Vía Campesina

Vía Campesina
Name	Vía Campesina
Formation	1993
Type	International peasants' movement
Headquarters	Managua, Nicaragua
Region served	Global
Membership	Peasant organisations, small-scale farmers, Indigenous peoples, women farmers, agricultural workers

Vía Campesina Vía Campesina is an international movement that coordinates peasant, small-scale farmer, Indigenous, women farmer, and agricultural worker organizations across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, and Oceania, advocating for food sovereignty, agrarian reform, and social justice. Founded in the early 1990s with roots in land struggles and rural movements, it has linked local campaigns to international forums such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization. The movement has engaged with a broad array of actors including trade unions, environmental networks, development NGOs, and human rights bodies.

History and Origins

Vía Campesina emerged from organizing processes connected to peasant and land movements associated with Zapatista Army of National Liberation, Landless Workers' Movement (MST), Comité de Defensa del Campesinado, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, La Via Campesina Europe, African Biodiversity Network, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, Farmers' Organisations of Latin America, and networks built around summits such as the World Food Summit (1996), World Food Conference, and encounters linked to the International Forum on Globalization. Early convenings included activists from Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Brazil, Mexico, Philippines, India, Indonesia, and France, drawing on histories of struggle connected to events like the Mexican Zapatista uprising, the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement campaigns, and agrarian reform legacies in Cuba and Bolivia. The movement formed institutional ties with international processes such as the Rome-based agencies of the United Nations and engaged with negotiations at the World Trade Organization and North American Free Trade Agreement forums.

Goals and Principles

The movement articulates principles including food sovereignty, agrarian reform, gender equity, Indigenous rights, agroecology, and opposition to corporate control of agriculture, aligning with documents debated at assemblies similar to those in Nyéléni (2007), La Via Campesina International Conference (1993), and statements referenced at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). It frames food sovereignty distinct from concepts advanced in World Trade Organization trade policy and defends peasant rights in venues influenced by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and instruments discussed at the International Labour Organization. The platform intersects with policy debates involving institutions like the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, and regional bodies such as the European Union and African Union.

Organizational Structure and Membership

Vía Campesina operates through continental and regional coordination bodies connecting organizations such as La Via Campesina Europe, Asian Peasant Coalition, Via Campesina Africa, La Vía Campesina Americas, Farmers' Union of England and Wales, United Farm Workers, Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), Peasant Confederation of Peru (CCP), All India Kisan Sabha, and unions linked to International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF). Its governance includes international coordination committees, periodic international conferences, and working groups that liaise with multilateral bodies such as the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Committee on World Food Security. Membership spans national movements like Movimiento de Trabajadores Rurales Sin Tierra, Kisan Sabha, Landless Workers' Movement (MST), Peasant Movement of the Philippines, and regional alliances active in civil society coalitions such as Friends of the Earth International and Climate Justice Alliance.

Key Campaigns and Activities

The movement has led campaigns against free trade agreements and agribusiness expansion, mobilizing around events such as protests at World Trade Organization Ministerial Conferences, counter-summits to World Economic Forum meetings, and advocacy at the FAO related panels. It promotes agroecology through initiatives linked to networks like La Via Campesina Agroecology Working Group, training exchanges akin to Farmer Field Schools and solidarity actions with land occupations modeled after Brazilian MST strategies. Vía Campesina has coordinated global days of action, contributed to policy proposals at the Committee on World Food Security, and supported legal advocacy inspired by precedents like the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. It has collaborated with organizations such as Greenpeace, Oxfam International, ActionAid, International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty, and academic partners from universities like University of California, Berkeley, University of Wageningen, and Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Impact and Criticism

Supporters credit the movement with advancing food sovereignty discourse in international policy, influencing the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, shifting debates at the Committee on World Food Security, and strengthening peasant movements linked to successes in Bolivia and Ecuador constitutional reforms. Critics, including some scholars associated with World Bank agrarian policy research and commentators in outlets like Financial Times and The Economist, argue that its opposition to certain technologies and market mechanisms may limit scalability and engagement with private-sector actors such as Cargill, Monsanto (Bayer), Associated British Foods, and Syngenta. Debates have involved academics from institutions including Harvard University, London School of Economics, Cornell University, and activist scholars tied to Institute of Development Studies and Transnational Institute. Internal tensions have emerged between regional affiliates over strategy, partnerships, and relations with political parties like MAS (Bolivia) and unions such as United Farm Workers.

Relationship with Global Movements

Vía Campesina maintains alliances with movements for climate justice, Indigenous rights, labor, and feminist organizing, engaging with networks such as Climate Justice Alliance, Indigenous Environmental Network, International Trade Union Confederation, La Via Campesina Europe, and feminist coalitions represented at Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition. It participates in global mobilizations alongside coalitions like Alter Summit, World Social Forum, People's Summit, and collaborates with environmental NGOs including Friends of the Earth International and WWF in dialogues on agroecology and biodiversity, while also contesting positions of corporate actors like Nestlé and policy platforms of institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The movement’s work intersects with transnational advocacy campaigns involving legal strategies used in forums such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and policy advocacy at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Category:International organizations Category:Social movements Category:Agricultural organizations