6 July 2021, 14:00-16:00
Event
Ali Kazal/Unsplash
In 2018, the United Nations (UN) adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), in which the right to seeds is recognized.
This online event, co-organized with the Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society (APBREBES), will discuss the serious challenges that intellectual property poses to the protection of peasants’ right to seeds. While there is no tension when peasants use only peasants’ seeds, there is tension when they use farm-saved seeds from varieties or plants protected by intellectual property.
In his presentation, our Senior Research Fellow and Strategic Adviser on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Dr Christophe Golay will describe the right to seeds and the conflicting aspects of the right to seeds and intellectual property rights. He will also propose guidance on what needs to be done to reduce these conflicts. This lecture will be complemented by comments from Alimata Traoré and Guy Kastler (La Via Campesina), Titilayo Adunola Adebola (University of Aberdeen and Senior Adviser to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food) and Sangeeta Shashikant (APBREBES, Third World Network).
Welcome and Introduction
Questions and Comments
Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English, French and Spanish.
In his presentation, our Senior Research Fellow and Strategic Adviser on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Dr Christophe Golay described the right to seeds and the conflicting aspects of the right to seeds and intellectual property rights. He also proposed guidance on what needs to be done to reduce these conflicts. This lecture was complemented by comments from Alimata Traoré and Guy Kastler (La Via Campesina), Titilayo Adunola Adebola (University of Aberdeen and Senior Adviser to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food) and Sangeeta Shashikant (APBREBES, Third World Network).
At a conference at the European Parliament, our Senior Research Fellow Dr Christophe Golay discussed the compatibility of the draft law proposed by the European Commission with the international legal framework protecting the right to food and the rights of peasants.
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