South Asian Women Peasant's Conference on Right to Land, Empowerment and Liberation

January 20-21, 2009

Kathmandu Declaration

We, one hundred and twenty women representatives from Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, representing peasants, agricultural workers, indigenous, dalit, landless peasants and social activists met in Kathmandu from 20-21 January 2009 to assert our rights to land, ensure livelihood and access and control over productive resources, fair wages, health, security, food sovereignty and democracy. We, hereby have agreed to release this Kathmandu Declaration.

Globalization and neo-liberalization have disempowered rural peasant women. These processes driven by WTO, bilateral and regional trade agreements sustained by International Financial Institutions (IFIs) such as World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) benefit only the landlords, the elites and Transnational Companies (TNCs). Economic and political processes dominated by imperialism have intensified patriarchy and fundamentalism, as a result, increasing the oppression and violence on women.

These forces are controlling and exploiting women and their indigenous local wisdom and likewise their access and control over natural and productive resources are under serious threat. The greed of TNCs and the North are poisoning our land and foodstuffs. Moreover, their indiscriminate consumerism is bringing on devastating climate change in the world. Assisted by the governments, TNCs are grabbing agricultural land for corporate agriculture and contract farming that do not benefit the people. Such profit-oriented projects displace peasants and indigenous women from their land and rob them of their livelihoods resulting in increased hunger, malnutrition, and accelerated poverty.

Country-based Issues

1. India
The grabbing of land in Nandigram and Shingur by TNC's is really a serious attack against farmers. Growing suicide of the farmers' engaged in BT cotton farming and other areas is as well a serious issue. In this regard, we salute peasant movement of Shingur and express our solidarity with the peasants of Nandigram. We demand that the concerned TNCs immediately withdraw from Nandigram.

2. Pakistan
Military in Pakistan is usurping and holding land that rightfully belongs to the peasants and agricultural research institutions. We express our solidarity with the peasants' land movement in Pakistan and oppose this military occupation of the agricultural land. We demand that the government of Pakistan withdraw army from such occupation and that the rightful peasants' ownership to such land is reestablished. In this process, proportional representation of women to ownership of land must be established.

3. Bhutan
The Drukpa regime in Bhutan is systematically committing ethnic discrimination against minorities on racial grounds. As a result, women in these communities are deprived of basic human rights to education and health and different aspects of social, economic and political life. We express solidarity with these minorities of Bhutan struggling for their human rights. We demand that government of Bhutan ratify the International convention on ESCR and its optional protocol, ILO convention and other human rights treaties and immediately ensure protection of the human rights of the minorities. We also demand that the government of Bhutan repatriate its refugees living in Nepalese refugee camps and reinstate them with dignity in their homes.

4. Sri Lanka
The ravage of the prevailing war has displaced peasant and fishing communities and jeopardized their livelihoods; war has rendered 400 thousand war widows and orphans homeless and deprived children of education and other basic rights, especially in the northern and eastern parts. Amidst these crises, we appeal for restoration of peace, rehabilitation of war victims, resumption of children's education and economic and social reintegration of the suffering peasant and fishing communities. We demand that the government of Sri Lanka call ceasefire immediately and initiate peace negotiations for durable peace and end of harassment of Tamil civilians.

5. Bangladesh
Women agricultural workers in Bangladesh face the problem of unequal wages; exploitation of arable land for nonagricultural and commercial purposes is taking place and there is a lack of agricultural subsidies. We express solidarity with the women peasant movement in Bangladesh. We demand that the government of Bangladesh preserve the peasants' agricultural land, stop commodification of arable land and ensure equal wages for women agricultural workers and peasants.

6. Nepal
Nepal faces threats to its agricultural sector in terms of production and subsidies, protection of biodiversity and seeds, and food security. While we celebrate incorporation of food sovereignty in the Interim Constitution, we strongly call upon the Constitutional Assembly members to ensure food sovereignty and right to food as fundamental rights of Nepalese people in the new constitution. We demand that government of Nepal resume agricultural subsidies, ensure compulsory joint agricultural land-ownership and formulate national food sovereignty policy and law.

Issues of Regional Significance

We aspire to ensure women's access and control to productive resources and promote and empower women peasants through cooperatives. Women's access and control over natural resources, especially land, is vital as it symbolizes power in society. In addition to this, the joint ownership deeds are essential to promote the welfare of women. We demand land for women and access to and control of productive resources such as seeds, water, land, forests and other natural resources. We likewise call for the elimination of pesticides and genetically engineered seeds and patents on life for the promotion of sustainable and biodiversity based ecological agriculture.

Scientific and revolutionary reform of agriculture and land holds special significance in the context of Nepal. Land reform programs must be implemented with immediate effect. As landlessness is a major factor, governments should ensure that each peasant and peasant woman who work on agricultural land be provided with the same through land redistribution and scientific land reforms.

Considerably, GM seeds and proliferation of hybrid and terminator seeds are jeopardizing native biodiversity and locally preserved seeds and consequently making our farming community dependent on TNCs for our seeds and exposing us to threat of import surge.

We urge everyone concerned to say no to GM seeds; and demand that the respective governments of South Asian nations do not allow terminator seeds into their markets. We call upon to declare South Asia as GM free Zone. WTO must remain out of Agriculture and establish production of food and human right to food. It ought not to be administered by a trade regime on ethical and moral grounds. We strongly demand a stop to commodification of food and corporatization of agriculture.

Kathmandu, 21st January 2009

Special Proposal: The floor, while discussing the declaration on January 21st came to know of the health problem of the Chairperson of All Nepal Peasants' Federation, Mr. Bamdev Gautam. It has been reported that he needs to be taken abroad for health care. We, gathered here in this conference, heartily wish his early recovery.