A/HRC/26/48 and malnutrition were concentrated in rural areas, despite the substantial contribution by peasants to food security. In addition, some delegations and other participants argued that peasants experienced discrimination in many forms and on many grounds, including age and gender and by virtue of being resident in rural areas, with women being especially vulnerable. It was further noted that other challenges facing peasants included the denial of their means of livelihood; a challenge mentioned by some delegations and other participants was the creation of large buffer zones in occupied areas, separating farmers from their land, and rendering it difficult for them to access it. In a similar vein, some delegations and other participants stressed that peasants were also denied other human rights, such as the rights to food, health, water and education. 31. Some participants noted the need to clarify State obligations and actions overall. Some delegations and other participants stressed the need for public policies, developed through participatory and open processes, which protected the rights of peasants. Some delegations provided examples of best practices in that area, including legislation and programmes to ensure that issues such as denial of livelihood and the recognition of collective and individual land rights were addressed. 32. With regard to the draft declaration, some participants noted a number of difficulties, for example, that the draft was too focused on the rights of peasants to the exclusion of other people working in rural areas and that it did not make reference to relevant text in existing instruments or systematically use accepted human rights language. Those participants also commented that the link between the rights set out in the declaration and any duties and responsibilities should be strengthened; the causes of human rights violations should be reflected in the declaration; there was a need to take into account the national priorities of individual countries; the right to social security should feature in the declaration and its absence was a major oversight; the declaration should recognizes, and should provide for, a foundation for addressing the human rights concerns of women and the multiple forms of discrimination faced by them; and the right to effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds and in all its forms should be integrated into the declaration. 33. Some delegations expressed their commitment to taking action to improve the situation of peasants. Others disagreed on the use of the draft declaration as a point of departure and on whether a declaration was needed, as opposed to other ways forward. In that regard, one delegation emphasized the need to ensure that the views of all members of the working group were fully taken into account. V. First reading of the draft declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas 34. Some delegations and other participants noted the need to further debate the definition of “peasant”. A number of non-governmental and civil society organizations noted that there was a need to consider peasants who resided in towns, cities and slums, as often peasants did not have rural land to work on and were forced to move from rural areas. 35. Some delegations and other participants noted that some rights had already been established in international treaties and therefore questioned why they had been included in the draft declaration, while others noted that the reaffirmation of existing rights and the recognition of new rights could be found in other human rights declarations and instruments and was common practice. A non-governmental organization noted that peasant men as well as women had the right to be protected from domestic, physical, sexual, verbal and psychological violence. 10