{"id":4227,"date":"2021-10-15T09:54:18","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T01:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panap.net\/?p=4227"},"modified":"2021-10-15T09:54:18","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T01:54:18","slug":"defend-peasant-women-who-feed-the-world","status":"publish","type":"panap_updates","link":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/updates\/defend-peasant-women-who-feed-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Defend peasant women who feed the world!\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

On International Rural Women\u2019s Day, the Asian Rural Women\u2019s Coalition (ARWC) and People\u2019s Coalition for Food Sovereignty (PCFS) stands in solidarity with peasant women across the world defending their land and rights, sovereignty and dignity against worsening attacks under an oppressive, exploitative and patriarchal global food system.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rural Women\u2019s Unity Statement of the recently held Global People\u2019s Summit (GPS) on Food Systems\u2014endorsed by women\u2019s organizations from Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, and Africa\u2014is a powerful indictment of the corporate food empire that has been the bane of rural women, as well as our call to action. As a portion of the statement reads:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we unite to stand for just, equitable, healthy and sustainable food systems. We resist all deceptive schemes to consolidate corporate control over agriculture that are done in our name. We firmly believe that food systems must change and be anchored on women peasant\u2019s rights to land, water and resources, women and community-led agroecology, people\u2019s food sovereignty and the right to adequate, safe, nutritious, and culturally-appropriate food.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rural women\u2014who are seed savers and land tillers, family and community leaders, resource managers and biodiversity conservators\u2014have historically been at the forefront of peasant movements. Rural women experience most acutely the effects of hunger and indebtedness of peasant families, landlessness, gender and caste-based violence, loss of biodiversity and traditional knowledge, pay inequality and hazardous work in plantations, among others. They have the most to gain when their rights are recognized and concrete victories are achieved through collective struggle. Unfortunately, they also bear the brunt of human rights violations committed by state forces, capitalists, and landlords who\u2014much like criminal abusers of women\u2014use brute force to maintain power and dominance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to PAN Asia Pacific\u2019s Land and Rights Watch, from January to September 2021 alone, seven women were killed, 16 were arrested and jailed, and five were threatened, harassed and assaulted due to land-related conflicts. Cases were recorded in Colombia, Peru, Kosovo, India, Philippines and Honduras.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Peasant woman activist Veneranda Ginanao, 58, was killed by suspected state forces on August 19, 2021 in Maramag town, Bukidnon province, Philippines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Asia, hotspots include the Philippines and Cambodia.<\/span> In the Philippines<\/span><\/a>, 44 peasant women have been killed under the Duterte administration, according to AMIHAN National Federation of Peasant Women. Sixty-five peasant women, who are engaged in various community land struggles and relief efforts, were also imprisoned for trumped-up charges. This includes pregnant and nursing mothers, one of whom, Nona Espinosa, lost her three-month old baby while in detention. AMIHAN also had their bank assets frozen by the government without due process. In Cambodia, three of the<\/span> six Mother Nature activists<\/span><\/a> who are in detention for \u201croyal insult\u201d are women. They were arrested for opposing the filling-in of a city lake and documenting pollution runoff into the Tonle Sap river. Several<\/span> community representatives of Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community<\/span><\/a>, including women, have also been arrested for criminal charges such as \u201cinciting to commit acts that cause serious social unrest\u201d due to their advocacy for land rights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In West Asia-North Africa, Israel has jailed <\/span>36 women Palestinians<\/span><\/a> struggling for the freedom of Palestine from the Zionist occupation. They are detained in dismal prison facilities, and often face discrimination, abuse, and even torture by Israeli soldiers — a clear violation of the International Humanitarian Law.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2020, an average of four land and environmental defenders were killed per week, with over half of the attacks occurring in Colombia, Mexico and the Philippines. Global Witness notes that \u201cwhilst the recorded killings against women appear lower (1 out of 10), those who act and speak out may also face gender-specific threats, including sexual violence.\u201d This year, the Palestinian casualties of the escalating conflict by the Israeli occupation <\/span>is the highest since 2015<\/span><\/a>, even amid pandemic. The number of Palestinian women and girls killed in 2021 (69), in fact, has surpassed the combined figures from years prior since 2015 (44). In Colombia, women who participated in a national strike were raped by the Army, according to groups who reported during the GPS Rural Women\u2019s Workshop.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the threats and attacks faced by peasant women, they continue to toil tirelessly not just to feed the world, but to radically transform food systems through organizing and mobilizing communities, challenging land and property laws that fail to provide women equal access to land, campaigns against monoculture plantations, women-led collective agroecological farming, and campaigns against genetically-modified and biofortified crops that target women, among others. We call on all sectors to defend peasant women. To do so is to defend the future of food systems.###<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On International Rural Women\u2019s Day, the Asian Rural Women\u2019s Coalition (ARWC) and People\u2019s Coalition for Food Sovereignty (PCFS) stands in solidarity with peasant women across the world defending their land and rights, sovereignty and dignity against worsening attacks under an oppressive, exploitative and patriarchal global food system. The Rural Women\u2019s Unity Statement of the recently…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4228,"template":"","update_categories":[107],"class_list":["post-4227","panap_updates","type-panap_updates","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","update_categories-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panap_updates\/4227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panap_updates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/panap_updates"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panap_updates\/4227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"update_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/update_categories?post=4227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}