A/HRC/30/55 It was also argued that, if women were to be able to gain access to education, they would be able to fully participate and better fulfil their human rights. One participant also noted that some of the work that peasant women undertook was often invisible and limiting their access to education. They furthermore argued that States must address structural problems through targeted policies if they were to improve access to education. Another participant noted that women faced discrimination based on land policies and cultural practices, as they were often landless or culturally excluded, as land titles were often registered to the men in the family. The increasing price of land was also highlighted by one participant, who noted that it was for that reason that many in developed countries could not become small-scale farmers and that government policies were hindering their ability to work in rural areas. A number of NGOs noted that women should be specially recognized throughout the declaration because they are the poorest among the food-insecure peasants, and disenfranchised in entitlement to land and other rights. One NGO highlighted the need for the draft declaration to include miners and communities living in mining areas, and to take into account States and non-State actors’ responsibilities and obligations towards them. Another NGO called for the declaration to include specific State obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, the State extraterritorial obligations with regard to those rights, the distinction between progressive and immediate realization of certain of those rights, and ways to ensure accountability. 36. Some participants also raised concerns over not including migrants under the definition of “peasant”. They highlighted the need for special protection measures, especially in relation to migrant women, as they faced discrimination and limited access to land and other resources. They highlighted that there was often a lack of protection for migrants, including no access to health services, water and sanitation. V. First reading of the draft United Nations declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas 37. The Chair-Rapporteur noted that there were over 50 international conventions, covenants and instruments that had been used as the basis for the new draft declaration. including international human rights treaties and standards developed by the United Nations human rights mechanisms; regional human rights treaties; General Assembly and Human Rights Council resolutions; instruments adopted by FAO and ILO; and a number of other international treaties, outcome documents of international conferences, reports of the United Nations, as well as instruments developed by civil society, social movements, academics and experts. 38. The Chair-Rapporteur introduced articles 1-6, indicating the background of each article, and opened the floor for comments from representatives of States and civil society and other participants. 39. Many States reserved their position because of the late distribution of the draft declaration. Some stated that it was premature to present a draft at this session. Some participants raised concerns over the implementation of the declaration, highlighting that various human rights international declarations lacked implementation even after signing and ratification by the Member States. A number of participants also raised objections over the use of the term “peasants”. They noted that the term was derogatory and disrespectful and asked for more discussion over it. Some participants argued that the definition under article 1 was narrow and proposed that it to be broader, while others said it was right to define “peasants” in article 1 of the declaration, but that the proposed definition was too broad. One State indicated that it would be difficult to comment on the text as it was only provided in English. That delegation noted that there was no concept of “peasants” in his 11

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