This week, social movements and civil society organisations (CSOs) working in the context of food systems celebrated the 5th anniversary of the endorsement of the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, commonly referred to as the Tenure Guidelines.
The celebrations were carried out in Rome, during the 44th session of the Committee of World Food Security, which formally adopted the guidelines in 2012.
The Tenure Guidelines represent the first global exhaustive tool on the tenure of natural resources, including fisheries, developed through an open intergovernmental process in which social movements representing small-scale food producers fully participated as a primary voice within the debate.
Indeed, social movements and CSOs had a significant impact in the development of the Guidelines, bringing forward the points of view, experiences, voices and proposals of those that are the most exposed to the injustices due to phenomena such land and ocean grabbing.
Emerged from a process characterized by a holistic and participatory approach, the Tenure Guidelines are an International Instrument that can be used by social movement at all levels to assert their Human Rights to tenure.
While SSF and other small-scale food producers continue to struggle against all forms of dispossession and resource grabbing operated by corporation with the complicity of local, national and international organizations, the Tenure Guidelines represent and important legal instrument to keep governments accountable.
To celebrate the guidelines, in this edition of the Hook we will look at cases within the national context of South Africa, in which SSF struggle to have their tenure rights recognized.