A/HRC/19/75 Women, however, account for 70 per cent of the world’s hungry and are disproportionately affected by malnutrition, poverty and food insecurity. Globally, women cultivate more than 50 per cent of all food grown, yet they rarely receive any recognition for their work. Indeed, many are not even paid. 23. Peasant women in particular often face discrimination in gaining secure access to and control over other productive resources, such as land, water and credit, because they are often not recognized as producers or juridical equals. In understanding the problems faced by peasants and the discrimination they suffer, it is especially important to note the special situation faced by women peasants. While the proportion of women heads of rural household continues to grow (more than 30 per cent in some developing countries), less than 2 per cent of all land is owned by women. 25 Customs and traditions in many parts of the world limit women’s equal access to productive resources. In some countries, discrimination is still codified in national laws; in others, it is part of customary law (see part III.B. below). III. Causes of discrimination and vulnerability of peasants and other people working in rural areas 24. The main causes of discrimination and vulnerability of peasants and other people working in rural areas are closely linked to human rights violations: (a) expropriation of land, forced evictions and displacement; (b) gender discrimination; (c) the absence of agrarian reform and rural development policies; (d) the lack of minimum wages and social protection; and (e) the criminalization of movements defending the rights of people working in rural areas. A. Expropriation of land, forced evictions and displacement 25. From 1995 to 2005, Foodfirst Information and Action Network International worked on more than 100 cases of violations of the right to food, and concluded that the majority of them were related to expropriation of land, forced evictions and displacements. 26 Most urgent appeals made by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food are also based on allegations of expropriation of land, forced evictions and forced displacements. 27 The recent phenomenon of global “land-grab” has added another dimension to these concerns as Governments and companies seek to buy and lease large tracts of productive land in other countries, for food to be exported back to their countries or to grow biofuels to fill the petrol tanks of those in the global North (see A/HRC/13/33/Add.2). 26. In June 2011, the Oakland Institute released a collection of new reports examining the consequences of the “land grab” on rural communities in several African countries, including Ethiopia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, the United Republic of Tanzania and South Sudan.28 Among others, the Oakland Institute describes the land deals of the Addax 25 26 27 28 8 Isabelle Rae, Women and the Right to Food: International Law and State Practice (FAO, Rome 2008). Jennie Jonsén, “Developing Indicators for the Right to Food. Lessons learned from the case work of FIAN International”, paper presented at the expert symposium on the theme “Measuring developments in the realization of the right to food by means of indicators: the IBSA-procedure”, 22– 23 May 2006, Mannheim, Germany. 2006, pp.115–117. See for example A/HRC/4/30/Add.1. Oakland Institute, Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa, 2011, reports available online at http://media.oaklandinstitute.org/special-investigation-understanding-land-investment-deals-africa.