Human Rights Council

Fift y- fourth session

11 September–13 October 2023

Agenda item 3

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 11 October 2023

5 4 / 9. Working Group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Guided also by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and all relevant international human rights instruments,

Recalling the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of all human rights and the need of peasants and other people working in rural areas, including women and girls, to be guaranteed the full enjoyment of their rights and freedoms without discrimination,

Welcoming with appreciation the constructive negotiation, participation and active engagement at the five sessions of the open-ended intergovernmental working group on a United Nations declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas,and welcoming the report of the Working Group on its fifth session,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 73/165 of 17 December 2018 and Human Rights Council resolution 39/12 of 28 September 2018, in which the Assembly and the Council adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, recognizing the past, present and future contributions of peasants and other people working in rural areas in all regions of the world to development and to conserving and improving biodiversity, which constitute the basis of food and agricultural production throughout the world, and their contribution to ensuring the right to adequate food and food security, which are fundamental to attaining the internationally agreed development goals, including in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,

Recalling also the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (2019–2028), which has raised the profile of the role of family farming in contributing to the achievement of food security and improved nutrition, and the International Year of Camelids, in 2024, recognizing that camelids constitute the main means of subsistence for millions of poor families that live in the most hostile ecosystems on the planet, and contribute to the fight against hunger, the eradication of extreme poverty, the empowerment of women and the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, as well as General Assembly resolution 77/172 of 14 December 2022 on sustainable mountain development,

Recalling further the Rome Declaration on Nutrition, which recognizes the important role played by family farmers and smallholders, notably women farmers, and its Framework for Action, which calls for, in its recommendation 9, the strengthening of local food production and processing, especially by smallholders and family farmers, giving special attention to women’s empowerment, and recalling also the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016–2025) and its work programme calling for maximizing the participation of all actors and ensuring that the needs of all people, including peasant farmers, are addressed,

Taking note with appreciation of general comment No. 26 (2022) on land and economic, social and cultural rights, of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and general recommendation No. 34 (2016) on the rights of rural women, of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women,

Noting that 2023 marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the thirtieth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and acknowledging the importance of these instruments for the promotion and the protection of all human rights,

Recognizing the essential contribution of peasants and other people working in rural areas to, inter alia, the fight against hunger and the preservation and improvement of biodiversity, as well as the need to respect, promote, protect and fulfil their human rights,

Recognizing also the contribution of peasants and other people working and living in rural areas in all regions of the world to development and in ensuring the rights to food, food security, nutrition and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, which are fundamental to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals and implementing the 2030 Agenda,

Noting with concern that the growing economic and financial burden caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has further exacerbated existing inequalities and exposed others, in particular for rural women and girls, and has increased poverty and hunger, reversed hard-won developmental gains and reduced the chances of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,

Stressing the urgent need to mitigate and tackle the negative impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic on the enjoyment and realization of economic, social and cultural rights, especially for the poor and those in vulnerable and marginalized situations, and to address exacerbated inequalities,

Recognizing that livelihoods in rural areas, particularly of rural women and girls, are disproportionately affected by poverty, violence and climate change, as well as by a lack of development, access to safe drinking water and sanitation, access to scientific progress and recognition of peasants’ contribution to science,

Concerned about peasants ageing around the world and youth increasingly migrating to urban areas and turning their backs on agriculture owing to the lack of incentives and the drudgery of rural life, and recognizing the need to improve the economic diversification of rural areas and the creation of non-farm opportunities, especially for rural youth,

Recognizing that peasants and other people working in rural areas are often disproportionately affected by global financial and economic crises, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, pollution, desertification, and the impact of global climate change, drought and other natural disasters,

Gravely concerned that hunger, like poverty, is still predominantly a rural problem, and that in the rural population it is those who produce food who suffer disproportionately, and alarmed that 80 per cent of people suffering from hunger live in rural areas, particularly in developing countries, and 50 per cent are small-scale and traditional farm holders, as well as subsistence peasants and other people working in rural areas, and that they are especially vulnerable to food insecurity, malnutrition, discrimination and exploitation,

Recalling Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 on institution-building of the Council and resolution 5/2 on the Code of Conduct for Special Procedures Mandate Holders of the Human Rights Council, both of 18 June 2007, and stressing that the mandate holder shall discharge his or her duties in accordance with those resolutions and the annexes thereto,

1.Calls upon Governments, specialized agencies, bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to promote the effective and comprehensive dissemination and implementation of the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, and the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas;

2.Decides to establish, for a period of three years, a working group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, consisting of five independent experts, with balanced geographical representation, to be appointed by the Human Rights Council at its fifty-fifth session, with the following mandate:

(a)To promote the effective and comprehensive dissemination and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, while identifying challenges and gaps in its implementation at the national, regional and international levels, and to make recommendations in this regard;

(b)To identify, exchange and promote good practices and lessons learned on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, and to seek and receive information from all relevant sources, including Governments, the rights holders as defined in article 1 of the Declaration, national human rights institutions, civil society, other relevant special procedures of the Human Rights Council, the treaty bodies, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, specialized agencies, funds, programmes, bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, and regional mechanisms;

(c)To work in close coordination with the Office of the High Commissioner, the special procedures and other human rights mechanisms, the treaty bodies, other relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, international organizations and regional mechanisms;

(d)To facilitate and contribute to the exchange of technical assistance, capacity-building, transfer of technologies and international cooperation in support of national efforts, actions and measures to better implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, in consultation with the rights holders as defined in article 1 of the Declaration;

(e)To submit an annual report to the Human Rights Council and to the General Assembly on its work and activities, containing its conclusions and recommendations, according to their respective programmes of work;

3.Calls upon all States and all stakeholders to cooperate fully with the Working Group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas in the performance of its mandate and to consider implementing the recommendations made by the Working Group in its reports submitted under the mandate;

4.Requests the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to provide the Working Group with all financial and human resources necessary to enable it to carry out its mandate fully and effectively, and to provide all the support necessary to facilitate, in a transparent manner, the convening of the Working Group;

5.Decides to remain seized of the matter.

46 th meeting 11 October 2023

[Adopted by a recorded vote of 38 to 2, with 7 abstentions. The voting was as follows:

In favour:

Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Cameroon, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Honduras, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Viet Nam

Against:

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and United States of America

Abstaining:

Czechia, Finland, France, Georgia, Lithuania, Montenegro and Romania]