This is a CTP of initiative: La Via Campesina/ANAMURI (Chile)
This CTP refers to the discussion ocurred in Chile regarding the incorporation of the country into the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, better known as UPOV 91. The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) is an intergovernmental organization. Created from the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants adopted in Paris in 1961 (and revised in 1972, 1978 and 1991). Its purpose is to protect plant varieties (seeds) through an intellectual property right. The referents of ANAMURI define it as follows:
"Around the world, Transnational companies are campaigning to monopolize seeds, the key to all food webs. In May 2011, Chile approved in a parliamentary decision, the incorporation of that country to the 1991 version of the UPOV (Union for the Protection of Plant Varieties) treaty. This treaty is part of the so-called 'breeder's rights', which are a form of registration to privatize seeds, practically as restrictive as patents. In both cases (patents and breeder's rights), it is a question of legally preventing the seeds from being freely circulated, to force them to buy from the transnationals and, above all, that they can not be replanted, criminalizing the essential act of agriculture: Produce, reproduce and use seeds for the next planting."
The Chilean Senate approved accession to the UPOV 91, on May 11, 2011. From that fact, a reaction was started by different social sectors against the decision. From that moment, the campaign "I do not want transgenics in Chile" was started. This campaign and the refusal to join UPOV 91 was a milestone in ANAMURI's history because it made the organization a central player in public debate at the national level and allowed it to consolidate alliances with new political and social sectors throughout the country.
For ANAMURI, the approval of the Convention affected the interests of farmers:
"The farmer must buy his seed every year if he does not want to see his crops and plantations confiscated. The agreement does not guarantee that varieties are better or accessible in Chile. It may even be the case that for commercial reasons the entry of a certain variety in Chile is prevented. In order to register a plant, it is only required that it is not registered before and that the variety is homogeneous and stable."
This CTP was the result of a co-production process involving international agreements such as UPOV, the Senate that approved the adhesion, and transgenic seeds producers, opposition senators, environmental and peasant organizations and a change of government.
The adhesion to the agreement UPOV 91 was impelled in Chile to comply with the agreements of free trade signed by the country. Advocates for accession were needed to give legal certainty to companies developing GM seeds to invest in the country's export products. Those opposed to the law argued that many countries that had a large development in transgenic agriculture had not needed to join UPOV 91. The clearest case is Argentina with the second largest transgenic crop production in the world and never Acceded to UPOV 91.
The approval of the adhesion by the senate generated diverse rejections between ecological, peasant and indigenous organizations. Also opposed to the measure was a group of 21 congressists who filed the case in the Constitutional Court that rejected the plaintiffs' claims. However, this judicial process gave great visibility to the claim and peasant organizations such as ANAMURI played a central role in the public hearing held in June 2011.
On the other hand, effective ratification of the agreement required the enactment of a new seed law. In 2009, a draft Law on Plant Breeders' Rights, known as the Monsanto Law, had also been submitted. The anti-transgenic campaign was driven in open opposition to this law that finally was not enacted.
Finally, in 2014 Michelle Bachelet assumed the presidency of the country and, in less than 10 days, decided to withdraw the law. The funny thing is that she was this same president in her previous mandate who had originally sent the project in 2009.
On 13 March 1991, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants approved the latest revision of its Convention. This new revision establishes new rules for the protection of intellectual property of companies that produce transgenic seeds and limit the rights of farmers.
For the year 2009, the government of Michelle Bachelet sent the draft law of Plant Breeders' rights. The law was approved by the deputees chamber during 2010 and began its treatment in senators chamber. But in parallel to the treatment, the Senate approved in March 2011 the country's accession to the UPOV Convention 91 in a parallel procedure to the Breeders' rights law. This decision of the senate generated the reaction of environmental and peasant social organizations that initiated the campaign "I don't want transgenics in Chile". A group of congressists presented in May 2011 to the Constitutional Court to declare the measure unconstitutional. This court held a series of public hearings in June in which peasant organizations participated. It was at this hearing that the leaders of ANAMURI presented arguments on the unconstitutionality of UPOV 91.
Although the Constitutional Court rejected the request for unconstitutionality, social organizations intensified the actions of the campaign "I don't want transgenics in Chile". This campaign coincided with other major mobilizations that quickly weakened the government of President Sebastián Piñera.
In 2011, there was a strong mobilization of university students throughout the country demanding a profound reform of the Chilean educational system. They demanded for free and quality education. This conflict remained active for more than six months.
That same year there was a great campaign against the construction of two hydroelectric dams in the region of Aysén in the south of the country due to the environmental damage that could generate. The campaign against the HidroAysen project achieved great popular support throughout the country and markedly affected the image of the government that supported in the project.
The sum of these facts made it easier for Michelle Bachelet to became president again in 2013. At the beginning of her new presidency, Bachelet withdrew the plant breeders' rights law, consolidating a triumph of the campaign against it.
In this CTP shows different levels of Contestation. First, there was a controversy about the appropriateness of joining UPOV 91 to improve Chilean agricultural production and its export potential. Proponents of adherence to the agreement argued that it was an inevitable step for the development of export agriculture. Among those questioning accession, this was not necessary, since other countries had not adhered to the Convention and had not affected the development of export agriculture.
In the central debate on the constitutionality of the Senate decision, two central themes were highlighted: on the one hand, a collision of interests was proposed between the property rights of seed producers and the rights of the farmer. Until UPOV 91, the farmer had a privileged right to reproduce and multiply the seeds for future harvests. By adhering to this agreement, this activity became illegal (farmers had to buy seeds or pay royalty for reuse).
On the other hand, it was suggested that membership of UPOV 91 violated ILO Convention 169. This Agreement establishes that indigenous peoples should be consulted in good faith when laws are proposed that affect them. It is precisely in the territories and communities of the indigenous peoples where there has been the greatest historical dispossession of the plant genetic heritage. Convention 169 provides that natural resources on indigenous lands must be protected. In other words, at the time of ratifying the Convention, Chile had a duty to take such measures as may be necessary to implement its provisions. For this reason, it was maintained that the measure taken by the senate was unconstitutional for not having carried out sufficient and informed consultations to the native peoples of the country.
Finally, there is a more complex dispute underlying the conflict that is the relationship between peasants and commercial agriculture. ANAMURI took an active role in confronting the world's largest transgenic producers:
"In Chile there can be no transgenic production for food, but here transgenics circulate everywhere. We asked to be informed where the GM seedlings were, but Monsanto said that it could not say where they were because there was a vandalic organization here, which was a part of the Via Campesina, this was ANAMURI, and that we put at risk 'all development Which mankind was doing '. When the Court ruled in our favor, and they had to tell us the location of the seedbeds, Monsanto appealed, but after that our campaign against the UPOV 91 was so strong that Monsanto withdrew the suit against us.”
This CTP was anticipated for different reasons by members ANAMURI and other organizations in Chile. On the one hand, Parliament was already dealing with the plant breeder's law since 2009. Thus, the problem had already been in the public status at least two years earlier. In addition, the UPOV 91 agreement was valid for 20 years, and Chile had already signed UPOV 78, so the possibility of a new accession was within the possibilities.
But mainly, this CTP was anticipated because ANAMURI had actively participated in the global seed campaign promoted by Vía Campesina in the early 2000s. In that campaign, ANAMURI already carried out numerous activities, such as workshops and public talks, denouncing that Transnational corporations such as Monsanto wanted to own the seeds.
This CTP, shows how ANAMURI tested all the learning accumulated over more than 10 years of history in order to impose its interests. In particular, the capacities generated and the expertise accumulated during the international campaign of seeds of Via Campesina.
One of the new learning embodied in this CTP in particular, was the generation of partnership capacities with other social and political sectors. Thus, ANAMURI participated of a citizen campaign that included other type of organizations that were not of peasants, women or indigenous. In this way, forces were united on the basis of a common interest.
But the main learning accumulated in this CTP was to have incorporated new capacities of political negotiation. Throughout the process that led to the withdrawal of the law, peasant organizations established contacts with sectors of the political alliance that won the elections in 2013. In this way, ANAMURI was able to generate new channels to defend its interests and influence politically.
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