The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty led a Global Day of Action on December 10, International Human Rights Day, in time for the 70th year commemoration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Member organizations and networks of the Coalition organized activities that highlight their respective local struggles under the theme “Stop Killing Farmers! End Impunity Now!”
The Coalition shares the joy of SPFT for marking this milestone. Its land occupation campaigns in the past decade are an inspiration to the rural peoples’ movement in Asia and all over the world. SPFT lives on to champion the rights of the poor and landless in Thailand in the face of corporate-driven development aggression and state-sponsored repression.
To support the ongoing campaign to “Stop Killing Farmers” in Latin America and in the Philippines, the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty, in its 4th General Assembly held last October 28 in Thailand, approved the commemoration of the International Human Rights Day (IHRD) on December 10 as among its yearly global days of action. For this year, in time with the 70th year commemoration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Coalition aims to highlight the martyrs who struggled for land and life. We will be honoring them as we continue to demand justice for their deaths, call for the end of the rising trend of farmers killings, and fight for food sovereignty toward a better society for all.
The People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) is highlighting farmers killings and attacks against rural peoples and rights defenders in its ‘global day of action’ to commemorate the occasion. The theme is ‘Stop Killing Farmers! End Impunity Now!’
We demand Thammakaset and the Thai authorities to drop all the charges against Sutharee, Nan, and the rest of the Burmese workers involved in this issue. Moreover, we urge the Thai government to look into the alleged unlawful labor practices of Thammakaset and other such companies. The complaints – low wages, extensive yet unpaid working hours, and confiscation of identity documents – are serious offenses that warrant liability if proven true. We challenge the company to submit itself to the investigation, no holds barred, if it were truly innocent.
“If anything, Duterte’s pet project will only ‘build, build, build’ foreign debt for the Philippines. The billions-worth of Chinese aid and loans are investments to profit from – unfortunately, at the expense of the communities,” said the PCFS official.