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UN Declaration defends peasant farmers, but will it help stop attacks and human rights abuses?

Rural activists are finding out that a UN declaration to protect them and action by governments to hold those responsible for human rights violations and attacks on them accountable – are two different things. Español

By Natalia Gomez Peña
UN Declaration defends peasant farmers, but will it help stop attacks and human rights abuses?
Rural protest in Guatemala, Wikimedia Commons.
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The old cliché “action speaks louder than words” has a deadly ring for campesino (peasant farmers) activists contemplating a historic international pledge to do better to protect them from state-sponsored attacks.

One of the toughest, deadliest years for campesino (peasant farmers) activists in Latin America ended in December with a historic United Nations declaration to ensure their wellbeing and prosperity.

Some 121 countries, representing two thirds of the world’s population, voted to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), which pledges to protect the rights, lives and livelihoods of peasant farmers and rural workers globally.

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