty principles and per the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), other human rights instruments, such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as well as several international Conventions and Covenants, etc. * Nothing about us, without us! The construction of this framework must be through a multilateral inter-governmental working group comprising equal and inclusive representation and participation of social movements and civil society. * Keep Transnational Corporations, lobbyists, and agenda-driven philanthropic arms out of these discussions and spaces and listen to the people! * We call upon the governments to exit the WTO, stand on the side of the peasants, agricultural workers, migrants and indigenous people, and create an alliance of progressive countries to advance Food Sovereignty and Peasants' Rights. * We call for implementing a Genuine Agrarian Reform and national policies that promote the right to land and a complete and well-coordinated transition into peasant-based-agroecological production practices. * We call upon governments to build public food stocks procured from peasants and small-scale food producers at a support price that is just, legally guaranteed and viable for the producers. * Bring strong anti-dumping legislation that is necessary to stop exporters from destroying local markets. * Forbid the use of agriculture to produce bio-fuel. Food should be an absolute priority over fuel. We have listed the building blocks of an alternative we urgently seek for our world, and this cannot wait. We cannot wait for the WTO to reform itself and bring all these changes because of its inherent contradictions and apparent conflict of interests. ------------------------- See the map [6] of our mobilizations around the world ------------------------- AN ESSENTIAL PRE-CONDITION FOR THESE CHANGES TO TAKE ROOT WOULD BE THE URGENT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ARTICLES OF THE UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF PEASANTS AND OTHER PEOPLE WORKING IN RURAL AREAS (UNDROP). This month also marks the 50th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UN HRC). At this Session, La Via Campesina is putting forth concrete demands in making UNDROP a lived reality for our communities; The implementation of UNDROP is undergoing in many regions and countries through public policies, training, new jurisprudences based on the UNDROP, and different types of actions in the daily lives of rural communities. The implementation must also happen through mainstreaming and monitoring at the international level. In this respect, our movement is advocating for CREATING A SPECIAL PROCEDURE ON THE UNDROP. This special procedure will allow for effective implementation, especially UNDROP mainstreaming and monitoring at the global level. At the 50th session of the UN HRC, we have moved a step forward on this objective. La Via Campesina delegates tirelessly advocated with the Member States and other UN bodies in Geneva. We will continue our excellent work and have set the timeline to achieve this creation of the UNDROP special procedure at the UN Human Rights Council session scheduled in March 2023. We call on our members to reach out to their national governments and convince them to send a clear signal to their Missions in Geneva in favour of a special procedure on UNDROP. We have also advanced on many fronts. La Via Campesina members worldwide have brought UNDROP more to our bases and grassroots at the national and local level with direct actions, formations, and creation of UNDROP popular materials. We will continue our efforts to translate UNDROP and the popular materials into our local languages to understand and increase ownership of this crucial tool of struggle. We call our members, right-holders in rural areas, and our allies to continue to raise awareness and use UNDROP as a tool in their daily fights. PEASANTS' RIGHTS, NOW! FOOD SOVEREIGNTY, NOW! GLOBALIZE THE STRUGGLE! GLOBALIZE HOPE! #LVC30YEARS #NOFUTUREWITHOUTFOODSOVEREIGNTY ------------------------- Don't miss the special coverage we made during the mobilizations in Geneva. [7] See our PHOTOS [8] and VIDEOS [9] For any questions, please write to press(a)viacampesina.org Links: ------ [1] https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/capitalism-and-fre… [2] https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/capitalism-and-fre… [3] https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/capitalism-and-fre… [4] https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-for/human-rights/ [5] https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/capitalism-and-fre… [6] https://padlet.com/lvcweb/WTO_Out_2022 [7] https://viacampesina.org/en/tag/geneva-wto-2022/ [8] https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.7463239047079935&type=3 [9] https://www.facebook.com/watch/342562582480986/759352991869256

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Nyéléni Newsletter | Towards a global forum of food sovereignty
by La Via Campesina 22 Jun '22

