The potential of UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas: moving towards rights-based agriculture policy in Canada

Abstract

This major research paper outlines the relevance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) to the Canadian agriculture context. Despite Canada’s perception as a human rights leader on the global stage, the state of the agriculture system reflects a different reality for farmers and farmworkers. The author connects specific articles of UNDROP to current agricultural policy issues framed as rights violations in order to demonstrate the potential of the Declaration as a tool for change in Canada. Implementing UNDROP in Canada is an integral part of aligning the country’s agriculture policy with human rights and with the wider global struggle to challenge, dismantle, and rebuild the food system in line with food sovereignty.