Wealthy Nations Thwart Hopes of World's Landless Peoples
Published on Sunday, July 28, 2013 by Inter Press Service
Wealthy Nations Thwart Hopes of World's Landless Peoples
United States and EU nations frustrate Peasants’ Rights Declaration
by Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA - Staunch opposition by the U.S. delegation and, to one extent or another, by European countries has blocked the approval this year of a draft multilateral declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, which is backed by the developing world.
Bolivian diplomat Angélica Navarro, chair of the intergovernmental working group tasked with drafting the declaration, recommended that it meet again in mid-2014.
Navarro said that in the meantime, she would hold consultations with representatives of governments, civil society and the United Nations, which is promoting the initiative through its Human Rights Council.
“From the start we knew the process would be difficult, because the positions of some countries clashed with certain provisions in the declaration,” said Malik Özden, representative of the Europe-Third World Centre (CETIM), a Geneva-based NGO that is behind the draft declaration.
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/28-0