22 Jun '22

NYÉLÉNI NEWSLETTER | TOWARDS A GLOBAL FORUM OF FOOD SOVEREIGNTY 21 June 2022 Nyéléni Newsletters [1] The new edition of the Nyéléni Newsletter is out! This edition reveals the process that is unfolding at the moment towards a global forum of Food Sovereignty, a space for exchange and convergence among social movements across sectors, since it is imperative, in the current circumstances, to advance in the struggle by strengthening alliances with other global movements. ------------------------- As the world lurches from one crisis to another, Nyéléni symbolizes the convergence of our struggles and commitments to build a world free of greed, hunger, exploitation, extractivism, misogyny, racism, discrimination, and violence. Since 2007, Nyéléni has been a space where we meet in order to build collective strategies to advance food sovereignty, rights to land and territories, agroecology, and the rights of all small-scale food providers. Our articulations have given us the strength to organize against capitalism, neoliberalism, corporate power, patriarchy, and ecocide. THROUGH THE NYÉLÉNI MEETINGS IN 2007, 2011 AND 2015, THE FOOD SOVEREIGNTY MOVEMENT CREATED THE BASIS FOR OUR FUTURE POSITION IN MANY GLOBAL NEGOTIATIONS. These events and the concepts born therein led to the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication, and the implementation of Farmers' Rights in the context of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. But in the present global context, the food sovereignty movement cannot make it alone. To dismantle agribusiness and corporate power, as well as provide comprehensive responses to persisting systemic crises and the rise of conservative right-wing forces, we need to converge with peoples' organisations facing different forms of oppression and threats. Collectively, we can propose true alternatives for all and advance social, gender, racial, economic, intergenerational, and environmental justice. The Nyéléni meetings are thus essential for building principles, concepts and strategies shared and reinforced by many movements across different sectors, while defending the most vulnerable at local levels. _CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE ENGLISH EDITION_ [2] OR READ IT DIRECTLY IN THE WEBSITE AT WWW.NYELENI.ORG [3] ! Links: ------ [1] https://viacampesina.org/en/media-and-publications/nyeleni-newsletters/ [2] http://www.nyeleni.org/ccount/click.php?id=177 [3] https://nyeleni.org/

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Press Release | WTO, MC12: La Via Campesina calls on States to exit the WTO and create a new framework based on food sovereignty
by La Via Campesina 15 Jun '22

