The UN Declaration on the rights of peasants as a tool for promoting collective rights

The report argues that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) is a landmark instrument that recognizes peasants and other rural workers as holders of collective rights. It details how the Declaration protects food sovereignty, land tenure, and environmental rights, debunking the misconception that human rights apply only to individuals. The document provides examples of national and international applications of these rights and advocates for their inclusion in a Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights.

• The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), adopted in December 2018, is the first international instrument to recognize peasants as a group holding collective rights rather than just a sum of individuals.
• UNDROP establishes several key collective rights, including food sovereignty—defined as the right of peoples to define their own food and agriculture systems—as well as rights to land, seeds, water, sanitation, and a clean, safe, and healthy environment.
• The Declaration challenges the misconception that collective rights supplant individual rights, arguing instead that they expand universal protection and that an individual's identity is inextricably linked to their community and environment.
• The report identifies that collective rights are a precondition for the success of sustainable strategies such as Agroecology and Community Forest Management, which depend on collective access to and control over the commons.
• UNDROP can be used as a tool for national policy change, serving as a model for new legislation, a reference for evaluating existing laws, and a basis for legal arguments in courts to protect rural workers.
• The Declaration has already been utilized by international bodies, such as the UN Human Rights Committee in a 2019 decision regarding agrochemical poisoning in Paraguay, to strengthen arguments about the violation of the right to privacy, family, and home for peasant farmers.
• The report argues that UNDROP should be used as a yardstick to hold agribusiness corporations accountable and should inform the development of a Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights.

APA

Penchaszadeh, A. (2020). The UN Declaration on the rights of peasants as a tool for promoting collective rights. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-UN-Declaration-on-the-rights-of-peasants-as-a-tool-for-promoting-collective-rights.pdf

Chicago

Penchaszadeh, Analía. The UN Declaration on the rights of peasants as a tool for promoting collective rights. Friends of the Earth International, 2020. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-UN-Declaration-on-the-rights-of-peasants-as-a-tool-for-promoting-collective-rights.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Penchaszadeh |first1=Analía |title=The UN Declaration on the rights of peasants as a tool for promoting collective rights |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=December 2020 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-UN-Declaration-on-the-rights-of-peasants-as-a-tool-for-promoting-collective-rights.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{penchaszadeh2020declaration, author = {Penchaszadeh, Analía}, title = {{The UN Declaration on the rights of peasants as a tool for promoting collective rights}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2020}, month = dec, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-UN-Declaration-on-the-rights-of-peasants-as-a-tool-for-promoting-collective-rights.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }