Topics and Regions
Details
Location
U.S. lawmakers urge end to Honduras security aid after murder of land rights activist
By: Chris Arsenault
Date: 13 December 2016
Source: Thomsn Reuters Foundation
A group of U.S. lawmakers is making a year-end push to suspend millions of dollars in military assistance to Honduras, citing mounting human rights concerns, including the murder of high-profile land rights activist Berta Caceres.
India's landmark forest rights law hobbled by conflicting policies - report
By: Rina Chandran
Date: 13 December 2016
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
A landmark Indian forest rights law passed 10 years ago with the aim of protecting indigenous people has been crippled by conflicting legislation, and a lack of political will and funds to ensure its implementation, according to a report.
What will Indigenous treaties mean?
Date: 13 December 2016
Source: ABC.net
Australia is the only Commonwealth country that does not have a treaty with its Indigenous peoples and interestingly, the states are leading the charge, the ABC's editor of Indigenous affairs says.
Stan Grant said there was still a "big debate" around the question of Indigenous recognition in the constitution but several states have begun working on treaties with their Indigenous communities.
Malaysia: the Murut struggle against palm oil, for land and life
By: Sophie Chao
Date: 12 December 2016
Source: Ecologist
Supported by state and national governments, palm oil plantations are advancing over the rainforest hills of Sabah, Malaysia, writes Sophie Chao. In their way: the indigenous Murut of Bigor, whose culture, livelihood and very lives are under threat as forests and farms fall to chainsaws and bulldozers, enriching loggers and distant investors beyond the dreams of avarice.
Deaths of land rights defenders treble in a year as violence surges, says report
By: Rina Chandran
Date: 12 December 2016
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
The battle over land and resources turned bloodier in the past year with treble the number of land rights defenders killed, according to a human rights group that fears the violence will get even worse.
Locals fearful as mega-projects drive rush for land on Kenya's coast
By:Sophie Mbugua
Date: 8 December 2016
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
WITU, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Too poor to buy land where they grew up on Kenya's palm-fringed southern coast, Sylvester Jefua and his wife migrated 300 kms northwards to Witu Forest, where they felled seven acres of trees and built a mud and thatch house for their family.
Ten years later, Jefua, 36, still does not feel secure.
A new wave of land and water grabbing
Date: 9 December 2016
Source:NewVision
In many of the landing sites such as Nangoma, Bulebi, Kiziru and others, residents are not allowed to re-build their grass-thatched houses for fear that they will catch fire and cause further destruction but they do not offer them any other option of accommodation other than leaving the landing site.
Kenyan widows access to land still a mirage despite favorable laws
Date: 9 December 2016
Source:Coastweek
NAKURU (Xinhua) -- Access to land as a resource for development among widows in Kenya is a distressing issue of discussion despite the laws protecting their rights to land.
The Constitution outlaws violation of an individual’s right to land or property on basis of gender while Matrimonial Property Act clearly stretches out justice to a woman denied access and enjoyment of the respective assets.
UN agriculture agency to support land reforms at core of Colombia’s new peace deal
Date: 8 December 2016
Source: UN News Centre
With millions of Colombian farmers affected by the violent conflict that plagued the Latin American country for more than 50 years, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will support a comprehensive rural reform strategy, aimed at strengthening food security and peace, including measures which address issues of land access and restitution.