15 Jun '22

LA VIA CAMPESINA CALLS ON STATES TO EXIT THE WTO AND TO CREATE A NEW FRAMEWORK BASED ON FOOD SOVEREIGNTY Press Release | 15 June 2022, Geneva | Also available in Spanish [1] and French [2] La Via Campesina, the global peasant movement representing the voices of more than 200 million small-scale peasants from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, has been mobilizing all week against the WTO [3]. The food crisis that is currently hitting the world is further proof that free trade - far from bringing about food security - is making people starve. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has once again failed to offer a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security purposes. For more than eight years, rich countries have been blocking concrete proposals from African and Asian members of the G33 in this regard. JEONGYEOL KIM, from the Korean Women Peasant's Association and an ICC member of La Via Campesina, points out that: _"Free Trade Fuels Hunger. After 27 years under the rule of the WTO, this conclusion is clear. It is time to keep agriculture out of all Free Trade Agreements. The pandemic, and the shock and disruptions induced by war have made it clear that we need a local and national food governance system based on people, not agribusinesses. A system that is built on principles of solidarity and cooperation rather than competition, coercion, and geopolitical agendas."_ BURRY TUNKARA, from the Gambian Organization of Small-scale Farmers, Fishermen and Foresters and one of the main youth leaders of La Via Campesina, echoes the same sentiment in this testimony: _"The WTO only defends the rich and their commercial interests. It is a tool of neo-colonialism. It only serves the interests of multinationals to find new markets and cheaper labour. It's time to stop that!"_ The socio-economic agenda of the poorest and low-income countries is not a priority for the WTO. The proof: its inability to provide a safeguard mechanism against the "dumping" of rich countries and its approach to fisheries subsidies to the detriment of small-scale fisherfolk. There is no point in trying to reform an institution built to favour the business interests of a handful of multinational corporations. PERLA ÁLVAREZ from Paraguay, and member of the Latin American Coordination of La Via Campesina (CLOC) stated that a systemic change is urgent and necessary: _"The global food crisis is our moment of reckoning. There is no place for a 'business as usual' approach here. We are presenting short-term and long-term proposals that can radically shift the way in which trade affects farming communities around the world."_ TODAY, June 15, from Geneva, while the WTO Ministerial Conference has once again betrayed the expectations of the populations that have been most affected by the food crisis, WE, LA VIA CAMPESINA, SHARE OUR PROPOSALS; La Via Campesina calls on all national governments to rebuild public stocks and to support the creation of food reserves at the community level with local products from agroecological practices. LVC also called on all governments to put in place the anti-dumping legislation necessary to prevent exporters from destroying local markets. YUDHVIR SINGH of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, one of the unions that spearheaded the historic mobilization of Indian peasants in 2021, shared his country's experience with public food stocks: _"Peasants need strong public policies, such as minimum prices and public stock, to continue to make a decent living by producing food. The WTO's attacks against our model of market regulation are extremely dangerous. The G33 must continue to resist and build based on the aspirations and hopes of small-scale producers."_ La Via Campesina has called for an immediate suspension of all existing WTO rules that prevent countries from developing public food stocks and regulating market and prices. Governments should have the right to use self-selected internal criteria to protect and promote their food sovereignty. Each country should be able to develop its own agricultural and food policy and protect the interests of its peasants, without harming other countries. The use of agricultural products for agro-fuels should be prohibited. La Via Campesina has also called for a halt in speculation. _"Agrarian Reform is necessary to build food sovereignty," added ZAINAL ARIFIN FUAT of Serikat Petani Indonesia and member of LVC's International Coordination Committee. "Governments must put an end to grabbing water, seeds and land by transnational corporations and ensure small-scale producers fair rights over common resources."_ We, La Via Campesina, insist that within the framework of the pandemic and the global supply crisis, governments should prioritize local markets. MORGAN ODY, peasant in Brittany, France, and general coordinator of La Via Campesina, stated on behalf of the global peasant movement: _"The World Trade Organization is a failed project. Our global peasant movement calls on all States, especially those in the South, to leave the WTO immediately. We must create a new international framework for agriculture and trade based on food sovereignty. Only then can we defend the interests of small-scale food producers."_ ------------------------- For queries, write to PRESS(a)VIACAMPESINA.ORG | PRESS KIT: HTTPS://LINKTR.EE/LAVIACAMPESINA ------------------------- NOTE: La Via Campesina counts 181 peasant organisations in over 80 countries as its members. The global peasant network and its allies led the negotiations in the UN for 17 years, resulting in the United Nations adopting a UN Declaration for Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) in 2018. Links: ------ [1] https://viacampesina.org/es/la-via-campesina-pide-a-los-estados-salir-de-la… [2] https://viacampesina.org/fr/la-via-campesina-appelle-les-etats-a-sortir-de-… [3] https://twitter.com/via_campesina/status/1532267751938883585?s=20&t=nEA…

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WTO Ministerial in June, Geneva | Call for Mobilisation
by La Via Campesina 07 Jun '22

