Huairou Commission Brings Grassroots Women’s Voice on Global Land Rights to ICCARD+20

Cartagena, Colombia – From 24-28, 2026, the Huairou Commission participated in ICARRD+20, the 20th anniversary International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, organized by Colombia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with FAO support. The conference brought together governments, civil society, and grassroots representatives to address agrarian reform at the intersection of land, food security, and climate. 

The conference was attended by Huairou’s Global Chair, Violet Shivutse, Global Land Specialist at Huairou, Mino Ramaroson and Huairou Member from UCOBAC, Frances Birungi (through the International Land Coalition).

Huairou co-organised a high-level session with TMG Think Tank, Robert Bosch Stiftung, and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) titled “Water, Food and Wellbeing: Land for life. Women Land Rights as a critical lever to deliver across food, biodiversity, climate, land and droughts agendas”. The event brought together ministers, UN officials, and international partners to place women’s land rights at the center of global conversations on food security, climate, and biodiversity.

Huairou’s participation in ICCARD+20 centered around three interconnected arguments: that secure land rights are the foundation of food sovereignty; that strengthening women’s land rights produces multiplier effects across food security, resilience, and sustainable land use; and that gender-responsive data systems are essential, as women’s invisibility in land data directly drives their exclusion from policies and investments.

The conference concluded with an agreed declaration and renewed global momentum for inclusive land governance, with stronger recognition of women’s land rights as central to food systems transformation. HC will follow up on the declaration process, advance collaborative research on grassroots women-led agroecology with partners, and report outcomes back to its global membership.

Read the full ICCARD+20 Declaration here: https://bit.ly/41SKxr3