Land and Natural Resources

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Building sustainable peace. Transforming conflict-affected situations for women

Over the past two years, dozens of ESCR-Net members engaged in cross-network discussions to develop the analytical report “Building sustainable peace. Transforming conflict-affected situations for women.” The report argues that in dealing with conflict-affected situations, it is vital to adopt an intersectional feminist approach via a human rights framework, and provides seven lessons and principles to guide the work in the field.

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UN Biodiversity: What Outcomes for the Human Right to Land?

Between 13-29 March 2022, intersessional meetings were held in Geneva ahead of COP15, an upcoming major United Nations biodiversity summit. Ahead of these preparatory talks amongst States, ESCR-Net members sent a collective letter calling on all Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to adopt a human-rights based approach overall, and in particular to recognize, respect, protect and promote the overarching right to self-determination, including free, prior and informed consent, the right to land and tenure rights in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF), which is currently being negotiated and likely to be adopted at COP15. It further called on governments to adopt a ‘land tenure indicator’ as well as emphasized the importance of strengthening protections for human rights defenders.

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Collective letter: Centering the Right to Land and Tenure Rights in the Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

Ahead of upcoming intersessional meetings in Geneva in March 2022, ESCR-Net members have adopted a...

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Okpabi and others (Appellants) v. Royal Dutch Shell Plc and another (Respondents)

The claimants in this action are the Ogale and Bille communities in Rivers State, Nigeria, representing approximately 50,000 individuals. The claimants allege widespread environmental damage, including groundwater contamination, as the result of oil spills by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC). The two defendants are Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDS), the UK parent company, and SPDC, a Nigerian-registered subsidiary of RDS.

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Networkwide Exchange on Securing Land Rights for People and the Planet

On 27 April 2021, ESCR-Net co-hosted an online discussion on land rights. Over 50 members from across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe and North America, convened virtually to learn from each other’s experiences and strengthen shared analysis and...

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Mitu-Bell Welfare Society v. Kenya Airports Authority, SC Petition 3 of 2018

In September 2011, 3,000 families were given only 7 days prior notice before they were evicted from the land next to the Wilson Airport. Their shelters were destroyed. The Kenya Airports Authority owned the plot of land next to the airport, but the resident families of the Mitumba Village had occupied the property for some time.

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Ramuhovhi and Others v. President of the Republic of South Africa and Others (Legal Resources Centre (LRC) representing Thokozani Maphumulo as the intervening applicant)

Matodzi Ramuhovhi and Thinamaano Edson Netshituka applied to the Constitutional Court for confirmation of the Limpopo High Court, Thohoyandou’s ruling of invalidity of Section 7(1) of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998 (“Recognition Act”). The High Court ruled 7(1) to be invalid because it discriminated against women in polygamous marriages concluded before the Recognition Act on two grounds: (a) gender and (b) race, ethnic or social origin. This same section had been deemed unconstitutional as it related to monogamous marriages in Gumede vs.

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Elizabeth Gumede vs. President of the Republic of South Africa and Others

The Gumedes were married in 1968, before the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998, which entered into force on November 15, 2000. Section 7(1) of the Recognition Act provided that customary marriages entered into prior to the date of the commencement of the Act (old marriages) were governed by customary law, while section 7(2) provided that customary marriages entered into after the date of commencement of the Act (new marriages) were marriages in community of property. Ms. Gumede was directly affected by Section 7 after Mr.

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Makhosazane Eunice Sacolo (nee Dlamini) and Another vs. Jukhi Justice Sacolo and 2 Others (1403/16) [2019] SZHC (166)

When Makhosazane Eunice Sacolo, a Swazi woman, was left by her husband, she was unable to sell any of the livestock that they owned, even those that she had purchased with her own money. Under eSwatini’s common law of marital power, that property was registered in her husband’s name. This common law doctrine, as well as the Marriage Act of 1964, also prohibited married women from concluding contracts without her husband’s permission.

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Inter-American Court Recognizes Rights to Food, Water, Healthy Environment, and Cultural Identity in Lhaka Honhat Case

In Lhaka Honhat v. Argentina, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights held that Argentina violated its obligations under Article 1.1 of the American...

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