This study explores the means of advancing the rights of people working in rural areas, including women, with a focus on smallholders engaged in the production of food. The main causes of discrimination against people working and living in rural areas, including women, are linked to human rights violations, including the expropriation of land, forced evictions, gender discrimination, and poor rural development policies. The report calls for better implementation of the various existing international norms and the improved filling of normative gaps under international human rights law. The report concludes that the previous two steps alone will not suffice and that there is a need to create a new international instrument specifically dedicated to the rights of people living and working in rural areas.