Since a century ago, there have been many efforts to attract foreign investment in Afghanistan.

While there is no right to land codified in international human rights law, the Convention for the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), provides for women’s right to own and inherit property without discrimination on the basis of sex.

The second in a series of three reports entitled, “The Stolen Lands of Afghanistan and its People; The State Land Distribution System,” this report focuses on how state lands are distributed.

Afghanistan continues to struggle to overcome decades of war and civil strife. Its political context remains complex and dominated by the Taliban insurgency, narcotics production, weak governance and incomplete rule of law.

This paper examines how far Afghanistan’s Land Acquisition Law complies with standards required for World Bank financing of public interest projects that unavoidably extinguish or diminish existing land rights in the project area.