A/HRC/39/67 Annex II Summary of statements by panellists 1. Professor José Esquinas Alcazar emphasized that the recognition of the right to seeds in the UN Declaration is crucial for the realization of the human rights of peasants as well as of the entire world population. According to FAO, seeds are essential to ensure food security for this generation. Small-scale farmers could not survive without seeds thus the importance of maintaining biological diversity. Peasants have developed, conserved, and now provide to other farmers, who will improve biodiversity. He also highlighted that there is no way to combating climate change that it is not based on biological diversity of seeds of farmers who adapt crops to the changing climate conditions. Mr. Esquinas underscored that biodiversity is key to achieve many of the Sustainable Development Goals including eradication of poverty, eradication of hunger and malnutrition, and those related to climate change and the preservation of biodiversity. In his conclusions, he suggested that the right to seeds is in in fact not a new right but reflected the application of existing agreements to the specific needs and vulnerabilities of peasants and, that it was important to recognize and reaffirm in the human rights framework. 2. Mr. Million Belay underlined the cultural importance of food sovereignty for peasants and other people working in rural areas, which has four elements: (a) the spirituality of food as many communities regard food and land that produces it as sacred; (b) food as essential for their livelihood, health and healing; (c) language and knowledge of local people connected with food and food production; and (d) governance as local community manages its governance and their relationship with environment. Food sovereignty is also critical for promoting healthy food, against the increasing trends of obesity in some parts of the world and malnutrition in other parts. Promoting agroecology, a food production system that is ecologically sound and sustainable, offers possibilities to protect food sovereignty while respecting planetary boundaries, thereby contributing towards the implementation of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. 3. Mr. Diego Monton outlined the contributions of his organization to raising attention to the dreadful situation of peasants worldwide, and highlighted the importance of the draft declaration in protecting their rights, resolving conflicts and building peace and social justice. Mr. Monton clarified that the concept of collective rights is based on the relationship between individuals and their community, which should be recognized by the international community. He highlighted the importance of combatting discrimination against peasants in exercising their collective rights, in particular on land ownership. He pointed out that existing legislations may protect the rights of indigenous peoples but do not offer sufficient protection to other affected communities, including peasants. 4. Professor Smita Narula 1 underlined the importance and urgency of articulating a substantive right to land in the context of widespread hunger and food insecurity in rural communities, forced displacements, large-scale land grabs, climate change, rapid urbanization, consolidation of corporate control in the food sector, the impoverishment of small-scale farmers and fisherfolks, and the exploitative and often inhuman treatment of landless and migrant workers. She pointed out that existing international human rights laws do not provide sufficient normative support to peasants and other rural communities to claim their right to land. The absence of a clear articulation of the rights and duties related to land allows for excessive interpretive discretion, with the result that the enforcement of existing standards has been partial and uneven at best. 5. International human rights law must therefore evolve from an instrumentalist approach to land to the recognition that land sustains life and forms culture and identity, and is, therefore, in and of itself a substantive human right. Moreover, if access to land continues to be given primarily instrumental consideration — as an asset that serves as a 1 20 Full statement available on the website of the Fifth Session of the Working Group on Peasants.