The Geneva Academy Participates in a Major Project on Implementing the Rights of Peasants

8 March 2022

The Geneva Academy is participating in a major project, coordinated by Action de Carême and funded by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency, that aims at implementing the rights of peasants enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP) in 10 countries of the Global South.

The project RAISE – for Rights-Based and Agroecological Initiatives for Sustainability and Equity in Peasant Communities – will work in the following countries: the Philippines, India, Nepal, Kenya, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Bolivia and Mexico.

The RAISE partners just issued their first joint statement that welcomes the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food on Seeds, Right to Life and Farmer's Rights.

As a strategic partner, the Geneva Academy will train the project’s partners and local peasants’ organizations of these countries on the rights of peasants and the use of national, regional and international mechanisms to protect them. The Geneva Academy team will also provide strategic guidance to national actors on the use of United Nations human rights mechanisms to ensure respect for the rights of peasants.

‘Our implication in this project forms part of our strategic objective to focus on the implementation of UNDROP. This is a unique opportunity to bring concrete changes in the lives of peasants on the ground and ensure that their rights are respected and implemented’ explains Dr Christophe Golay, Strategic Adviser on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Senior Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy.

‘Having the Geneva Academy on board in this project will allow us to bring a much-needed human rights accountability framework in these countries. The Geneva Academy’s unique expertise on the rights of peasants and its experience in building capacity of national actors will be key to train national peasants’ organization and bring legislative and policy changes’ says Claudia Fuhrer at Action de Carême.