Public Statements

If UNESCO WHC willingly operates a World Heritage Site in a country that does not respect rights of Indigenous, they are complicit in any violation of rights that occur.

The data and policy assumptions in FAO’s June 2021 publication Which farms feed the world and has farmland become more concentrated? requires clarification

Before publication of the report Stealth Game, the Oakland Institute shared the major findings of its research with NRT, to provide it an opportunity to respond. What followed was a correspondence in which NRT denies our findings and deflects blame. Here we address NRT’s contention points with the report. NRT asserts that the findings of Stealth Game are “unfounded and long discredited allegations” that are the result of not “having seen firsthand the situation on the ground.” NRT maintains visiting the communities in person would dispel these allegations.

Over 450 Public Development Banks (PDBs) from around the world are gathering in Rome from 19 to 20 October 2021 for a second international summit, dubbed Finance in Common. During the first summit in Paris in 2020, over 80 civil-society organizations published a joint statement demanding that the PDBs stop funding agribusiness companies and projects that take land and natural resources away from local communities. This year, however, PDBs have made agriculture and agribusiness the priority of their second summit.

Honorable Michele Bachelet UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Geneva Re: Oakland Institute’s response to the August 27, 2021 statement from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the progress made on peace and reconciliation Honorable Michele Bachelet, On August 27, 2021, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on the progress made by the government of Sri Lanka on peace and reconciliation in advance of the forthcoming UN Human Rights Council session.

Dear donor representative, We, 35 organizations from the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) and 165 allied organizations in 40 countries around the world, call on your agency to cease funding the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and other Green Revolution programs and to support African-led efforts to expand agroecology and other low-input farming systems. AFSA, the continent’s largest network of civil society organizations, wrote to AGRA donors in May 2021 asking for evidence of the program’s positive impacts. The network received few replies and no evidence.

UNITY STATEMENT CALLING TO JUNK THE PERMIT FOR COMMERCIAL PROPAGATION OF GOLDEN RICE AND OPPOSE ALL DEVELOPMENTS THAT WILL ADVANCE THE GREEN REVOLUTION AND THE CORPORATE CAPTURE OF FOOD SYSTEMS Last July 21, 2021, the Department of Agriculture of the Philippines approved the permit for the commercial propagation of the highly contested GM yellow rice, called ‘Golden Rice’ (GR). We, the undersigned, vehemently condemn this rail-roaded approval and fully commit ourselves to relentless efforts to oppose the corporate capture of our food systems. No more lies, Golden Rice!

“UNESCO and Tanzania’s plan is detrimental not only to the Maasai but also for the conservation of wildlife. It is a repeat of the myopic actions of the British colonial government, and our challenges have continued.” “We, Ngorongoro residents do not have food. We are permanently starving because of bad policies.” Maasai Elders Take Action Today & Stand With the Maasai SIGN THE PETITION Years of restrictions imposed in the name of “conservation” have driven an ongoing hunger crisis for Indigenous pastoralist communities living within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania.

TO: Ms. Grete Faremo, Executive Director, UNOPS, Chair High Level Committee on Management (HLCM) Ms. Kelly Clements, Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, Vice-chair HLCM Ms. Katinka Rosenbom, Chief Contracting, UNICEF, Chair HLCM Procurement Network Ms. Elisabeth Eckerstrom, Head, Procurement Division, ITU, Vice-chair HLCM Procurement Network Ms. Neris M. Baez Garcia de Mazzora, UN Procurement Division Director Mr. El Cid Butuyan, Ethics Office Director, UNICEF Ms. Bonnie Green, Chief Ethics Officer, World Food Programme Ms.

We strongly object to any interference by U.S. government officials or agribusiness interests in a sovereign state’s right to enact policy measures to protect the health and well-being of its people. We urge your agencies to resist and reject these ongoing efforts.