We believe that law should in principle assist vulnerable communities in changing power relations. Law is fundamentally a ‘neutral’ set of rules that constrains power by requiring decisions and actions of those in power to comply with legal rules, rights and obligations. Unfortunately, we have seen the powerful appropriate law as a tool for only protecting and strengthening their interests.

The following is an account of a grassroots movement led by a group of NGOs and communities who went to the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa, to challenge the law dealing with land claims.

They wanted the Court to declare the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act 15 of 2014 unconstitutional; and they won!

Research Report 

This is a judgement in the Land Claims Court which concerned the validity of land claims lodged under The Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act 15 of 2014. This act was an amended version of the Restitution of Land rights Act 22 f 1994 which differed by extending the time frame for persons, descendants, or communities who were disposed of land after 1913 to lodge land claims.  Previously the cut-off date under the 1994 to lodge claims was 31st December 1998. Under the 2014 Act, claims could up lodged from the passing of the act until 30 June 2019.

This manual of guidelines is distributed by the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement to guide Communal Area residents and land authorities about group land rights. This guidance is official. This means that advice should be followed – as relevant to the case in point. Although formal provision for group land rights is new, the idea of holding rights collectively is well known in Communal Areas. Under customary norms, many residents already hold rights to a particular area not as individuals but as members of families and communities (or ‘groups’).

INDEX 3.0 RECENT EVENTS 4.0 CERTIFYING CUSTOMARY OWNERSHIP FOR PASTORALISTS, UGANDA 5.0 MODEL FOR RECOGNISING COMMUNITY LAND RIGHTS IN KENYA 6.0 PARTICIPATORY MAPPING AS TOOL FOR SECURING RIGHTS 7.0 DEVELOPING A LAND USE MASTER PLAN, KITENGELA 8.0 SECURING WOMEN’S RIGHTS TO LAND, GARBA TULA 9.0 UPDATE ON RANGELAND OBSERVATORY 10.0 PROTECTING COMMON PROPERTY RIGHTS IN INDIA THROUGH COMMUNITY MOBILISATION 11.0 PASTORALISTS AND HUNTER GATHERERS SEEK PROTECTION IN TANZANIA’S NEW CONSTITUTION 12.0 ENDNOTES

To provide for the restitution of rights in land in respect of which persons or communities were dispossessed under or for the purpose of furthering the objects of any racially based discriminatory law; to establish a Commission on Restitution of Land Rights and a Land Claims Court; and to provide for matters connected therewith.

Kenya is the most recent African state to acknowledge customary tenure as producing lawful property rights, not merely rights of occupation and use on government or public lands. This paper researches this new legal environment. This promises land security for 6 to 10 million Kenyans, most of who are members of pastoral or other poorer rural communities. Analysis is prefaced with substantial background on legal trends continentally, but the focus is on Kenya’s Community Land Act, 2016, as the framework through which customary holdings are to be identified and registered.

During its transition from racial apartheid to democracy in 1994, South Africa’s government announced it would strengthen the tenure rights of the estimated 16 million citizens who lived on communal land. By 2012, however, the government’s own reports concluded that the country had made little progress in the area of communal tenure reform.

This note is for private sector project implementers and financers (development finance institutions, international development agencies, commercial lenders and equity investors) seeking to invest responsibly in new greenfield sites in low and middle- income countries. It aims to provide practical guidance on identifying and addressing community land conflicts to prevent them escalating into disputes between the project and local communities.

Across Africa, Asia and Latin America, investors are increasingly approaching rural communities seeking land for logging, mining, and agribusiness ventures. Even in those situations where the investors have followed FPIC guidelines and undertaken a formal “consultation” with the community, these consultations are generally conducted in a context of significant power and information asymmetries. Part of the power imbalance comes from communities’ lack of information about the value of community lands and natural resources.

El presente trabajo forma parte de un acumulado de acciones y luchas colectivas que venimos desarrollando las organizaciones sociales Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH), Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña (OFRANEH) y Jubileo Sur Américas (JS/A), y ha contado con el apoyo técnico del Transnational Institute (TNI).