AFSA 2024 National Committee Report
President’s Report
2024 has been another big year from the personal to the political for me in my tenth year as president of AFSA. Jonai Farms’ battle for permission to build a micro-abattoir where we live and work on unceded Djaara Country was successful at last, as we won at VCAT against the lifestylers worried more about their property values than community food security. The win set a strong precedent for establishment of micro-abattoirs in the Farming Zone in Victoria, and in gaining national attention, has encouraged a growing number of other communities to work on their own local meat collectives from Tassie and SA to NSW and Queensland. AFSA’s work to support these emerging meat collectives has included online solidarity sessions to share knowledge between communities, and meetings with individual collectives to help them with the nuts and bolts of how to go about planning and funding an abattoir development. As I write this from Bundjalung Country mid-Roadshow, Stuart is working hard to finish the roof on the services container for our abattoir, which had its solar panels installed the day I set off. We are deeply grateful for the community that has helped us raise $140,000 of the $150,000 budget to date. You can check out further progress as I update it on the Jonai website.
My other big projects this year have included finishing the PhD on Australia’s New Peasantry and the Rise of Agroecology in Australia, as well as a cookbook – Eat Like the Jonai: Ethical, ecologically sound, socially just and uncommonly delicious, which is now with the printers. Both of these projects – like most things in my life – are devoted to the food sovereignty movement and growing agroecology in Australia. The cookbook is a social anarchist’s handbook disguised as a collection of delicious recipes, and a significant part of our fundraising for the Meat Collective @ Jonai micro-abattoir.
My findings from the PhD formed the foundation of our approach to AFSA Agroecology Roadshow, in keeping with the global movement that builds food sovereignty warriors in campesino-a-campesino – farmer-to-farmer – dialogues. Like the Peoples’ Food Plan, the dialogues (which take place on farms and in community venues) commence with an overview of the structures of power and injustice in neoliberal colonial capitalist society and the rise of the global food sovereignty movement, before engaging in horizontal exchanges of struggle and strategy. The message is always the same, the only way to prevail against elite control of food and agriculture systems is through collectivising – locally, nationally, and globally – for everything from working together to build local infrastructure to advocating for land reform that supports peasant farming and localised food economies. We are enjoying rich and robust debates about the difference between an entrepreneur and a peasant, with everyone coming down on the side of joining the global peasantry as we fight for local food systems that nourish ecosystems and people. We will be talking and writing a lot more about the new peasantry in the coming months and years.
Agroecology certainly has been the major theme of 2024, not only on the home front and in dialogues across several Aboriginal Countries up the east coast, but also overseas as I keynoted a fantastic International Agroecology and Community Seeds Conference in Malaysia in May, where I was delighted to meet so many food sovereignty warriors, including Lun Bawang farmers who invited us to join them in Long Semadoh in the Sarawak highlands of Borneo. What we saw and learned in a fortnight in that part of the world left me ever more determined to learn from the peasants and Indigenous Peoples of the Majority World and fight alongside them in their struggle for self-determination, as governments destroy ecosystems and traditional villages with dam megaprojects and subsidising mass land grabbing for oil palm.
Amongst all of this grassroots work, there have been many meetings with state governments around biosecurity and food safety, as we work to protect smallholders from scale-inappropriate regulation designed to protect industrial ag and peoples affected by their worst excesses. We have been trying very hard to protect market gardeners from over-regulation as the new horticulture standards for leafy greens, melons and berries brought in by FSANZ are being implemented across the states.
In the same vein of how our movement works to radically transform the food system from the ground up, our landsharing model with Tumpinyeri Growers is nearing the end of its second year, going from strength to strength as we work to unlearn and relearn ways of being good co-custodians of unceded Djaara Country with non-capitalist relations, while advocating constantly for land reforms to halt the escalating crisis of land grabbing by corporations that make land tenure ever more difficult for those trying to get into farming.
Finally, I would like to thank the 2024 National Committee, interns, and volunteers for all the work you have done to bring justice to food and agriculture systems in Australia and in solidarity with our comrades across the globe. A very particular part of my gratitude, on behalf of the entire committee and AFSA members, must go to our brilliant General Coordinator Jessie Power, without whom we could never have achieved as much to work towards a world where everyone has access to nutritious, culturally-determined and delicious food produced and distributed in ethical, ecologically sound and socially just ways.
Three cheers to another year of camaraderie in the struggle for food sovereignty and agroecology!
