United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas A/RES/73/165 right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods that respect human rights, Realizing that the individual, having duties to other individuals and to the community to which he or she belongs, is under a responsibility to strive for the promotion and observance of the rights recognized in the present Declaration and in national law, Reaffirming the importance of respecting the diversity of cultures and of promoting tolerance, dialogue and cooperation, Recalling the extensive body of conventions and recommendations of the International Labour Organization on labour protection and decent work, Recalling also the Convention on Biological Diversity 11 and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity, 12 Recalling further the extensive work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Committee on World Food Security on the right to food, tenure rights, access to natural resources and other rights of peasants, in particular the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, 13 and the Organization’s Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, 14 the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication and the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security, 15 Recalling the outcome of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, and the Peasants’ Charter adopted thereat, in which the need for the formulation of appropriate national strategies for agrarian reform and rural development, and their integration with overall national development strategies, was emphasized, Reaffirming that the present Declaration and relevant international agreements shall be mutually supportive with a view to enhancing the protection of human rights, Determined to take new steps forward in the commitment of the international community with a view to achieving substantial progress in human rights endeavours by an increased and sustained effort of international cooperation and solidarity, Convinced of the need for greater 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, Declares the following: Article 1 1. For the purposes of the present Declaration, a peasant is any person who engages or who seeks to engage, alone, or in association with others or as a community, in small-scale agricultural production for subsistence and/or for the market, and who __________________ 11 12 13 14 15 4/17 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1760, No. 30619. United Nations Environment Programme, document UNEP/CBD/COP/10/27, annex, decision X/1. United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2400, No. 43345. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, document CL 14 4/9 (C 2013/20), appendix D. E/CN.4/2005/131, annex. 18-22260