Statement by La Via Campesina Members in Honduras on 17 April 2025

Since the El Dorado dos Carajásmassacre in Brazil in 1996—when 21 peasants were murdered in their struggle for agrarian reform—a crime that, after 29 years of impunity, continues to unite us around the world every April 17. Because forgetting only benefits those who continue to oppress, we come together to commemorate that struggle, demand justice, and strengthen our resistance.

Land, water, and territory are not commodities—they are the foundation of our communities, cultures, and Food Sovereignty. The right to land is fundamental for rural workers and communities to continue producing healthy food through peasant agroecology and to fully participate in social, economic, and political life. However, this right and its associated struggle continue to be criminalized, and the rights of peasants as affirmed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas are systematically violated.

Enough with the dispossession, evictions, and commodification of our territories!

According to the 2024 Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports from the Office of the High Commissioner in Honduras, the Honduran State has adopted measures related to the promotion and protection of human rights, particularly economic, social, and cultural rights. However, persistent challenges remain rooted in structural causes such as institutional weakness, poverty, inequality, violence, insecurity, and socio-environmental and agrarian conflict, all of which negatively affect the exercise and enjoyment of human rights.

The report highlights several human rights violations against land and territory defenders, including:

• 34 ongoing conflicts linked to land and territory, particularly due to insecurity of land tenure and a lack of legal clarity around property rights in these cases.
• 22 forced evictions of peasant, Indigenous, and Afro-Honduran communities—some carried out without court orders, with the use of force including firearms, participation of non-state actors, no provision of alternatives, and under climate alert conditions that increased risks for vulnerable populations.
• 284 attacks recorded against 319 victims, both individuals and organizations—of these, 219 (68.65%) were dedicated to the defense of human rights and 100 (31.35%) to journalism and social communication.
• Land, territory, and environmental defenders continue to face the greatest risks, making up 47% of all victims.

We demand:

We call for the construction of a popular, comprehensive agrarian reform focused on Food Sovereignty, that:

We make an urgent call to the Secretariat of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG) to stop promoting the ‘Monsanto Law¹‘, which only seeks to strip people of their native and heirloom seeds. The ‘Monsanto Law, and a new Seed Law² criminalize, persecute, imprison, and fine peasants and Indigenous people who don’t comply with the regulations. These laws create a monopoly controlled by seed companies, allowing them to control the seeds and the food of the Honduran people.

To the National Agrarian Institute (INA): It is urgent to accelerate the presentation of the Decrees developed under the Agrarian Security and Land Access Commission to address the demands for land access from Indigenous peoples, peasant women, and rural youth.

We reaffirm our commitment!

From La Vía Campesina, we have declared: “Seeds are the heritage of the people at the service of humanity.” Heritage is a common good with symbolic and spiritual value, with deep meaning—seeds are our heritage, they are our lives, and it is our duty to care for them, conserve them, and defend them from the predatory globalization of annihilating capitalism.

It is time for Food Sovereignty!

Food Sovereignty is the right of the people to produce their own food and to organize food production and consumption according to the needs of local communities, giving priority to local and domestic products.

Seeds encompass the five elements that are the basis of life: the sun, the earth, water, and air—the sources of nature’s abundance. They are the very identity of our peoples.

There are two main issues: the ‘Monsanto Law’ and a new Seed Law, which criminalizes, persecutes, imprisons, and fines peasants and Indigenous people who do not comply. Through these laws, the State creates a monopoly controlled by seed companies, which then dominate both the seeds and the food of the Honduran people.

The State is handing over food sovereignty to multinational corporations.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras — April 24, 2025

LAND, WATER AND TERRITORIES FOR LIFE!

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1In 2012, Honduras enacted the Law for the Protection of Plant Varieties (Decree No. 21-2012), commonly known as the Monsanto Law. This legislation restricted farmers’ rights to save, exchange, and sell their own seeds, imposing severe penalties for violations. In 2022, the Honduran Supreme Court declared this law unconstitutional, citing its contradiction with constitutional principles related to life, human dignity, and the right to adequate food .

2Despite this ruling, the Honduran government has initiated the creation of a Technical Seed Committee, involving the Secretariat of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG). The committee’s objective is to develop a new Plant Variety Protection Law and a Seed Law that would mandate the use of certified seeds, effectively criminalizing the use of native and heirloom seeds by farmers

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