“Rights for Peasants” Since One Year – 121 Countries Can Celebrate Land Rights for the Weak

Last month, humans rights groups across the globe celebrated the one-year anniversary of a United Nations agreement that aimed at recognizing rural communities’ rights to land.

Traditionally marginalized, small communities and rural workers have repeatedly faced unfair land deals in the past. Multinational corporations, but also local governments, are often the culprits, engaging in large-scale investments or programs to buy out massive amounts of land without giving much of a say to local residents.

“To see land as a right means it’s something that local communities use for their own livelihood, and not just … a commodity that needs to be used in the most efficient way,” says Annette Schramm, a peace and conflict expert from the University of Tubingen in Germany.

The agreement, known as the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Peasants, was voluntarily adopted last year by 121 countries, pending formal implementation. Backers see the declaration as a major step forward, as it explicitly puts in writing the concept of human “right to land”. Many groups have already started using the agreement as a tool to fight injustice: in Ukraine, for example, land rights advocates wielded the U.N. agreement to fight on a planned liberalisation of farmland they say would leave millions vulnerable.