Tammi Jonas, President
Financial Report
AFSA anticipates an operating loss of $30,000 for the financial year ending 31 October 2024. This loss reflects several factors impacting our revenue, some of which were beyond our immediate control.
One key contributor is the timing of major income-generating events, such as the Eating Democracy book launch, which took place just inside of this financial year, though it was budgeted for 2023. Similarly, several planned projects, originally intended to be executed within this financial year, have been deferred to next financial year.
Another important factor has been the transition within our committee. The introduction of a large number of new committee members, while energising, meant the usual calendar of AFSA events was scaled back. These events traditionally provide both community engagement and a steady source of revenue, so the reduction in activities has directly affected our financial performance.
In terms of our campaigning efforts, AFSA has made substantial progress, driving forward our core mission of advocating for food sovereignty. However, these activities, though impactful, have not yet resulted in financial returns.
We must also acknowledge the broader economic environment. Cost of living pressures continue to affect our membership revenue, as many in our farmer and ally community are grappling with financial challenges of their own. While we remain committed to supporting our members, these financial realities have resulted in lower-than-expected membership renewals and new signups.
Looking ahead to the next financial year, AFSA’s priority will be to bridge this financial gap in a way that is both sustainable and long-term. We need to focus on diversifying our income streams, ensuring that key projects are completed on schedule, and reinvigorating our event calendar to boost engagement and revenue. These measures will be essential for AFSA’s financial health, enabling us to continue our advocacy work effectively while maintaining the financial stability necessary for future growth.
Membership Report
AFSA’s membership marks a marginal increase from last AGM, from 275 to 285 members. As of this year’s AGM, we have a total of 109 farmer members, 154 farmer ally members and 21 First Peoples members. Following on from critical updates to AFSA’s membership system in 2022, this year has been a process of encouraging members to update their details to ensure they remain on board with AFSA. If you haven’t already, please log on to the AFSA membership portal to update your details!
Although the new membership system is now running smoothly with automated reminder emails for recurring payments, we’ve received numerous emails from members who have regrettably had to cancel their membership due to the rising cost of living. Internal discussions have led the AFSA National Committee to consider how we can add value to membership for farmers, farmer allies and First Peoples. As such, we have committed to establishing a membership sub-committee to make phone calls to all existing members in November 2024, to check in with them and ensure that our priorities reflect their needs.
In terms of membership benefits, AFSA has stayed true to its promise of providing more resources to support its membership, including the AFSA Legal Guide, a living resource to help farmers navigate the planning system in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania, where the majority of our members are based. We intend to expand the Legal Guide to all other states and territories once we have the resources to do so. In addition to the Legal Guide, we have also finalised the updated Peoples’ Food Plan as a living document to be used as a resource for members to compile policy submissions to government across all levels; and the establishment of Meat Collectives Australia to support small-scale livestock producers to mobilise against the closure of abattoirs across the country.
AFSA recognises that we are living through deeply challenging times as overlapping crises such as climate change, economic instability, job loss, and ongoing colonisation have negatively impacted many farmers, allies and First Peoples across the country, leading to cancelled memberships to cut expenses. We hope that continuing our focus on providing resources and support to all AFSA members over the next 12 months will position former members to renew and take full advantage of these offerings.
As many of these recent challenges are ongoing, we look forward to building solidarity and support with new and existing AFSA members in 2025.
Legal Defence Fund
1) Advice
NB: Farms have been de-identified for privacy.
