Farmers’ Rights in the Plant Treaty: interrelations and recent interactions with other international regimes and processes

Abstract

The concept of Farmers’ Rights (FR) relating to crop genetic resources is covered by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. However, Farmers’ Rights is a weak concept in legal terms, providing limited recognition vis-à-vis competing interests under stronger legal regimes. The realization of FRs in any given country will therefore depend on interaction with, and shared understanding of, other international legal regimes to which the countries in question are parties, to provide sufficient legal space. Recognition of the concept of Farmers’ Rights was supported by the adoption in 2018 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), which places it in a human rights context and with stronger expression of its various elements. However, UNDROP is not a legally binding instrument, and the question of how to provide sufficient legal space through other international instruments is still relevant. This article discusses whether relevant international regimes, and UNDROP in particular, have interacted and contributed to the realization of Farmers Rights. It is concluded that there remains a need for outreach and collaboration with other international instruments to remove the legal barriers involved.

Keywords

• Farmers’/Peasants’ Rights
• legal space
• International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (plant treaty)
• UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP)