Projects per year
Personal profile
Vision Statement
After several years working for human rights organizations and development NGOs, I decided to become a scholar to better understand the challenges facing social movements and human rights activists working towards more equitable and sustainable food systems. As a PhD researcher, I analyzed the contribution of peasant movements to the emergence of an alternative conception of human rights. I looked at the creation and institutionalization of new human rights by the transnational agrarian movement La Via Campesina, with a focus on the right of peoples to food sovereignty, and the rights of peasants (to land, seeds, water, biodiversity, remunerative prices and participation in decision-making). At the time, I was working as Senior Advisory to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter (2008-2014).
My approach is multidisciplinary, empirical and inductive. In my research, I mobilize concepts from the socio-anthropology of rights, the sociology of social movements, rural sociology, international human rights law and development studies. My areas of thematic expertise are: human rights, food sovereignty, the right to food, land rights, peasant and social movements, agricultural trade and global governance, agricultural policy and food security.
Biography
I received my PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the University of Louvain (UCL) in 2013. While doing research on legal mobilizations within the transnational agrarian movement La Via Campesina, I worked as a Special Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, from 2008 to 2014. I also worked closely with Geoffrey Pleyers and was very involved in his research group on social movements in the global age (SMAG).
After completing my PhD, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Collège d’Etudes Mondiales in Paris (2014-2015) and at the French Institute of Pondicherry in India (2015-2016).
Since 2012, I have been following and actively supporting the process of negotiation of a new UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas, at the Human Rights Council. This process led to the recognition, with the adoption of the Declaration in 2018 by the UN Genera Assembly, of new human rights to land, seeds, biodiversity and food sovereignty, vested in individuals but also in groups and communities. I am fascinated by the engagement of agrarian movement in global norm-setting processes, and have explored, in different ways, their contributions but also the challenges that they face as makers of law.
Prior to becoming an academic, I worked for a number of human rights organizations and development NGOs, including FIAN in Belgium, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in France, and the Maquila Solidarity Network, Rights & Democracy, and Oxfam in Canada. I am now the President of FIAN Belgium and on the board of the FIAN International.
I hold a MA in business administration from the Louvain School of Management (UCL) and a MA in environmental management from the Free University of Brussels (ULB).
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
External positions
President, FIAN International
Nov 2022 → …
Keywords
- H Social Sciences (General)
- GN Anthropology
- JX International law
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 1 Finished
-
WCLR: Collaborative research on Women's Communal Land Rights in Africa
Claeys, P. & Lemke, S.
1/09/20 → 28/02/22
Project: Research
-
ECVC Youth: Navigating Dreams & Precarity. Working and Learning Conditions of Young Agricultural Workers, Interns and Volunteers Across Europe.
Claeys, P. & Van Dyck, B., 1 Mar 2023, La Via Campesina. 20 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
Open Access -
Land as a Human Right
Claeys, P., Cotula, L., Gilbert, J., Golay, C., Kothari, M. & Torres, V., 14 Mar 2023, (Accepted/In press) The Oxford Handbook on Land Politics. Oxford University Press (OUP), Vol. (In-Press). p. (In-Press)Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
-
Participatory action research in a time of COVID and beyond
McAllister, G., Bhatasara, S., Claeys, P., Howard, J., Lemke, S., McKinnon, K. & Moeller, N. I., 2 May 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 7, 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Downloads (Pure) -
Editorial: Women's Communal Land Rights
Claeys, P., Lemke, S. & Camacho, J., 21 Apr 2022, In: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 6, p. 1-3 3 p., 877545.Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › peer-review
Open AccessFile63 Downloads (Pure) -
Impliquer différents acteurs dans la construction des circuits courts : pourquoi ? Comment ? Quels enjeux ? L’expérience de trois coopératives de distribution et vente alimentaires.
Claeys, P. & Dumont, A., 15 Dec 2022, SAW-B, 23 p.Translated title of the contribution :Involving different actors in the construction of short circuits: why? How ? What issues?: The experience of three food distribution and sales cooperatives. Research output: Working paper/Preprint › Working paper
Open Access
Activities
- 1 Participation in workshop, seminar, course
-
The Oxford Handbook of Law and AnthropologyEditors: Marie-Claire Foblets, Mark Goodale, Maria Sapignoli, Olaf Zenker
Priscilla Claeys (Speaker) & Karine Peschard (Speaker)
30 Nov 2018 → 2 Dec 2018Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Prizes
-
Doctoral thesis HERA Award
Claeys, Priscilla (Recipient), 25 Apr 2017
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Press/Media
-
A Collective response from food sovereignty scholars on the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy
Chiara Tornaghi, Priscilla Claeys, Barbara Van Dyck, Nina Moeller, Jessica Milgroom & Jessica Duncan
31/05/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
-
Recognition of the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas at the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC).
Kroff Florence & Priscilla Claeys
1/03/18
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
-
-
Ensuring the right to food for rural working people
10/02/17
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities