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An Oblique Appropriation of Advocacy: La Vía Campesina’s Defense and Promotion of “Peasants’ Rights” in the United Nations In recent years, the international peasant movement, La Vía Campesina, has sought to transcribe the “peasant cause” into law. In response to rights violations in the countryside – civil and political as well as economic, social and cultural – an effort was launched to demand that the Human Rights Council adopt an “International Convention on Peasants Rights”. By studying the case of La Vía Campesina, one may underscore the kind of skills and alliances needed by activists (who are initially wary of the risk of dispossession that is entailed by recourse to a more expert and institutional repertory of action) in order to implement their advocacy strategy within UN bodies. Light is thus shed on the ways in which this strategy of collective action may benefit from the involvement of La Vía Campesina members, even as it creates tensions and dilemmas relating to the possible de-radicalization of the cause. ■