Recognizing the right to food and nutrition of waged agricultural workers
1. Who are waged agricultural workers?
These are the over 450 million women and men who are employed as waged agricultural workers, and who are at the very heart of the food production system. They are waged workers, and distinct from farmers, because they do not own or rent the land on which they work nor the tools and equipment do they use. They are employed on small- and medium-sized farms, including family farms, as well as large industrialized farms and plantations.
They work for some kind of 'wage' which can include payment 'in kind', under a variety of work arrangements, defined by a farmer, farming or plantation company, or agricultural contractor or subcontractor. These work arrangements are not always recognised as employment relationships, and often entail relationships of subordination and dependency. As a result, waged agricultural workers lack many rights and access to social protection, thereby increasing their vulnerability. Beyond forming the core of the rural poor, this workforce is disadvantaged in other respects. It is among the most socially vulnerable, the least organized into trade unions, is employed under the poorest health, safety and environmental conditions, and is the least likely to have access to effective forms of social security and protection.
2. Recognition in the HLPE V0 Draft Report
These waged agricultural workers - who account for over 40% of the total agricultural workforce - remain largely invisible to policy- and decision-makers in governments, agricultural and rural development agencies, intergovernmental organizations, science and research institutions, agricultural banks and credit institutions as well as to many civil society organizations and groups. They remain unrecognised in terms of goals, policies, programmes and activities to eliminate poverty, to strengthen labour standards and human rights, and to strengthen the role of civil society groups in promoting sustainable agriculture and Food and Nutrition Security (NFS) as part of the general process towards Sustainable Development Goals. (SDG).
They are hardly ever mentioned in United Nations documentation outside of the
International Labour Organization and is conspicuously missing in HLPE V0 Draft Report.
It is therefore important to include their concern in the Final Report.
3. Vulnerability
Agricultural workers play a critical role in achieving food security and fulfilling the universal human right to adequate food. They are, however, among the most food insecure, facing formidable barriers to the realization of their right to food and nutrition, often working without labour and employment protections and under dangerous conditions.
Despite this vulnerability to food insecurity and human rights violations, the right to food and nutrition of agricultural workers has not been sufficiently addressed.
International human rights law recognizes the interdependence among the rights to decent work, adequate living conditions, social protections and the right to food, as outlined in article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
4. Fair Employment
Fair employment mentioned in the V 0 Daft Report should be defined based on the International Labour Organization (ILO) Decent Work Agenda and the ILO Declaration Fundaments Principle and Rights at Work (1998)
The agricultural sector is among the most dangerous industries others are mining and construction.
The majority of agricultural workers are excluded from national legal protective frameworks, leaving them unable to exercise their fundamental rights to associate or access to remedies.
These are some of the challenges that undermine the ability of agricultural workers to realize the right to food and nutrition.
Omara Amuko