| Date | Client | Advice/Action |
| Mar 2024 | Anonymous (NSW) | Re: Legal advice on the sale of raw milk and beef in NSW |
| Mar 2024 | Anonymous (NSW) | Re: Herd share and beef sales query |
| Mar 2024 | Victorian Government | Re: Proposed reforms to support micro-abattoirs in Victoria |
| May 2024 | Anonymous (NSW) | Re: Extensive agriculture query |
| Jun 2024 | Agriculture Victoria | Re: Proposed amendments to agriculture food safety legislation |
2) Submissions
| Date | Regulator | Submission Title and Summary |
| Dec 2023 | Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry | Submission to the Agriculture, Land and Emissions: Discussion Paper
The evidence base is strong enough that agroecology is now embedded in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted by nearly 200 countries at COP15 in December 2022.6 To prepare this submission, AFSA conducted a survey of its members to get a clear picture of barriers to emissions reductions, building resilience and adaptive capacity in agriculture and land, with a total of 51 responses. |
| Jan 2024 | Economy and Infrastructure Committee, Victorian Government | Submission to the Victorian Inquiry into Pig Welfare
The closure and subsequent consolidation of abattoirs across the country has restricted small-scale farmers’ access to slaughter and forced them to engage with the industrial system that prioritises profit over welfare. In response, AFSA has publicly called for government support to establish vital infrastructure, such as micro and mobile abattoirs, to enable farmers with greater autonomy of their value chains and protect the welfare of animals during slaughter. In addition to providing evidence-based responses and recommendations to the terms of reference outlined in this inquiry, AFSA has also provide four key recommendations to the Victorian Government to transform food and agriculture systems in Victoria: 1) transition to agroecology; 2) transition to a degrowth economy; 3) transition to localised food systems and 4) transition to democratic knowledge production. |
| Mar 2024 | Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Victorian Government | Submission to Reforming Victoria’s animal care and protection laws
Recent issues have come to light regarding the physical and sexual abuse of animals in Victorian abattoirs that call for more robust measures to ensure livestock are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. Although AFSA acknowledges that transparency is key to achieving this, we note concern with proposed measures such as increased surveillance in abattoirs and other facilities that will only act as a band-aid to the wider problems associated with intensive animal agriculture. Rather, we call for legislative and policy reform that puts an end to inhumane slaughtering practices, such as the use of CO2 stunning, as well as measures to enable small-scale farmers with access to micro and mobile abattoirs so that they have control over how animals are cared for and treated from farm to slaughter. |
| Apr 2024 | Agriculture Victoria | Submission to New Land Use Planning Regulations for Animal Production
Wecommend the Victorian Government for prioritising these reforms at a time when the world is grappling with the rise of zoonotic disease and antimicrobial resistance, caused in no small part by intensive livestock production. With H5N1- a highly pathogenic avian flu- currently affecting every region of the world except Australia, leading to mass cullings of commercial poultry flocks, and now infecting dairy herds of cattle in the US, governments must take systemic action to discourage and eventually prohibit intensive animal production. These reforms offer an opportunity to tighten regulation, but unfortunately are currently mostly aimed at making it easier for the largest, most intensive production systems to expand. |
| Apr 2024 | Environment and Planning Committee, Victorian Government | Submission to Inquiry into securing the Victorian Food Supply
This Inquiry comes at a crucial time for the Victorian Government, to recognise the critical role that smallholders play in the production of food across the state. At the time of writing this submission, Victorian small-scale livestock farmers face increased challenges due to the closure of abattoirs across the state. The corporate capture of food and agricultural infrastructure is already impacting Victoria’s food supply, and this Inquiry should seek to remedy this by looking at system transformation, rather than slight improvements to the current industrial model of food production. Given that ABARES estimates that the small-farm sector accounts for ~38% of farms operating in Australia1, AFSA believes there is no better time for the Victorian Government to consider the role that policy plays in supporting small-scale producers. In addition to providing evidence-based responses and recommendations to the terms of reference outlined in this inquiry, AFSA has also provide four key recommendations to the Victorian Government to transform food and agriculture systems in Victoria: 1) transition to agroecology; 2) transition to a degrowth economy; 3) transition to localised food systems and 4) transition to democratic knowledge production. |
| May 2024 | Jobs and Skills Australia, Australian Government | Submission to the Food Supply Chain Capacity Study
In addition to providing evidence-based responses and recommendations to the terms of reference outlined in this inquiry, AFSA has also provided four key recommendations to the Australian Government to transform food and agriculture supply chain across all states and territories: 1) transition to agroecology; 2) transition to a degrowth economy; 3) transition to localised food systems and 4) transition to democratic knowledge production. We commend the Australian Government for prioritising this study, in the wake of the extreme weather events and the COVID-19 pandemic which have shed a light on the fragility of Australia’s food supply chain. |
| Jul 2024 | Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, Victorian Government | Submission to the Inquiry into food security in Victoria
Key recommendations to be considered in this Inquiry include:
|
Farming on Other People’s Land (FOOPL)/Agrarian Trust
The FOOPL Facebook Group, has racked up 500 members as a matchmaking platform for aspiring growers and landowners. AFSA’s guiding principles for land sharing agreements continue to assist with the growing number of farmers accessing and, in some cases, gaining secure tenure on other peoples’ land.
AFSA has also been continuing discussions about the establishment of an agrarian trust, through a working group led by AFSA member and lawyer Michele Sabto. Michele and the working group have been investigating funding options to scope the governance and funding model for an agrarian trust here in Australia. The working group consists of a broad representation of landholders and landless farmers, lawyers, housing activists and environmentalists.
