STATE OF PEASANTS’ RIGHTS IN SINDH 2015 Published by Hari Welfare Association House No 56 Mehran Colony Nawabshah, Telephone: 0244-330048, Fax: 0244-330048 Email:
[email protected]; URL: www.hariwelfare.org Written by Abdullah Khoso, Umbreen Kousar and Akram Ali Khaskheli Printed by CUT N CUE Productions Hyderabad, Sindh URL: www.cutncue.com March 2016 Price: 150 (Postage extra) ISBN: 978-969-7652-00-6 Cover design: CUT N CUE Productions Layout and formatting: Salman Lodhi Photographs: Mirza Muhib Baig STATE OF PEASANTS’ RIGHTS IN SINDH 2015 Who are peasants? “Peasants are smallholder farmers who have been incorporated into the polities and economies of large-scale societies…It may be safe to assert that a majority of the world's peoples could still, in some way, be considered peasants… Peasants utilize relatively simple technology and labor- intensive production methods. The family is the basic unit of production and consumption”.1 Peasants’ rights! “As human beings, peasants and other people working in rural areas are entitled to all human rights that have been recognized by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, including those enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) adopted in 1966. However, almost 50 years after the adoption of these two instruments, the vulnerability of peasants and other people working in rural areas; including herders, pastoralists and fisherfolk; remains of particular concern. They represent 70 per cent of the people living in extreme poverty and 80 per cent of the world hungry.