Farmer’s concern about the three controversial farm laws was brought to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday when Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) chief Darshan Pal read an in-camera message during the council’s ongoing session.
During the meeting, the farm leader Darshan Pal said that the three agri-marketing laws that they were protesting were in violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other citizens employed in rural areas, which India is a signatory to.
In his 90-second message, he said: “I am grateful the UN is hearing us today. We, farmers of India, love our country and are proud of it. We feel proud of the UN for enacting the Declaration of Rights of Peasants to protect the small farmers of the world. My country has signed the declaration. It had the protections in place for several years. These include independent evaluation to ensure farmers make a decent living. This is called the minimum support price. We have had a good market network whose profits are used to develop rural infrastructure. And we had access to courts.
This is all being taken away in the new farm laws. These laws will not double our income. The few states where similar policies were introduced have seen farmers sinking into poverty, losing their lands, and having to work as laborers elsewhere to make ends meet. We want reforms, but not these ones. The UN Declaration insists that the country consult the farmers before laws and policies are enacted. We humbly ask the UN to urge my government to abide by the declaration, repeal the laws and start consultations to start a reform agenda friendly to farmers and good for the environment as is required by declaration on Rights of Peasants”.
“It is necessary to support peaceful demonstrations, freedom of speech, and non-violence,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said earlier on January 27, following the violent events during the farmers’ tractor parade on January 26. India had lodged a report against it.
