Petition in support of initiative “Seeds are our Human Right” in Croatia

On the 14.01.2021 the initiative “The seed is our human right!” sent an opinion to the Parliamentary Committee on the draft Law on Seeds, Planting Material and Recognition of Agricultural Plant Varieties. The opinion was written by a team of representatives from the Croatian Association of Organic Producers, Biovrt and the Association of Family Farms of Croatia “Život”. They worked for more than a month on studying and analyzing the proposal of the new Seeds Act, which threatens to harm biodiversity and farmers in Croatia. “We studied the law thoroughly, we consulted with various experts, and even foreign associations and lawyers working in this field” they have state from the initative. The final analysis of the law was written by Sunčana Pešak.

The letter asks for a postponement of the adoption of the Law on Seeds, Planting Material and Recognition of Agricultural Plant Varieties until the adoption of a law that will define the field of seed production at the European level.

If this is not possible, the initiative seeks the removal of the provisions from the draft law which significantly affect the rights of producers and are not in line with international documents that protect them.

While the Seed Act awaits its first reading in the Croatian Parliament, 77 associations with more than 25,000 members and more than 17,500 petitioners expressed their support for food sovereignty and the initiative Sjeme je naše ljudsko pravo (Seeds are our Human Right).

The initiative has called for support from the wider public. They will be collecting support signatures until February 7, 2021 through the following link: http://bit.ly/3nRRVwl.

On the same link interest can be expressed for volunteering in future campaigns. The initiative is using the hashtags: #nedamosjeme and #biovrt

“If you support our demands, whether as an association, a farmer, a representative of the scientific community, a concerned citizen or other, you can support this initiative with your signature”, representatives from the initiative have stated.