A/HRC/4/30 page 8 Civil society 17. The Special Rapporteur also welcomes numerous initiatives of civil society around the world to promote the right to food. 18. In Colombia, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the initiative of the Plataforma Colombiana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo, an association of 100 Colombian civil society organizations, which launched a national campaign on the right to food in 2006. In the context of an armed conflict and increasing malnutrition and food insecurity in Colombia, the Plataforma aims to raise awareness about the right to food and to identify new ways for its implementation. 19. In Malawi, non-governmental organizations have taken an important initiative, led by the National Right to Food Taskforce, to draft a Human Right to Food Bill, with the aim of creating an independent authority to ensure and monitor the implementation of the right to food. The bill recommends, inter alia, the creation of an authority able to investigate food rights violations and take action on behalf of the victims. The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to consider seriously the proposed Human Right to Food Bill to strengthen the current national legislative framework for the protection and promotion of the right to adequate food. 20. At the international level, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the work of the global farmers’ organization Via Campesina and the non-governmental organization FIAN and CETIM (Centre Europe - Tiers Monde) to improve the situation of small-scale and subsistence farmers, who are the main victims of hunger and malnutrition and of human rights violations. After consultations with peasant farmers worldwide, as well as an analysis of gaps in the existing legal framework protecting peasants (produced by FIAN and the International Commission of Jurists), Via Campesina has now proposed a Draft Declaration on Peasants Rights. It is important that attention is focused on how this declaration could offer greater protection of the right to food for those who suffer most from hunger.5 II. SITUATIONS OF SERIOUS CONCERN 21. The Special Rapporteur would like to draw the attention of the Human Rights Council to the following situations of serious concern regarding the realization of the right to food. Darfur, Sudan 22. In the Darfur region of the Sudan violence has reportedly increased due to continuous attacks of the rebel groups and the use of aerial bombardments in North and South Darfur. The violence is causing terrible human casualties and violations of the right to food, including the pillaging of crops, food and livestock, destruction of water points, the forced displacement of people from their lands and the disruption of food assistance.6 Attacks on humanitarian aid 5 La Via Campesina, FIAN International, Rights, Resources and Resistance, 2006. 6 The DPA Monitor, November 2006.