AFSA in the Global Food Sovereignty Movement
In addition to AFSA expanding its projects at home, our solidarity with the international food movement has shown no signs of slowing down over the past year. We would like to extend our gratitude to AFSA’s comrades across the globe, for their continued solidarity as we work together to overhaul the injustices of colonial capitalism, free trade and globalised food systems. Below are the highlights of international meetings over the past year.
International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC)
We continue to work closely within the structures of the IPC as a platform for the diverse organisations that constitute the global food sovereignty movement. A key focus for IPC in 2024 has been the Nyéléni Process towards the third global gathering to take place in India in 2025. Tammi and Mirella had the privilege to join comrades from organisations across Asia and the Pacific in Sri Lanka in June 2024, where as always, we globalised the struggle to globalise hope.
AFSA General Coordinator Jess has also been actively supporting the work of the IPC through participation in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), otherwise referred to as the Global Seed Treaty. Jess travelled to Rome in November 2023 as an observer at the Tenth Session of the Governing Body. Along with other activists from farmer organisations across the world, we used this platform to reiterate that farmers’ rights are human rights, and should be considered at the core of the Treaty, and subsequent national policies and plans that honour the commitments made by Contracting Parties who have adopted these measures. We also raised our concerns with a number of emergent measures that continue to impede the farmers’ rights, such as Digital Sequence Information (DSI) and lack of benefit sharing for peasant seed in the multilateral system. In June 2024, Jess then travelled back to Rome as a member of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Working Group on Farmers’ Rights (Article 9 of the Treaty). Our recommendations to include questions around what national measures or policies could limit the realisation of Farmers’ Rights by Contracting Parties were accepted by the experts, so we will continue to fight to keep these in the outline for assessment at the next meeting of the AHTEG-FR and the Governing Body in 2025.
Nyéléni Process
Declaration from Asia Pacific Towards Nyeleni 2025
12 June 2024
From 9 to 12 June in Sri Lanka, 60 representatives from 12 countries and from more than 20 global and regional social movements and civil society organisations, across Asia and the Pacific came together to reflect on the progress made for food sovereignty and agroecology since the historic Declaration of Nyeleni (Mali, 2007), and the Nyeleni Declaration on Agroecology (2015) and to work towards a third Nyeleni global forum to be held in 2025. The Nyeleni process we are undertaking is at a time of unprecedented corporate capture of governance all the way to the United Nations, which has ceded its role to corporations and allowed the World Economic Forum to run first, the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021, and now the annual World Food Forum, supplanting legitimate spaces for multilateral decision making. We reject multistakeholderism and demand a return of governance spaces with self-determined democratic participation of civil society by our grassroots movements. We represent diverse organizations of national, regional and international movements of small-scale food producers, including peasants, Indigenous Peoples, fisherfolk, landless, family farmers, rural workers, plantation workers, pastoralists, forest dwellers, women, youth, gender diverse, urban poor, homeless, domestic workers, street vendors, unorganized labour etc. Together, the people we represent globally produce 70% of the food consumed by humanity. We were joined in Sri Lanka by invited allies from other key global movements for health, debt justice, climate justice, social and solidarity economy, labour, and gender diversities, who are engaging together in the Nyeleni process.
Read the full declaration on the AFSA website.
Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM)
Our work within the CSIPM this year has centred around network building for our sub region. Sari, our Coordination Committee member, has been identifying relevant local organisations and inviting them to participate in CSIPM and CFS processes, alongside information sharing.
This year, the CSIPM was faced with multiple financial crises, a sudden change of Coordinator in June, and attempts to undermine the CFS from a wider movement within the FAO, via the illegitimate World Food Forum.
Hence, a core dimension of the work this year has also been participating in a collective and grassroots push back against the corporate capture of the FAO, as various actors and groups within the CSIPM initiated the Autonomous People’s Response.
Regardless of the financial and institutional barriers, the Secretariat and Coordination Committee of the CSIPM have managed to maintain and organise multiple Working Groups including Women and Gender Diversities, Data and Inequalities WG, as organising spaces for those most affected and impacted on the ground to have their say in CFS processes and policy frameworks. The CSIPM also successfully supported participation in Rome events, and are co-organising three side events this month during the CFS 51 Plenary.
