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Land Matters: Dispossession and Resistance November 2015 Poverty Is an Outrage Against Humanity

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Land Matters: Dispossession and Resistance November 2015 Poverty Is an Outrage Against Humanity Land Matters: Dispossession and Resistance November 2015 Poverty is an outrage against humanity. It robs people of dignity, freedom and hope, of power over their own lives. Christian Aid has a vision – an end to poverty – and we believe that vision can become a reality. We urge you to join us. christianaid.ie Lead authors: Sarah Hunt and Karol Balfe. With contributions from Eric Gutierrez, Gaby Drinkwater, William Bell, Julie Mehigan, Hanan Elmasu, Thomas Mortensen, Catalina Ballesteros Rodriguez, Alexia Haywood, Ezekiel Conteh, Kato Lambrechts, Nadia Saracini, Chiara Capraro, Gaby Drinkwater, Roisin Gallagher, Oliver Pierce and Alix Tiernan. With special thanks to Frances Thompson, Robin Palmer, John Reynolds, Shane Darcy, Fionnuala Ni Aolain, Rachel Ibreck and Edward Lahiff. Special thanks also to Mary Kessi, Sinead Coakley, Anna Flaminio and Mara Lilley. Cover photo: In October 2012, 60,000 people, mainly dalits and tribal Indians, started a 300km non-violent land rights march from Gwalior to Delhi. The aim: to ask the Indian government to create and implement a new land reform policy to guarantee access to land and livelihood resources for all, regardless of wealth or caste. 8 days in, the Indian government agreed to the marchers’ demands. The march was organised by Christian Aid partner Ekta Parishad over four years. Photo: Christian Aid / Sarah Filbey Contents 4 Some concepts defined 6 Introduction 6 The focus of this report 8 Why land matters for development 9 Power dynamics and politics 10 Persecution, conflict and violence 11 Responses to evictions and land deals 12 Aims, methodology and structure 14 The response to dispossession 18 Case studies 18 Angola 24 Colombia 31 Sierra Leone 37 The occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) 43 Dispossession and resistance in other countries where Christian Aid works 49 Findings 49 Resistance in the case study countries 53 Lessons for resistance to dispossession 55 Endnotes Land Matters: dispossession and resistance 3 Some concepts defined Land reform: There are competing concepts in relation Land tenure: Land tenure systems are rules invented by to the understanding of land reform. It can refer to a broad societies to determine who can use what resources, for range of changes in law, policy or practice related to land. how long, and under what conditions. They define rights In the post-colonial era many governments in the global to use, control, and transfer land, as well as associated south attempted to address historical distortions of large responsibilities and restraints. Land tenure is largely privately owned land-holdings and introduce redistributive regulated through national law but, in practice, rural citizens reforms. Many of these policies are now being reversed often acquire land through customary tenure. There are as governments and international development agencies different forms of land ‘ownership’, a number of which support the acquisition of large expanses of land by either fall under ‘land tenure’ definitions. Security of tenure is a domestic or international corporations- often in the name of broader concept where a person/ household/ company may development. Typically today land reform is related to more not ‘own’ the land but have certain rights in connection to market based reform. Much of these reforms had their the land. foundation in the structural adjustment programmes of the 1980s, which promoted market-driven enclosure in some Security of tenure: This is the set of relationships that regions and the privatisation of state farms in others.1 enables a person to live in their home or access their land in security, peace and dignity. The United Nations Special Formalization and titling (usually individual) private property Rapporteur on adequate housing has noted that it should on a large scale is deemed necessary by mainstream include diverse forms of tenure such as: possession rights, development agencies, such as the World Bank and is use rights, rental, freehold and collective arrangements- thus widely promoted today. The underlying assumption is and that it is integral to the right to adequate housing and that poverty reduction will occur as a result of economic, necessary for the enjoyment of other human rights.4 There market driven development. However issues around titling is much critique of formalization and titling programmes as of land and registration as part of law reform or policy are a way of creating security of tenure which fail to understand highly contested. Opponents argue that they fail to factor political dynamics of change in land in practice.5 in political, social and communal relations and may actually undermine economic and social security.2 Access to land: With this can come access to food, housing and development, while lack of access to land can Land management/ land governance (or land policy): bring economic insecurity. Customary rights to access land National laws, policies and customs determine how land in indigenous societies are often granted by community is managed, used, controlled and transferred. Legally, leaders and based on ancestral clearance and occupation of land management is subject to land and property laws, the land. land-tenure agreements or planning regulations. While they may be referred to as ‘pro-poor’, these policies are Displacement: The displacement of people refers to usually viewed by the World Bank and others as technical the forced movement of people from their locality or or administrative issues rather than necessarily relating to environment and occupational activities. It is a form of the process of democratising access to and control over social change caused by a number of factors, the most wealth and power. The outcomes of land policies tend to common being armed conflict. Natural disasters, famine, be measured exclusively in economic terms rather than development, and discriminatory laws and economic in terms of ‘deepening democracy’ or changing power changes may also be a cause of displacement.6 dynamics.3 The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Cadastral systems: These are state maps and records of Organisation outlines two types of population displacement land ownership. Most countries have some form of land from development: direct displacement, which leads to registration. actual displacement of people from their locations and indirect displacement, which leads to a loss of livelihood.7 4 Land Matters: dispossession and resistance Dispossession: This is the action of taking away someone’s property or land, whether through state- sanctioned legal mechanisms or illegally. Forced eviction: This is the permanent or temporary removal of individuals, families and/or communities from their homes and/or land, against their will, without their having appropriate legal or other protection. Forced evictions can lawfully be carried out only in exceptional circumstances, in accordance with domestic laws and international human rights law. All possible alternatives must be explored first, in consultation with those affected. Where, in exceptional circumstances, a forced eviction is to take place, adequate notice and information must be provided prior to the eviction. Furthermore, resettlement must be as close as possible to the original place of residence and source of livelihood, and of equal or better quality to the original habitation. In addition, all components of the right to adequate housing must be provided.8 Human rights and land: Indigenous people enjoy a right to their ancestral lands, territories and resources and a right to decision-making affecting these lands, as set out in the International Labour Organisation Convention No.169 and the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People. There is no universal right to land, but the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women make explicit references to the right to food and an adequate standard of living (including housing) and the rights of rural women, respectively.9 The Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing has urged States to ensure that people without an officially recognised tenure status are not denied basic services and facilities. Land Matters: dispossession and resistance 5 Introduction The focus of this report By end-2014, 59.5 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, This report seeks to contribute to greater conflict, generalised violence, or human rights understanding of how people respond to and resist violations. This is 8.3 million persons more than land dispossession. Regardless of the context or the year before (51.2 million) and the highest mechanisms of dispossession, victims face common annual increase in a single year.10 experiences of marginalisation and the failure to respect human rights. The statistics for internally displaced people do not include The experiences in the countries where Christian Aid works people who have been displaced for reasons of development. show the full range of concerns related to land: from forced As such the nature, drivers and extent of development- evictions for urban regeneration and land reallocation (Angola, induced displacement are difficult to quantify. However, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa and Israel and the occupied UN Habitat estimates that 15 million people are forced Palestinian territory (OPT), large-scale land acquisitions to leave their homes and land every year to make way (Angola,
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