A/HRC/39/67 gateway to the realization of other rights — then States can continue to undermine rural communities’ access to land by claiming that there are other means to satisfy these corollary rights. Articulating a substantive right to land in the Declaration can help close this normative gap, which is also in keeping with the evolutionary character of international human rights law. 6. Ms. Yiching Song highlighted the challenges facing women in rural areas. Economic globalization is the cause of insufficient ecological and social development, threatens local food systems and leads to unemployment, hunger and migration. Ms. Song referred to women farmers as managers of natural resources (water, seeds and land). Ms. Song regretted that scientific technology has not paid enough attention to small-scale farmers. She also underscored the importance of the Declaration as it is focused on the specific needs of peasants, has a rights-based framework and recognizes both individual and collective rights. The Declaration is also closely related to the SDGs. Also, Ms. Song pointed to the usefulness of the Declaration in guiding national laws and policy design aimed at protecting the rights of peasants, in particular women farmers. 21