media and policy submissions

GENEVA (14 April 2022) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, draws attention to the struggles of peasants and others which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic alongside the rise of extrajudicial violence against peasants and armed conflicts around the world. On the International Day of Peasants' Struggles, he issues the following statement: 

“On the International Day of Peasants' Struggles the world  recognizes the essential contribution of peasants and other people working in rural areas such as small farmers, pastoralists, artisanal fishers, landless rural workers, and Indigenous Peoples to feeding communities and ensuring food systems flourish all over the world. I call for a stronger recognition of their crucial contribution to the global and local food security and their indispensable role in combatting hunger.

The endless extensions to the State of Disaster, initially declared two years ago, has provoked criticism from medical experts and calls for its end from public-interest groups and an increasingly fed-up citizenry. Recently, the government announced that the restrictions were finally to be lifted. 

However, during this time, a draft amendment to the National Health Act was published, which transfers all the extraordinary powers of the Disaster Management Act to our health legislation. And in another sleight of hand, an amended labour legislation Code of Practice was gazetted on the same day, opening a back door for mandating vaccinations in the workplace. 

A coalition of non-governmental organisations, farmer groups and research experts from various African countries call on the Nigerian government to revoke the permits granted by Nigeria’s National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) to the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, for the commercial release of genetically modified (Bt) Cowpea (PBR-Cowpea). 

This call was made yesterday in an online international press conference: Pushing Back Bt Cowpea in Africa, organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in collaboration with the African Center for Biodiversity (ACB). 

You can view the whole press conference here: https://youtu.be/UJNuqriwleM