The Right to Seeds in Africa. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas and the Right to Seeds in Africa

This Briefing, entitled "UNDROP and the Right to Seeds in Africa", is a publication of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, with the support of Swissaid, Crops4HD, and South Centre. The research was conducted from March to December 2022, and the Briefing was published in February 2023. The objective is to raise awareness of the Declaration and to promote its implementation in African countries. The Briefing 1) gives an overview of the right to seeds and intellectual property in international law; 2) introduces UNDROP and outlines its definition of the right to seeds and states’ obligations; 3) presents the challenges to the protection of the right to seeds in Africa; and 4) develops proposals and makes recommendations to better protect the right to seeds in the AU and African states. The Briefing has been presented in several forums, including seed policy workshops with African governments and civil society representatives. The publication fills an important gap in providing civil society and government actors with the tools to move toward the implementation of UNDROP, and the right to seeds in national and regional laws and policies.