The Second Meeting of the Ad-Hoc Technical Expert Group on Farmers’ Rights (Expert Group) held from 20 to 23 May at the Food and Agriculture Organisation Headquarters in Rome, Italy (see post on the First Meeting here). Following the First Meeting, the Expert Group continued with its twin mandate to (i) produce an inventory of national measures on farmers’ rights and (ii) develop options for encouraging, guiding and promoting the realisation of farmers’ rights.
Evident throughout the four days were the underlying politics, tensions and divisions. Hotly debated questions included whether to link the inventory to the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilisation of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Global Plan of Action)? And whether to contact Contracting Parties to ‘validate’ legislative measures? Experts and Observers met in small groups- in the mornings, over lunch and in the evenings -to prepare their positions and interventions. For example, delegates from (i) Africa, (ii) farmer organisations and civil society organisations, as well as (iii) the United States (US), Canada, the International Seed Federation (ISF), and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) respectively had side meetings. The US/Canada/ISF/UPOV small group mostly resisted linking the inventory to the Global Plan of Action and insisted on the ‘validation’ of legislative measures, while most of the other delegates argued otherwise. After extensive debates, the Expert Group agreed not to link the inventory to the Global Plan of Action and to replace ‘validate’ with ‘inform’ as stated in paragraph 13 of the final Report.
13. The Expert Group discussed the issue of whether Contracting Parties should be informed about legislative measures related to them, in cases where they were not submitted by said Contracting Parties.
Carefully steered by the Co-Chairs Ms Svanhild-Isabelle Batta Torheim (Norway) and Mr Rakesh Chandra Agrawal (India), the Expert Group’s main achievement at the Meeting was settling on the structure, categories and templates for the inventory. It was agreed that the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) Secretariat finalise the inventory in line with the endorsed structure, categories and templates, and establish an online electronic version to ease access, use and updates. The Expert Group requested the ITPGRFA Secretariat to accept new submissions, clarifying that only those received by 31 July 2019 will be included in the updated version of the inventory to be presented to the Governing Body at its Eight Session. The Expert Group also agreed that the options for the realisation of farmers’ rights should be a rolling document, adopting the same categories as the inventory.
However, the Expert Group failed to discuss substantive contents of the inventory and options for the realisation of farmers’ rights. Notably, Professor Charles Lawson (Griffith University, Australia) reminded the group that the critical question: ‘What are Farmers’ Rights?’ was not discussed. Consequently, the Expert Group recommended that the Governing Body reconvene the Expert Group to finalise its mandate.
See the Meeting documents here.