07 Jun '22

Since the creation of the WTO in 1995, La Via Campesina has been denouncing the neoliberal and free trade policies that are destroying the peasantry and destabilising local food systems worldwide. From Seattle (1999) to Cancun (2003), from Hong Kong (2005) to Buenos Aires (2017), we have been fighting against the imposition of a free trade order in the service of big business and billionaires. On the 10th of September 2003, while protesting outside the WTO ministerial in Cancun, Mexico, peasant from KPL -South Korea Mr. Lee Kyung-Hae sacrificed his life by stabbing himself. That tragic incident exposed the destructive effects of WTO and its trade liberalisation efforts on the lives of millions of peasants globally. Our mobilisations have made it possible to block the free trade negotiations. After our big mobilization in Hongkong 2005, the Doha Development Agenda which started in 2001 has been in limbo and there are no new major WTO agreements ever been adopted, especially in agriculture. However, The WTO was established based on the Marrakesh agreement in 1994; it still forces countries to open their markets to multinational companies and prevents the implementation of ambitious public policies in favour of peasants' economy. Moreover, bilateral and regional free trade agreements have only multiplied. Neoliberal policies and the imposition of free trade have greatly weakened peasantry around the world. They push countries to give priority to export crops and to depend on imports to feed their populations. They increase the grabbing of resources by multinationals, to the detriment of peasants and local communities. They contribute to the exacerbation of climate crisis by fostering monoculture plantations, deforestations, overexploitation of soils and water and dwindling our biodiversity. Today, with the pandemic of COVID-19, with the extreme events linked to global warming and with the war in Ukraine and other places, it is clear that making people's food security dependent on international trade and TNCs is criminal. This must stop. The WTO must get out of agriculture. Food sovereignty must be the basis of agricultural and food policies in each country and at the international level. >From the 13-15 June 2022, the WTO ministerial Conference will take place in Geneva. The WTO is struggling to seek relevance again in a world battered by inequality, hunger, extreme poverty, wars and a once-in-a-century pandemic. ------------------------- La Via Campesina calls on civil society to mobilise to denounce this organisation and defend people's food sovereignty. We will be in Geneva during the week holding a series of public mobilisations that will bring the voices of the rural territories right to the doorstep of the Ministerial venue. LA VIA CAMPESINA IS ALSO CALLING UPON ALL OUR MEMBERS AND ALLIES TO ORGANISE PUBLIC MEETINGS, CONFERENCES, DEMONSTRATIONS, FAIR, ISSUE PUBLIC STATEMENTS AND PRESS RELEASES – BETWEEN THE 10TH AND THE 15TH OF JUNE – AND EXPOSE THE IMPACT OF FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS AND WTO POLICIES ON RURAL AND URBAN SMALL-SCALE FOOD PRODUCERS.Tag us on Facebook [1] , Twitter [2] or Instagram [3] OUR SLOGAN: Free Trade Fuels Hunger, WTO out of Agriculture! HASHTAGS: #FreeTradeFuelsHunger #EndWTO DOWNLOAD COMMUNICATION MATERIALS HERE [4] DOWNLOAD THE PRESS INVITE ------------------------- _ALSO READ WHAT ARE OUR KEY ARGUMENTS AND PROPOSALS [5]?_ ------------------------- We have reiterated in our International Day of Action against WTO and Free Trade Agreements [6] that for us- the global peasant movement of peasants, indigenous people, farm-workers, migrants, fishers and pastoralists - the only permanent solution that we have historically advocated for is that WTO and FTAs stay out of any agricultural discussions. Food cannot be subjected to the whims and fancies of a free market where only those who can afford it can eat it. ------------------------- _ALSO READ "PROSPERITY FOR A FEW, POVERTY FOR THE LOT", WTO AND FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS HAVE FAILED THE PEOPLE! [7]_ ------------------------- The UN Human Rights Council will also meet at the end of June in Geneva. This will be an opportunity for peasant movements from all over the world to affirm that the alternative must be based on peasants' rights and to demand procedures for the implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other Rural Workers (UNDROP). FREE TRADE FUELS HUNGER! WTO OUT OF AGRICULTURE! Links: ------ [1] http://facebook.com/ViaCampesinaOfficial [2] http://twitter.com/via_campesina [3] http://instagram.com/la_via_campesina_official [4] https://cloud.viacampesina.org/s/qcq5m3acWSkN7Ef [5] https://viacampesina.org/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/06/LVC-Slogan-A… [6] https://viacampesina.org/en/freedom-from-hunger-poverty-debt-and-death-free… [7] https://viacampesina.org/en/prosperity-for-a-few-poverty-for-the-lot-wto-an…

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Via-info-en June 2022