A PLATFORM TO UNIFY STRUGGLES FOR ALL HUMAN RIGHTS

This article discusses the importance of seed control and agricultural biodiversity for the right to food and nutrition. The authors argue that seeds are the neglected backbone of this human right, and that new ways to respect, protect and fulfill people's access to and use of seeds, plants, and animals must take center stage in the ongoing development of the right to food and nutrition, within the framework of food sovereignty. The authors also advocate the recognition of a stand-alone human right to seeds. Two complementary insight boxes describe how farmers' rights to seeds are currently protected in international legal regimes, how and where these regimes conflict, and describe ongoing efforts to better protect peasant seed systems in the framework of the negotiation of a Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas at the UN Human Rights Council. A third insight box shares the experience of a seed sovereignty experiment in war-torn Syria, which calls itself the 15th Garden.