LA VIA CAMPESINA ANNUAL REPORT 2017 MAY 2017
The most significant act of unification of the peasant movement this year was the VIIth International Conference of La Via Campesina, held in the Basque Country in July 2017. (Photo: La Via Campesina)
Participants came from 78 different countries; 50% were women and there was a strong youth presence. Hosted by LVC member EHNE-Bizkaia, the Conference was made possible with the support of nearly 400 volunteers. A team of professional interpreters volunteered their time enabled delegates from 19 different languages to understand each other through simultaneous interpreting. (Photo: La Via Campesina) With the slogan Invest in Peasant Youth sowing the present to harvest the future, the IVth International Youth Assembly took place between 16 and 17 July, 2017. (Photo: La Via Campesina)
The Vth International Women s Assembly was held on the 1VIIth and 18th July, with the slogan We are building a movement to change the world, with feminism and food sovereignty! (Photo: La Via Campesina)
In the 4th negotiation in May in Geneva we fought hard to make sure the future UN declaration is strong. (Photo: La Via Campesina)
During the year and at the VIIth Conference, we issued several solidarity statements calling upon governments to uphold human rights. (Photo: Umut Vedat/ La Via Campesina)
In 2017, La Via Campesina (LVC) became more involved in the Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity, particularly during the negotiations at the UN Human Rights Council for a Legally Binding Treaty on TNCs. (Photo: La Via Campesina)
1 https://viacampesina.org/en/?s=binding+treaty ANNUAL REPORT 2017
Encounter of Agroecology of Americas in Brazil in the Frorestan Fernandes School. (Photo: La Via Campesina) ANNUAL REPORT 2017
La Via Campesina this year organized four Continental Encounters of Agroecology Schools and Training Processes. (Photo: La Via Campesina)
LVC organised a mission to verify the Peace Agreements in Colombia. The Colombia mission consisted of 25 people from peasant and other civil society organizations with experience in using the Tenure Guidelines to monitor the status of implementation of the peace agreements. (Photo: La Via Campesina)
A video providing a glimpse of the rich exchanges that occurred during the 2016 Agrarian Reform confernece was launched in 2017, in addition to the publication giving an overview of the struggles for agrarian reform and the defense of territories in LVC. ANNUAL REPORT 2017
LVC actively supported the Union for Agricultural Workers Committee (UAWC), our member in Palestine, in the struggle against the settlement policy of the Israeli government and to harvest olives and protect their olive trees. (Photo: Umut Vedat/ La Via Campesina) ANNUAL REPORT 2017
In the border region of the United States and Mexico, LVC delegates were received in December by member organization Border Farm Workers Project (BAWP) for a week-long exchange with local activists, students, and university-based researchers. (Photo: La Via Campesina) ANNUAL REPORT 2017
From 7 to 13 December, 2017, about 100 Vía Campesina delegates converged on Buenos Aires to reiterate LVC's adamant and organized opposition to the neo-liberal trade schemes promoted by the World Trade Organization (WTO). (Photo: La Via Campesina) ANNUAL REPORT 2017
In Bonn, LVC delegates from across the globe converged, among others with allies of Ende Gelände, the Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles in West Africa, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJA), and the Confederación Sindical de Trabajadores/as de las Américas (CSA-CSI). (Photo: La Via Campesina)
At the 4th Youth Assembly, the young peasants also issued a declaration that pledged to harness our rich diversity in culture, geography, identity and language to continue to strengthen our movement through constant struggle and active mobilization. (Photo: La Via Campesina) 2 https://viacampesina.org/en/vii-international-conference-youthassembly-declaration/
La Via Campesina South Asia successfully held its first ever peasant youth camp in Lucknow, India in May. Around 70 young women and men from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka actively participated. (Photo: La Via Campesina)
The need to take forward the Campaign against Violence done to Women and to increase the political participation of women in LVC were main topics of the Women Assembly. (Photo: La Via Campesina) ANNUAL REPORT 2017
Following citizen media workshop organized in Turkey at the end of 2015, we organized in January this year (Bangalore, India) a 2-day Asia level media dialogue. (Photo: La Via Campesina)
Besides workshops, we have also been successful in engaging with nearly 25 journalists from Asia, Europe, Africa, Americas, the Middle East - in the run up to the VIIth Conference. As a result, the VIIth Conference received prominent coverage in local and international press including Telesur and Al Jazeera, with over 30 articles and at least 36 radio programs bringing out peasant voices and identities. (Photo: La Via Campesina)
(Photo: Umut Vedat/ La Via Campesina) ANNUAL REPORT 2017
La Via Campesina is an international grassroots movement that defends small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity. It brings together millions of peasants, small and medium-size farmers, women farmers, landless people, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers and youth from around the world. It strongly opposes corporate driven agriculture and transnational companies that are marginalizing people and destroying nature. It is comprised of 182 member organisations in 81 countries around the world. www.viacampesina.org tv.viacampesina.org @via_campesina fb.com/viacampesinaofficial