La Via Campesina
Women
From 19-28 September 2024, Jess, Mirella and baby Yara travelled to Bangkok, Thailand for the first La Via Campesina Asia Women’s Political School and SEEA Women’s Assembly. Over the week, we converged with sisters across the region to share in our unique and shared struggles in the face of capitalism, patriarchy and colonialism. It’s difficult to summarise the depth of struggle experienced by peasant women in each of these regions, and so we share an excerpt from the Declaration from the LVC Asia Women’s Political School as a reflection of what we learned over the week:
Across 5 days, we converged in solidarity to learn about our shared struggles in the face of capitalism, neoliberalism, patriarchy and colonialism, all of which are inextricably linked and impact peasant women across our countries in different ways. While we explored in-depth some of the roots of injustices that peasant women face such as discrimination, false solutions, violence, microfinance, land grabbing, class/caste systems, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and climate change, we discovered that a core issue impacting women in Asia is the corporate capture of native seed systems which rightfully belong to women.
As daughters of Mother Earth, we believe that saving and sharing seed is an intrinsic part of women’s role in the food system, and in many ways women are like seeds; we are nourished by the earth so that we ourselves can bloom and give birth to new life. We are the carers; we nurture and care for the land; we feed our families and care for the next generation. And yet, we are often taken for granted.
As part of the school, we explored the nature and power of land reform, agroecology and food sovereignty as interdependent pathways to our liberation and freedom from capitalism, neoliberalism, patriarchy, colonialism and class/caste systems. We were empowered with past and present knowledge about popular and peasant feminism as the pathway to address the continued violence and discrimination of women under these systems of oppression.
We had a masterclass on UNDROP, and learned about the potential of this Declaration to guide governments and social movements to recognise the rights of peasants and address historical injustices against us as peasant women. UNDROP was the culmination of over 20 years of struggle, but it doesn’t mean our struggle is over. We now need to keep working on better strategies to spread awareness about the Declaration as well as strategies to ensure our governments are implementing the rights of peasant women through national legislation.
Through the use of political pedagogies, such as mistica, theatre of the oppressed, base groups along with the continuous invitation of women to participate and express themselves, we created a safe space for fertile, mutual learning. This included a sensitive, yet important discussion on diversity, where we agreed that we don’t just need to recognise the rights of women and gender diverse people, we also need to stand in solidarity with our LGBTQIA+ brothers, sisters and non-binary people in our movement as they face ongoing violence, oppression and discrimination.
As we fight for peasant women’s liberation across Asia, we also acknowledged the struggles of our sisters in Palestine, Congo, Lebanon, Myanmar, Mali and every country where women are subject to physical and sexual violence during war that stems from religious and cultural extremism under systems of colonialism, partiarchy and capitalism.
Following on from the political school, we then participated in the LVC SEEA Women’s Assembly, where AFSA alongside other members in the region provided an organisational update based on the action plan developed in Manila in 2022. Although AFSA is tracking strongly in terms of participation as a predominantly women-led organisation, we built on this by contributing to an updated action plan that focuses on gender justice and the implementation of popular and peasant feminism principles. As such, Jess and Mirella have plans to establish an AFSA Women’s Sub-Committee to share knowledge and mobilise actions on the ground.
Youth
The youth process for La Vía Campesina is going ahead in each region around the world following the resolution at the 8th Global Conference in Colombia to increase youth engagement within the global movement. For the region AFSA is newly a part of – South-East and East Asia – Geb Chayuda from Assembly of the Poor in Thailand is our youth representative. Geb Chayuda sits on the International Coordinating Commission (ICC) alongside Zainal Arifin Fuad from Serikat Petani Indonesia-Indonesian Peasant Union (SPI) and Ms. Jeongyeol Kim of the Korean Women Peasants’ Association (KWPA), who together are the voice of the region. They work alongside other ICC representatives from all around the world to guide the activities of La Vía Campesina.
The regional youth articulation is being held from the 21st to 25th of October in Timor Leste, and will be an opportunity for the youth of our region to share their experiences, build solidarity, and plan how we will go about implementing the plan set for us at the 5th Youth Assembly, which was the global youth meeting held prior to the Global Conference in Colombia late last year. We hope to come out of this meeting with a solid action plan for our region which the work of AFSA will both contribute to and be inspired by. It is important in our work to maintain an internationalist view, even when we are working on local issues. We live within global food systems that connects us to people all around the world, and so we can’t change the food system alone. By seeing that we are all fighting a similar fight, learning from each other and acting together, we have a much better hope of creating the world that we want – one that is just, respects Nature, and builds our ability to uphold our collective and individual human rights.
