Legislating to guarantee the rights of rural women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

This legal note is based on the publication "The protection of the rights of rural women in Latin America and the Caribbean", produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Spanish Agency for Cooperation International for Development (AECID) through the Spanish Cooperation Training Center in La Antigua Guatemala. This is a brief document that addresses the international and regional regulatory framework that establishes the rights of rural women, and the constitutional and legislative advances in the matter achieved in the region. The specific laws approved are presented, as well as examples of laws that protect the right to productive resources and services, and the right to participation of rural women, adopted in various countries of the region.

The note highlights the work of the Parliamentary Front against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean (FPH-ALC) – a network of more than 400 legislators supported by FAO, AECID and the Mexican Agency for Cooperation International for Development (AMEXCID) - and the role of national parliaments to advance in the protection of the rights of rural women. It concludes, bringing recommendations for possible actions from the parliamentary sphere to contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 5 (SDG2 and SDG5), and strengthen the effective guarantee of the rights of rural women.