What are human rights based principles and policies to guide fair framework conditions for land tenure governance? A conversation.
Land plays an essential role in the realization of a range of human rights, especially economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR). Secure and equitable access to, use of and control over land for individuals and communities can be essential to eradicate hunger and poverty and to guarantee the human right to adequate food. The UN Committee on ESCR describes in General Comment 26 how States’ obligations relate to the access to, use of and control over land on the enjoyment of rights, especially for the most disadvantaged and marginalized people.
Pressure and competition over land and other productive resources continues to increase in many ways, including through climate change, land degradation, urbanization, conflicts, diverging land use interests and expanding land concentration, often affecting particularly Indigenous Peoples and pastoralists, young farmers and rural women, displaced people and small-scale food producers.
In order to effectively address conflicting interests and ensure a holistic understanding of the FoodFirst Principle, a consistent human rights perspective is critical to establish fair framework conditions for the transformations towards more sustainable food systems, including in policies that promote circular bioeconomy or agroecology. The expert panel will provide a space to exchange and discuss these framework conditions focussing on the right to adequate food, land tenure governance, and examples of short-, mid- and long-term policy measures.
Agenda:
Introduction by the Moderator:
- Ambassador Nosipho Jezile, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the UN in Rome and Chairperson of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS)
Reality Check: Securing Land Tenure Rights: Why is this fundamental for our constituencies?
- Morgan Ody, General Coordinator of La Vía Campesina, France
- Qammar Abbas, Delegate to the GFFA Young Farmers Forum, Representative of Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC)
Key Note on Human rights perspectives on land tenure
- Michael Windfuhr, Deputy Director, German Institute for Human Rights and Member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Panel discussion:
- Marina Godoi de Lima, Deputy Vice-Minister for Agrarian Development and Family Farming of Brazil
- Ana María Suárez Franco, FIAN International
- Juan Echanove, FAO Right to Food Team
- Morgan Ody, General Coordinator of La Vía Campesina, France
- Qammar Abbas, Delegate to the GFFA Young Farmers Forum, Representative from Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC)
Interactive discussion with audience
Concluding Remarks by the Moderator:
- Ambassador Nosipho Jezile, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the UN in Rome and Chairperson of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS)
Panelists
Keynote Speaker

Michael Windfuhr
Deputy Director
German Institute for Human Rights
Moderators & Panelists

Nosipho Nausca-Jean Jezile
Ambassador of South Africa in Rome, Chairperson of CFS
Chairperson of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and Ambassador in Rome, Italy, and Permanent Representative of the Republic of South Africa to the United Nations Agencies in Rome

Morgan Ody
General Coordinator
General Coordinator of La Via Campesina

Ana María Suárez Franco
Permanent Representative in Geneva
FIAN International

Juan Echanove
FAO Right to Food Team Leader
FAO

Marina Godoi de Lima
Deputy Executive Secretary
Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming (MDA), Brazil

Qammar Abbas
Pakistan