A/HRC/36/58 I. Introduction 1. The open-ended inter-governmental working group on a United Nations declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, established by Human Rights Council resolution 21/19, has a mandate to negotiate, finalize and submit to the Council a draft declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas. In its resolution 30/13, the Council decided that the working group should hold its next two annual sessions before the thirty-sixth session of the Council and requested the working group to submit progress reports to it. The present report was prepared pursuant to that request. 2. The fourth session of the working group, held from 15 to 19 May 2017, was opened by a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who commended the leadership and openness of the Chair-Rapporteur of the third session in addressing the suggestions and concerns on the revised draft declaration (A/HRC/WG.15/4/2). She stressed that it was urgent to address the situation of peasants and other people working in rural areas, many of whom were hoping that the discussions of the working group would promptly result in a final, robust and consensual declaration. II. Organization of the session A. Election of the Chair-Rapporteur 3. At its fourth session, the working group elected Nardi Suxo Iturry (Plurinational State of Bolivia), as its Chair-Rapporteur, on the nomination of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries, represented by Jamaica. B. Adoption of the agenda and organization of work 4. The agenda was adopted (A/HRC/WG.15/4/1). 5. The Chair-Rapporteur explained the modalities of the debate and noted that one of the objectives of the session was to dispel any remaining doubts on the provisions of the draft declaration with a view to reaching consensus on as many articles as possible. 6. The Chair-Rapporteur stated that the draft declaration would be read article by article and asked participants to provide specific wording to improve the text. C. Opening statements 7. A statement reaffirming support for the process was delivered on behalf of the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), who referred to global initiatives relevant to peasants’ rights, including the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, proclaimed in 2016. He highlighted that the draft declaration was directly linked to the most relevant principles and guidelines adopted by the Committee on World Food Security and FAO, as well as to the global goals of achieving zero hunger and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 8. The Chair-Rapporteur recalled the developments that had taken place and the meetings she had held with various stakeholders since the third session, held in May 2016. III. Panel discussion 9. The Chair-Rapporteur invited seven experts to contribute to the process: Shivani Chaudhry, Priscilla Claeys, José Esquinas, Mamadou Goïta, Christophe Golay, Anuradha Mittal and Ana Maria Suarez Franco. In a panel discussion, the experts spoke of how the 2