News on Land

ONDON/BOSTON, April 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Activists are urging Commonwealth leaders meeting in Britain this week to throw their weight behind a campaign to preserve a centuries-old communal land ownership system on the Caribbean island of Barbuda.

After Britain abolished slavery in its colonies in 1834, Barbudans developed a system of communal land ownership, now threatened by government plans to introduce private land ownership to boost development and tourism.

The government has decided to reallocate more than 520 hectares of land in Sihanoukville’s Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem communes from state land to private ownership for nearly 300 families living there.

According to a sub-decree issued on Wednesday, the government decided to provide 528.37 hectares of land in the two communes to 298 families living in the area, while also allocating some plots of land for schools, administration offices, commune halls, village headquarters, military units and pagodas.

Commercial Farmers Abusing Rural People’s Rights

As activists and policymakers from across the globe gather in Washington D.C. for the World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, it’s a good time to reflect on how commercial agriculture leaves peasants landless in Zambia.

Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) is a regional organization founded in 1992 as a platform for solidarity and cooperation among indigenous peoples in Asia. AAIP is currently looking for an experienced Programme Officer in HUmand Rights Campaigning and Advocacy. 

Deadline: 15.04.2018

Farmers from Cambodia have filed a lawsuit in a Thai civil court against Asia’s largest sugar producer, accusing it of rights abuses after it allegedly kicked farmers off their land, a rights group said on Monday.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 3,000 people, is the first class-action lawsuit filed in a Thai court by plaintiffs from another country against a Thai company operating outside Thailand, the group, Inclusive Development International, said in a statement.

Brazilian police have arrested a priest in the Amazon who championed the rights of smallholders against powerful agricultural interests.

Father Amaro Lopes is the best-known follower of the American-born nun, Dorothy Stang, who was murdered in 2005 in a killing orchestrated by landowners during a dispute that continues today.

Brazilian police have arrested a priest in the Amazon who championed the rights of smallholders against powerful agricultural interests.

Father Amaro Lopes is the best-known follower of the American-born nun, Dorothy Stang, who was murdered in 2005 in a killing orchestrated by landowners during a dispute that continues today.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Research Consortium, a new powerful hub for the collection, sharing, and exchange of knowledge on how to effectively advance women’s land rights. We know women’s land rights matter, and the Research Consortium is designed to help us figure out how to ensure these rights are realized.

An international conference, organised by the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI), will take place in The Hague from 16-17 March 2018.

Authoritarian populism is on the rise, boosted by support from rural areas. The conference examines why, and explores the alternatives: the social and political processes in rural spaces that are resisting or responding to regressive, authoritarian politics.

Please join us for a special campaign to shine a spotlight on women’s land rights.

We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting abstract submissions for our Annual International Conference 2018.

Abstract submissions will be accepted until 1 April 2018.

LAND GOVERNANCE AND (IM)MOBILITY

Exploring the nexus between land acquisition, displacement and migration

28th and 29th June 2018