It is time to build an alternative to the current global trade regime. Join us in the effort!

The 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has concluded with no meaningful outcome. The WTO and the current system of global trade must come to an urgent halt. And an alternative must emerge.

La Via Campesina is calling all our members, allied social movements, civil society organizations, and friends in academia and policy spaces – including those in governments – to join us in this effort of building a framework that can help build a fair system of trade, rooted in principles of food sovereignty and social justice.

Sign up to the idea of building an alternative. Add your details here

HIGHLIGHTS - THE WEEK OF MOBILIZATION AGAINST THE WTO

Free Trade Agreements are Failed Trade Agreements. An alternative is now urgent and necessary. Read the full statement.

Farmers’ protests in Europe and the deadend of neoliberalism

We have reached this point after decades of neoliberal agricultural policies and free trade agreements. Production costs have risen steadily in recent years, while prices paid to farmers have stagnated or even fallen. Read More

ECVC puts forth concrete suggestions to guarantee fair prices

ECVC firmly believes that the EU Unfair Trade Practice (UTP) directive (implemented in Spain) offers several pragmatic steps to guarantee fair prices for farmers’ products. Read More

‘Quit WTO Day’: Indian peasant unions agitate against the World Trade Organization

Reportedly, on the 26th February, farmers staged protests against the World Trade Organization at over 400 district centers across India. They handed over petitions to the officials of the State urging the Indian government to protect domestic support programs and food stockholding programs at the 13th Ministerial Meeting of the WTO in Abu Dhabi. Read More

WTO is unfit for purpose in an era of multiple crises; It is time for an Alternative: Asian Civil Society

Members of La Via Campesina in Asia have joined a host of other civil society organizations and social movements to call out the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which is meeting in Abu Dhabi from 26-29 February 2024. The way forward for the South is a path outside of the WTO. An alternative is now more urgent than ever. Read More

Korean Peasants: Free trade is over! Stop the WTO ministerial conference destroying agriculture!

Free trade has already ended. The unequal world order created by free trade has also ended. The WTO ministerial conference, trapped in past glory, should be immediately halted. The Western world is pressuring developing countries to abolish domestic subsidies for agriculture, claiming they distort trade. Read More

Chile: ANAMURI denounces the WTO Ministerial, reiterates the call for an alternative trade framework

ANAMURI strongly opposes the character of Free Trade Agreements which, following WTO rules, endanger the Food Sovereignty of the world’s peoples, undermining the autonomy and self-sufficiency of national and local economies with adverse effects on the living conditions and wages of all workers, including migrants and especially women who daily struggle for the right to food. Read More

Debt Crisis and Free Trade Agreements endanger Kenya’s food sovereignty: Kenyan Peasants League

The Kenyan Peasants’ League,underscores this link by referencing the several Free Trade Agreements, which now permit cheap imports of pesticides, eggs and sugar. Read More

Indonesia: SPI Urges Government to Exclude Agriculture from WTO Discussions

The importation of 3 million tons of rice in 2024 led to a decrease in rice prices at the local farmer level across various regions. This policy is aligned with WTO principles, prioritizing free trade over domestic producers. Read More

READ ALL ARTCILES CONNECTED TO MC13

As protests against the EU-Mercosur trade agreements grow louder, we are republishing the La Via Campesina statement based on a proposal from the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC-Vía Campesina) and the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC): Read the full statement.

RECENT VIDEOS

As thousands of farmers protest across Europe against low prices and cheap imports Morgan Ody, a farmer and coordinator of La Via Campesina, joins CNN's Amara Walker to discuss what the protesters want from the European Union.

Hundreds of tractors in Bilbao (Spain) also flooded the streets of the city, joining European and worldwide mobilizations. In a mobilization not seen for many years, the Basque peasantry denounced the abuses of free trade agreements on their production and demanded the relocation of food systems in favor of the people.

On Thursday, February 1, 2024, European peasant farmers staged a blockade in Brussels against the EU-Mercosur agreement, demanding fair prices for peasant farmers and meaningful state support towards agroecological transition. Here is the video report.

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