LVC Geneva Declaration: End WTO! Build International Trade based on Peasants’ Rights and Food Sovereignty!
by La Via Campesina
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-f...
[2]
https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/capitalism-and-f...
[3]
https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/capitalism-and-f...
[4] https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-for/human-rights/
[5]
https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/capitalism-and-f...
[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
2 years, 6 months
Nyéléni Newsletter | Towards a global forum of food sovereignty
by La Via Campesina
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/
2 years, 6 months
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
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-...
[2]
https://viacampesina.org/fr/la-via-campesina-appelle-les-etats-a-sortir-d...
[3]
https://twitter.com/via_campesina/status/1532267751938883585?s=20&t=n...
2 years, 6 months
WTO Ministerial in June, Geneva | Call for Mobilisation
by La Via Campesina
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...
[6]
https://viacampesina.org/en/freedom-from-hunger-poverty-debt-and-death-fr...
[7]
https://viacampesina.org/en/prosperity-for-a-few-poverty-for-the-lot-wto-...
2 years, 7 months