Nyéléni Global Forum builds struggle for sovereignty and human rights

The third Nyéléni Global Forum is currently taking place in Kandy, Sri Lanka, from September 6 to 13, uniting social movements around the world to discuss several themes including rising authoritarianism, food sovereignty, land reform, healthcare, and climate justice.

“The Forum stands as a global platform of resistance and solidarity, grounded in the principles of food sovereignty, grassroots feminism, agroecology, social, gender and climate justice, peoples’ and energy sovereignty, and economic democracy,” reads the opening press release.

The forum opened on September 6 at the National Institute of Co-Operative Development in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Over 700 delegates representing 100 different nationalities are participating in the forum.

Program includes women’s and youth assemblies, solidarity with Palestine

On the first day of the forum, regional delegations from Africa, the Near East and North Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia, and North America convened their preparatory meetings to discuss our Common Political Action Agenda, developed through months of regional and international consultations. 

In the afternoon, delegates gathered for the Assembly of Gender and Sexual Diversities and Allies. “People of all races, languages, sexualities, identities, and abilities are welcome to build with us. This space cannot be taken for granted,” said Paula Gioia, of La Via Campesina.

The second day saw gatherings in the form of a Youth Assembly, a Women’s Assembly, and an Indigenous Peoples’ Meeting. “Agrarian reform means having youth there in dignified spaces, education, health, land, food, access to local production,” said Paulina Margarita Caal Chocooj, a delegate from the Movimiento Agroecológico de América Latina y el Caribe (MAELA).

The third day marked a day of solidarity with Palestine, denouncing the failure of governments and the UN to intervene in an ongoing genocide. “The political action we are taking in this forum connects to all the other actions taking place around the world, including the Freedom Flotilla, Friends of the Hague, and countless other alliances at local, regional, national, and international levels, “ said Jana Nakhal, of the Global Steering Committee representing the NENA region.

First Global Forum on Food Sovereignty lays the groundwork for a global movement

This year’s Nyéléni Forum builds on the efforts of previous forums, the first of which took place in the rural village of Nyéléni, in Mali – in which peasant and agrarian movement leaders held the First Global Forum on Food Sovereignty in 2007. This first forum was organized by Friends of the Earth International, Via Campesina, the World March of Women, ROPPA, World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers (WFF) and the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP), and united 600 delegates spanning five continents, representing diverse sectors of society concerned with agriculture and food. 

This first forum resulted in the the Declaration of Nyéléni, a cornerstone document for the movement, and designated Nyéléni as the name of the international network of social movements. Today, the village’s name has become synonymous with the global peasant movement and the struggle for food sovereignty. 

Other Nyéléni forums have since taken place, including Nyéléni Europe 2011 in Austria, the 2nd Nyéléni Global Forum in 2015 which took place in Mali, and Nyéléni Europe 2016 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.