Delegation of the European Union to Syria

09/19/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/19/2024 05:33

HRC57 - Interactive dialogue with the Working Group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas

United Nations Human Rights Council

57thSession

Interactive dialogue with the Working Group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas

18 September 2024

EU Statement

Mr President,

The EU welcomes the first report of the working group.

Peasants feed us all and yet they are disproportionately affected by food insecurity; they suffer from a range of intersectional discriminations related to access to land, natural resources, and basic social services.

The report adequately reflects the important disparities between the lived realities of peasants across the world, highlighting the situation of peasant women. We welcome the multi-stakeholder approach selected to identifying gaps and to collecting best practices for protecting the human rights of peasants and other people living in rural areas.

The EU looks forward to the working group's recommendations on how to apply identified best practices to addressing legal gaps on structural and systemic issues concerning global trends such as climate change, environmental contamination and degradation, intergenerational-indebtedness, access to finance or disruptions in global and regional food systems and value chains, many of them exacerbated by the triple planetary crisis.

The EU finally welcomes the complementary approach of the working group with frameworks such as the 2030 Agenda and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and its focus on working with rights-holders and civil society.

Members of the Working group,

How do you intend to work with other Special procedures mandates going forward?

Thank you.