Unity in Diversity, Youth Peasants Change the World!
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP)
From 18-20 August in Bogor, Indonesia, AFSA National Committee member Antoine joined more than 30 representatives from social movements and civil society organisations representing peasants in 10 countries across South East Asia and Sri Lanka to work towards the UNDROP implementation. Serikat Petani Indonesia (SPI), the largest anti-neoliberal peasant organisation in the country since its formation in 1998 and a long time member of La Via Campesina (LVC), hosted the consultation at their Education Center.
The 11 LVC member organisations came together to reflect on the progress made since the adoption of the UNDROP on 17 December 2018. UNDROP was recognised to have a supporting role to play in our struggles, it establishes jurisprudence and an international legal outlook to guide legislation and public policies at all institutional levels. It can be used to protect rural workers, family farming and peasants’ rights to land, seeds, biodiversity and other collective rights anchored in Food Sovereignty. In fact, the UNDROP not only acknowledges peasants’ and rural workers’ rights and contributions, but it also serves as a roadmap for States, the UN, business enterprises, and other stakeholders to take concrete actions. Most importantly, the UNDROP can also be used as a political tool, as it recognises peasants and people in rural areas as political subjects and essential actors in overcoming the crises. Likewise, UNDROP’s articles help demonstrate how food sovereignty and the protection of peasant and agroecology-based approaches are fundamental to achieve socially and ecologically just food systems.
To facilitate the implementation of the UNDROP, the Human Rights Council established a dedicated Working Group (WG) on 11 October 2023. Its role is to identify and promote best practices and lessons learnt from conversations with peasants and civil society organisations as well as fostering collaboration and technical capacity-building to achieve UNDROP implementation goals.
Throughout the consultation process and after each country reporting was done, member organisations broke up into groups to work on the plan for advocacy to be forwarded to the WG. Despite the telling of stories of oppression, criminalisation, and constant life-threatening situations to the group, people’s courage was felt across the room, inspiring the fight for an agroecological future where food sovereignty is a non-negotiable foundational pillar of our food systems, and where our collectives of peasants are at the centre of it, feeding us all.
This participatory method immediately allowed organisations to build on the knowledge of more experienced members, identify if capacity building is needed, share learnings from case-specific struggles and build coalitions. After deliberations about which UNDROP rights and cases to focus on, in each group, a representative was chosen and findings were communicated through a videoconference to WG Chair, Genevieve Savigny.
Since AFSA represents the only LVC country member in the region that voted against UNDROP, it was grouped with Nouminren and the Korean Women Peasant’s Association, as both the Japanese and the South Korean governments abstained. AFSA shared some of the challenges and opportunities we are facing in Australia today and received some insight into potential advocacy methods to be used in our country. Henry Thomas Simarmata, SPI facilitator to the LVC’s International Coordination Committee, recommended to broadly emphasise in our communications that UNDROP is not only for indigenous peoples or farmers, these rights are applicable to family farms and rural workers as well, they benefit all small to medium scale farming communities. Henry also recommended observing best practices of successful lobbying around the world, such as the Swiss case, which is the only country from the minority world to have signed the Declaration.
At the end of the consultation, the following points were covered:
- Each member organisation submits a brief summary of each region’s situation through the lens of UNDROP;
- A common understanding of roles and functions of Working Groups and their mechanisms by all present members;
- The development of an advocacy report to be sent to the WG before the 16th of October 2024, and a strategic plan to apply and implement the UNDROP rights at a domestic level.
- Further enumeration of rights and monitoring standards.
While most members at the consultation might be focusing on the advocacy report and implementation processes, AFSA’s homework will be prioritising campaigns for the Australian Government to acknowledge and sign the Declaration and use the UNDROP’s definition of “peasant” in our communications, advocacy papers and other events to make sure that small to medium scale Australian farmers can identify as peasants with dignity. Lastly, UNDROP adoption in Australia can also be supported through intensive, politically framed and distributed capacity building for scholar-activists, small farmers, local communities, allied organisations and AFSA Committee members. As always, coordination is essential to a collective, effective and politically powerful implementation process.
Viva!
With solidarity,
The 2023-2024 AFSA National Committee:
Tammi Jonas, President
Eliza Cannon, Vice-President
Simon Matthee, Treasurer
Sari Komlos, Secretary
Ben Trethewey
Ivan Blacket
Lucy Ridge
Mirella Gavidia
Adele Wessell
Ruth Gaha-Morris
Antoine Lenique
