A/HRC/30/55
a level of interpretation where every right was seen as having both negative and positive
obligations attached to them. All the panellists argued that there was a need for a United
Nations declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas and
urged that the text of the declaration be comprehensible and understandable in order for
peasants to enjoy their rights.
B.
Panel discussion II. Rights of peasants and other people working in
rural areas in other international instruments and gaps
24.
Two of the panellists highlighted the various applicable provisions of international
law and the United Nations human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures,
and FAO guidance on the promotion of the right to food. They also noted that the
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its general comment No. 12 (1999)
on the right to adequate food, explained that the right to food included access to adequate
food or means to obtain it; the availability of safe and nutritious food could be obtained
through cultivation of land and therefore access to natural resources was fundamental
dimension of the right to adequate food.
25.
One expert noted that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples and the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of
Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security re-emphasized human
rights principles such as human dignity, gender equality, participation, transparency,
accountability and rule of law, and that the FAO guidelines furthermore included in its
general principles the duty of States to respect, safeguard and promote legitimate tenure
rights. The guidelines also addressed, inter alia, restitution and redistribution of land,
fisheries and forests, including the possibility to introduce limits on land property. It was
clear that the intention of States when adopting those guidelines was not to create new
rights but to give practical guidance in terms of policies and measures regarding the
compliance of States with their obligations on the right to food. At the same time, it was
clear that those guidelines represented an unprecedented international consensus about what
States should do with respect to responsible governance of tenure. It was argued that this
had contributed enormously to developing international law and what still needed to be
clarified were the entitlements of the rights holders, such as the landless, peasants, artisanal
fishers and nomadic pastoralists, with respect to land and natural resources, so that there
was finally legal certainty about their rights to land and natural resources that could be
claimed, including through the courts.
26.
One expert discussed extensively the various International Labour Organization
(ILO) conventions that supported the call for a declaration on peasants and other people
working in rural areas. These included ILO Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention,
1921 (No. 11), Plantations Convention, 1958 (No. 110), Rural Workers’ Organisations
Convention, 1975 (No. 141), Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169),
Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention, 2001 (No. 184) and those related to workers’
rights. The panellist highlighted the various workers’ rights in those conventions, such as
freedom of association, the elimination of all forced or compulsory labour or child labour,
the right to organize for agricultural workers, the obligation of States to actively encourage
agricultural unions and ensure that national laws did not inhibit the work of those
organizations, and detailed guidance on minimal wages, maternity protection, labour
inspection, housing and medical care. She also argued that protection gaps remained,
particularly in relation to migrant workers and rural women who were often subjected to
sexual harassment in the workplace.
27.
One expert explained that most of the rights introduced by the draft declaration and
referred to as “new rights” were not completely “new” in international law, for they
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