International Conference on Food Sovereignty, Agrarian Reforms and Peasants' Rights'
29-31 August 2007
Kathmandu Declaration
Kathmandu, Nepal

Food Sovereignty as reliable framework for Food and Agriculture Policies

We, the peasants, agricultural workers, indigenous people, dalits, peasant women, NGOs, mass organizations from Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Basque country, Norway, France, Mali and Brazil assembled on 29-31 August in Kathmandu, Nepal and reaffirm and declare Food Sovereignty as the inalienable right of peoples, communities and countries. This right encompasses the right to define, decide and implement their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food and land policies which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances. It includes right to land and productive resources ensuing right to food and to produce food which means that all people have right to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and to food producing resources and technologies and ability to sustain themselves, their resources and societies.

On this occasion, we like to extend our thanks to all our international friends for their warm support and solidarity and congratulate the Nepali peasants for their victory on incorporating Food Sovereignty as a fundamental right in the interim constitution of the country. We thank the Nepalese government and the political forces for accepting Food Sovereignty as people's fundamental right. We pledge our solidarity and support for the struggle of peasants to uphold their rights and call the Nepali government and state to institutionalize Food Sovereignty in Nepali constitution.

During this three-day long international conference, we engaged in deep and strategic discussions, debates, and shared our views and experiences to analyze the local, national, regional and international situation of peasants, landless farmers, Dalits, indigenous people and women and derived the conclusion that we are experiencing the loss of control of our food production, our local foods can not compete with the imported food produced by big corporations, much of agricultural land is under the control of the landlords, and our natural resources including water and forest is being exploited by a handful of powerful interests world wide in general and Nepal in particular. By and large, the trend forces our peasants to losing control over local seeds and biodiversity under present pro-liberal policy encroachments. The wisdom and local knowledge of thousands is being ignored and damned to widen profits through corporate agriculture.

This is the result of neo-liberal policies and global capitalism promoting corporate globalization driven by G8 countries in collusion with national elites institutionalized by WTO and other regional and bilateral agreements and promoted by the International Financial Institutions such as World Bank and IMF. The globalization process has only benefited the Transnational Corporations, their lackeys and national elites and landlords. As a consequence, poverty, hunger and malnutrition is increasing, it is causing loss of peasant livelihoods, displacement and forced migration and increasing violations of human rights. Such disempowering conditions are not only a reality in Nepal but also in many countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe.

We call for:

• The implementation of Food Sovereignty, Agrarian Reform, and Peasant's Rights in Nepal and support the peasant movements in Nepal in their just struggle to achieve these demands.
• We will fight against all forms of neo liberal policies and global capitalism and neo-emperialism that is being imposed by WTO, WB, IMF, and other forms of IFI's
• We strongly call to make an end to absolute Kingship in Nepal that exploited, toiled and moiled Nepalese peasants inflicting untold miseries for centuries together under the yoke of feudalism and congratulate Nepalese people in their just struggle to achieve democracy and wish a grand success on establishing democratic republic through forth coming election to constituent assembly. We also like to make heart felt appeal to all democratic republican forces to rally around and forge strong unity to get absolute majority in constituent assembly through the forth coming election because their is no emancipation of peasants' without establishing a Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.

In order to achieve the goal of Food Sovereignty and Peasants' Rights we demand an International Convention on Food Sovereignty and Peasant Rights which will enshrine the principles of Food Sovereignty in international law and institute food sovereignty as the principal policy framework for addressing food and agriculture. We strongly call upon all national governments across the world to undertake immediate steps to:

• Implement genuine agrarian reforms ensuring land to tillers and landless peasants and ensure women's rights over land
• WTO out of Agriculture
• Pursue the Convention on Biodiversity with active participation of peasants
• No privatization of common productive resources land and water, social services and life forms
• Ensure women's equal participation and rights in all respects of socio-economic life including proportional representation
• No patents rights on life forms
• No to Genetic Engineering in agriculture
• Support and promote sustainable ecological agriculture without the use of harmful pesticides
• Ensure implementation of fair prices to farmers and fair share in the price
• Ensure farmers Sovereign right over seed
• Declare guaranteed employment with minimum and equal wages without gender discrimination
• Establish peasants commission headed by peasants associations and representatives
• We strongly call on government of Nepal and India to review the unilateral construction of dams in bordering Indian side that has obstructed Nepali Peasants' livelihood in near by bordering areas providing them required compensations and make natural flow of water intact.
• Initiate and enact food sovereignty law to protect the right of the people
• Protect the civil right of migrant workers and especially migrant women workers who are forcefully turned to sex workers.
• Declare martyrs all those killed unduly by the government and guarantee Food Sovereignty to martyr families.
• Protect and promote indigenous knowledge of farming
• Ensure representation of peasants and peasants' associations in legislative bodies
• Ensure genuine peasants participation in any decision affecting farming communities and in food and agriculture policies and programmes
• Respect the sovereign right of Bhutanese People to return to their land and call upon all concerned to make easier arrangement for this purpose.
• We also demand enactment and effective enforcement of Peasants' law through peasant courts wherever necessary.

In this context we also commit ourselves to

• Promote local resource based, regenerative, sustainable models in agriculture
• Research, document, and share experiences in sustainable ecological agriculture across the region
• Establish research centers to work on sustainable ecological agriculture
• Study and document the adverse effects of neo liberal economies
• Take up regional and national campaigns against IFIs
• Support farmers to actively reject GM crops and chemicals in agriculture
• Strengthen the existing regional networks working for peasants rights
• Conduct public hearings on atrocities of TNCs
• Organize and support local struggles of farmers and agriculture workers
• Take up advocacy on right to food and food sovereignty
• Launch campaigns for food sovereignty, genuine agrarian reforms and peasants rights
• Conduct series of workshops/trainings on food sovereignty
• Initiate and promote cooperative movement as an alternative system for the socio-economic and cultural upliftment of small farmers, marginalized and landless peasants' and commercialize the agri-products and small farmers business.
• " Immediately establish national peasants' forum and create conducive environment for its successful operation.

We shall work together in solidarity with other peasants' forum and social movements to achieve these demands and help promote food sovereignty, genuine agrarian reforms and peasants' rights.

For other inquiries about the activity, please get in touch with Mr. Balram Banskota through: anpfa@anpfa.org.np