undrop and the Right to Seeds

What is it about?

La Via Campesina (LVC), a global agrarian movement, achieved a significant milestone by getting the United Nations to recognise the right to food sovereignty. They also introduced the concept of "seed sovereignty" in the academic and agrarian communities. While not as widely accepted as food sovereignty, seed sovereignty has helped unite various issues related to biodiversity, such as intellectual property, seed regulation, GMOs, and more. The highlight of this concept was the inclusion of the "right to seeds" in Article 19 of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas._x000D_ _x000D_ This article explores the history of seed sovereignty and the background of Article 19. It shows that seed sovereignty aimed to establish the rights of peasants over their seeds in international human rights law, emphasising their control over natural resources. More fundamentally, its alliance with the right to food sovereignty represents a significant attempt to challenge the Westphalian sovereignty that has been the hallmark of the transnational agrarian movement.

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