Global day of action to #StopUPOV
Unfair seed laws in trade deals must be stopped
Over 20,000 people have signed a petition calling for an end to unfair seed laws in UK trade deals, Transform Trade have announced. The petition calls for an end to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants 1991 (UPOV 91). Countries are being forced to align their national laws with UPOV91 when signing trade deals with the UK. This can criminalise food producers for sharing, swapping and saving seeds. The results can be devastating for small farmers and are bad for biodiversity, thus undermining our ability to respond to climate change through the development of locally-adapted seeds.
Add your name to the petition to #StopUPOV: www.transform-trade.org/seeds-campaign.
The 2nd of December was the Global Day of Action against UPOV91. Angus Lam from GRAIN told GM Freeze: “The assault on farmers’ seeds is intensifying, driven by powerful seed companies and backed by their host governments through trade deals. On this day of action against UPOV on 2nd December, global communities are standing strong in their resistance.”
UK Government fails to recognise farmers’ rights
Transform Trade (formerly Traidcraft Exchange) wrote to the Minister for Trade Douglas Alexander MP asking for the UK Government to remove and renegotiate the seed law provisions in its trade deals so that they recognise farmers’ rights to seeds. He refused to recognise this right in his response, re-imagining it as farmers’ ability to access low-cost seed which is “provided” to them.
Human rights in humanity’s interests
UPOV01 is in opposition to the UN Declaration of the Rights of Peasants, which was adopted in 2018. According to a report by the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights: “The adoption of UNDROP by the UN General Assembly is a powerful reminder that the human rights to seeds and food must prevail over intellectual property and seed marketing laws and regulations… Peasants’ rights and peasant seed systems go hand in hand, and are essential to building resilient food and agricultural systems that can adapt to a changing climate.” It concludes that this is not only in the interests of peasants and farmers, but of society at large.
