Call for Papers No. 227 (2026)
Peasant Territories and the Human Right to Land in the ICARRD+20 Agenda
Controversia journal invites the academic community, activists, and members of social movements to contribute to a special dossier dedicated to the critical analysis of Peasant Territories, drawing from the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), in the context of the upcoming Second International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD+20).
The forthcoming ICARRD+20, to be held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, represents a historic opportunity to reinvigorate global debate on social justice in rural areas. Eighteen years after the First World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD, 2006), this new gathering must overcome the limitations of the past, which failed to reach consensus on a binding political document. This dossier seeks to contribute to that agenda, taking as its central axis Article 1 of UNDROP, which explicitly recognizes peasants, Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, fishers, pastoralists, and other people working in rural areas as holders of human rights.
This special issue aims to explore how the concept of territory extends beyond mere land ownership or tenure, encompassing a comprehensive set of fundamental rights. We invite reflections on peasant territories as vital spaces where the rights to land, water, biodiversity conservation, political participation, and cultural preservation are exercised. UNDROP offers a transformative legal framework that can guide the construction of a fair and sustainable Ten-Year Plan for Agrarian Reform, a central focus of discussion at ICARRD+20.
Topics of interest for submissions include, but are not limited to:
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Analysis of Articles 1 and 17 of UNDROP and their territorial application in national and regional contexts.
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The relationship between peasant and fishing territories, food sovereignty, and the fight against hunger.
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Peasant territories as spaces of resistance against the commodification of land and natural resources.
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Community access to and control over rivers and oceans from a collective rights perspective.
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Peasant territorial dispossession in the context of armed conflict.
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Meaningful participation of peasant peoples in public policy formulation and agrarian reform processes.
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Concrete experiences in building, defending, and managing peasant territories in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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The role of social movements and civil society organizations in advancing peasant territorial rights.
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Assessments and reflections on public policies regarding rural land-use planning and agrarian reforms.
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Concrete proposals for incorporating the UNDROP framework into the design of the Ten-Year Agrarian Reform Plan emerging from ICARRD+20.
This dossier aims to serve as a space for critical and forward-thinking reflection, enriching international debate ahead of ICARRD+20 with rigorous academic contributions committed to social justice in rural settings.
Call opens: December 1, 2025
Call closes: March 31, 2025
Publication date: Second semester of 2026
Editor
Carlos Arturo Duarte Torres, Coordinator of the Rural Development and Territorial Planning research line at the Institute for Intercultural Studies, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali. Co-editor, Controversia journal.