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Displaying 5801 - 5810 of 6947Women's Land and Inheritance Rights in Afghanistan
On December 15th, USAID and the Afghanistan Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) launched a nationwide public information and awareness campaign about Afghan women’s rights to inherit and own land and property. The campaign is part of USAID’s Land Reform in Afghanistan (LARA) which works with the Government of Afghanistan to build the local capacity necessary to design and implement transparent, effective land tenure reform.
New Artisanal Mining Assessment Report Released for Cote d'Ivoire
In Cote d'Ivoire, a UN-imposed embargo on the export of Ivoirian diamonds to other countries has been in place since 2005 due to concerns regarding the control of diamond-mining zones by former rebel groups as well as weak internal controls over the country's diamond mining sector. Given these concerns and the role USAID's Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) program has played in helping to improve countries with their Kimberley Process compliance, USAID commissioned an assessment of the land tenure and artisanal mining sector in Cote d'Ivoire in September 2012.
Ruling Advances Women's Property Rights in Botswana
The Botswana High Court recently issued a landmark ruling: four sisters are permitted to inherit their family home even though a customary rule prohibits women from inheriting property. The High Court ruled that the customary rule violated women’s equal rights. Remarkably, the High Court issued its decision in the face of strong government support of the customary rule. The details of this watershed case are featured in a recent article by City Press.
Strengthening Women's Property Rights in Cameroon
According to a recent article from the IPS News Agency, women in Cameroon produce 80% of the country’s food needs yet own only 2% of the land. Though a 1974 Land Tenure Ordinance provides women with equal rights to property ownership, in reality customary tenure practices which discriminate against women sometimes trump national laws. In some cases, customary systems have provided women with secure rights to use land and resources however, recently women have experience greater difficulties protecting rights under these systems.
Impact of Land Rights on Girls' Education
Here’s a short video (within the blog post) from Landesa that “connects the dots” between securing land rights and improving educational opportunities for girls. The connection may not be immediately clear so teasing out the links – which the blog does – is important:
Colombian President's Approach May Help Ease Land Conflicts
A recent Poverty Matters post highlights some of the differences that mark the Santos regime in Colombia from that of his predecessor Alvaro Uribe. In some ways the two leaders share a vision for their country. The post puts it this way, both want to “attract foreign skills and investment to expand natural resource exports to pay for social investments.” But, author Jonathan Glennie points out that what distinguishes Santos is his decency and his willingness to embrace modernization.
Land and Conflict Are Linked in Cote d'Ivoire
Land tenure in Cote d’Ivoire is closely linked with ethnic conflict, power and economics. Beginning around the 1960s, President Houphouet-Boigny instituted policies that actively encouraged the clearing of new areas of land, the importation of labor and the establishment of laborers as agricultural settlers. This has been the cause of frequent conflicts, relating both to land rights and the ways in which different communities gain access to resources.
Debating South Africa's Land Policies
Writing at the Council on Foreign Relations’ “Africa in Transition” blog, John Campbell notes that South Africa’s land “issue” is not so simple. How true. Back in 1994 the ANC pledged to transfer ownership and control of 30% of white-owned farmlands to black South Africans by 2014. The process, based on a “willing buyer/willing seller” model has been halting at best and too often communities and farmers that did benefit from a redistribution of land lacked the background or capital to develop sustainable commercial entities.
Celebrating International Women's Day in the context of Land Tenure
Remarks by Gregory Myers, during negotiations for the Voluntary Guidelines for Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests on March 8, 2012 Ministers, Excellencies, honorable representatives of member countries, civil society participants and guests: This morning we begin our session with recognition of International Women’s Day. Each year the United Nations declares an International Women's Day theme.
Opportunities for women's land rights in the new Kenyan Constitution
In December 2009, Kenya adopted a new National Land Policy with the purpose of resolving the myriad of land tenure problems throughout the country. The policy calls for the recognition of customary community lands and land governance, addressing inequitable land distribution rooted in historical injustices, instituting a transparent and accountable system of land administration, and ensuring the effective protection of women’s rights to land and related resources, including the provision for joint spousal registration and documentation of land rights.