A/HRC/19/75 Article 1 Definition of peasants 1. A peasant is a man or woman of the land, who has a direct and special relationship with the land and nature through the production of food or other agricultural products. Peasants work the land themselves and rely above all on family labour and other smallscale forms of organizing labour. Peasants are traditionally embedded in their local communities and they take care of local landscapes and of agro-ecological systems. 2. The term peasant can apply to any person engaged in agriculture, cattle-raising, pastoralism, handicrafts-related to agriculture or a related occupation in a rural area. This includes indigenous people working on the land. 3. The term peasant also applies to landless. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization definition, the following categories of people are considered to be landless and are likely to face difficulties in ensuring their livelihood: 1. Agricultural labour households with little or no land; 2. Non-agricultural households in rural areas, with little or no land, whose members are engaged in various activities such as fishing, making crafts for the local market, or providing services; 3. Other rural households of pastoralists, nomads, peasants practising shifting cultivation, hunters and gatherers, and people with similar livelihoods. Article 2 Rights of peasants 1. All peasants, women and men, have equal rights. 2. Peasants have the right to the full enjoyment, individually and collectively, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments. 3. Peasants are free and equal to all other peoples and have the right to be free from any kind of discrimination in the exercise of their rights, in particular to be free from discriminations based on their economic, social and cultural status. 4. Peasants have the right to participate in the policy design, decision making, implementation, and monitoring of any project, program or policy affecting their land and territories. 5. Peasants have the right to food sovereignty, which comprises the right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and the right to define their own food and agriculture systems. Article 3 Right to life and to an adequate standard of living 1. Peasants have the right to physical integrity, to not be harassed, evicted, persecuted, arbitrarily arrested, and killed for defending their rights. 2. Peasants have the right to live in dignity. 3. Peasants have the right to an adequate standard of living, which includes the right to an adequate income to fulfil their basic needs and those of their families. 23