About the rights of peasants

Poverty is still predominantly a rural problem. 80 per cent of people suffering from hunger live in rural areas, particularly in developing countries, and 50 per cent are small-scale and traditional farm holders, as well as subsistence peasants and other people working in rural areas.

Peasants and other people working in rural areas are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and to a wide range of human rights abuses, including inadequate access to land, adequate food, resources, and markets, as well as facing threats to their livelihoods from climate change, land grabbing, and exploitative labour practices.

In particular, rural women and girls are disproportionately affected by poverty, violence and climate change, as well as by a lack of development, access to safe drinking water and sanitation, access to scientific progress and recognition of their contribution to science.

By establishing this mandate, the Human Rights Council aims to promote and facilitate the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas, adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in 2018, and thus contribute to improving the living conditions and human rights of rural populations all over the world.