A/HRC/13/32 Declaration of Rights of Peasants, Women and Men Peasants of the World need an International Declaration on the Rights of Peasants The Declaration, Affirming that peasants, men and women, are equal to all other people and, in the exercise of their rights, should be free from any form of discrimination, including discrimination based on race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, wealth, birth or other status, Acknowledging that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action, affirm the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights, civil, cultural, economic, political and social, Emphasizing that in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, States have undertaken to ensure the realization of the right to an adequate standard of living for ourselves and our family, including the right to food, and our right to be free from hunger through the genuine agrarian reform, Emphasizing that according to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, all Indigenous peoples, including peasants, have the right to self-determination and that by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development, having the right to autonomy or selfgovernment in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions, Recalling that many peasants all over the world have fought throughout history for the recognition of the rights of peasants and for just and free societies, Considering that the current agricultural conditions threaten the lives of peasants, worsening the environment, decreasing peasants' productivity and decreasing the livelihood of the peasants, Considering that peasants’ conditions are worsening because of governments’ exclusion of peasants from policy decision making, because of the use of military, and/or paramilitary groups to displace peasants and allowing transnational corporations to exploit natural resources, Considering that capitalist globalization imposed through some international agreements has had a strong negative impact on the peasant sector, Considering that peasants struggle with their own resources and with other groups who support the peasants’ demands for life, environmental protection and increasing productivity, Considering the increasing concentration of the food systems in the world in the hands of few transnational corporations, Considering that peasants constitute a specific social group which is vulnerable so that the realization of the rights of peasants require special measures to truly respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of peasants enshrined in international human rights law, 26