Land and Natural Resources

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Endorois' consent should be obtained regarding decisions over their lands

Minority Rights Group International welcomes the adoption by the World Heritage Committee of a decision requiring the government of Kenya to ‘ensure full and effective participation of the Enderois in the management of Lake Bogoria through their own representative institutions'

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Right Livelihood Foundation laureates demand environmental justice in Ogoniland (Nigeria)

Laureates expressed their support to the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People about the ongoing pollution in Ogoniland and urge the Nigerian President to take action on the Ogoni UNEP report, three years after it was submitted

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Pascua Lama Case

Diaguita communities and individuals living in the Huasco river's high basin, in the Atacama region of Chile, filed an action to protect constitutional rights against Compañía Minera Nevada SpA (a subsidiary of Canada-based Barrick Gold) and the Comisión de Evaluación Ambiental (Chile's government agency dealing with environmental issues).

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Land restitution to the Sawhoyamaxa in Paraguay

Thanks to the advocacy actions of TierraViva, Dejusticia and others, on May 21 the Paraguayan House of Representatives approved a law for the restitution of the Sawhoyamaxa lands.

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The dangerous work of defending rights to land, housing and productive resources

The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights launched an Issue Brief that discusses the dangerous work of defending rights to land, housing and productive resources

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H.C. 6698/95, Aadel Ka'adan v. Israel Lands Administration, 54(1) P.D. 258

The petitioners are an Israeli Arab couple who wanted to build their house in the settlement of Katsir in Israel. Their request was rejected as they were Arabs and as the lands on which the settlement of Katzir was built were designed exclusively for Jews. Indeed, these lands were allocated by the State of Israel to the Jewish Agency for Israel which in turn transferred it to an agency that only sold plots to Jews. The petitioner claimed that the policy according to which settlements are established exclusively for Jews violates the principle of equality.

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Case of the Saramaka People v. Suriname

The Saramaka people, descendants of self-liberated African slaves, have been living on their traditional territory in Suriname since the early 1700s. This non-indigenous community lives in a traditional way by fishing, hunting and woodworking, and their relationship with the land is more than economic, but also spiritual and cultural. In 1986, Suriname adopted a new Constitution specifying that all non-titled lands and natural resources belonged to the State.

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Thousands of people mobilized to demand a National Rights Policy for People Affected by Dams in Brazil

Mobilized by Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB), thousands of people affected by dams came together in 10 states of Brazil to demand a National Rights Policy for People Affected by Dams (PNAB) and to denounce the increase of the price of electric energy, during the International Day of  Struggle Against Dams on March 14th.

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The Ogiek case - the first case on indigenous people's rights to be considered by the African Court

On behalf of Ogiek Peoples' Development Programme (OPDP), Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and the Centre for Minority Rights (CEMIRIDE) inform that the hearing against the Government of Kenya at the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights related to the Ogiek community has been scheduled. The case, originally scheduled to be heard on 13 and 14 March, 2014 in Arusha, Tanzania, will now be heard in June 2014.

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Akiba on behalf of the Torres Strait Regional Seas Claim Group v Commonwealth of Australia [2013] HCA 33

The State of Queensland and the Commonwealth alleged that successive legislative regimes since 1877 (for Queensland) and the 1950s (for the Commonwealth) had extinguished Torres Strait communities’ rights to fish for commercial purposes, by regulating “control, management and exploitation of the living resources” within  “native title areas”.

On the appeal, the High Court held that such statutes were consistent with the continuing recognition of native title rights to fish for commercial purposes.

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