In Afghanistan, insecurity over land and water rights hampers investments in food production and irrigation. In rural areas, customary tenure systems, partly based on religious law, are the most relevant but suffer from weak recognition and offer little protection to rights holders. The land policy reform is on-going but remains slow. Moreover, land administration capacity is weak and improvements mostly take place in urban areas. In this context, land disputes are common and often violent.

From colonial to modern times, Brazilian agricultural property has remained immersed in a chaotic vortex of deregulation. Attempts of institutional reform - such as the Lei de Terras (Land Law) of 1850 - have been largely unsuccessful, whilst providing legal grounds for land grab by large estates and narrowing the scope of possibilities open for legitimate reevaluations of the first institutional landmark on land use and ownership in the country - the sesmarias.

Brazil has the fifth-largest national land area in the world and this land resource represents a critical asset for the country’s urban, agricultural, and economic development, also providing essential environmental services. Nevertheless, it has a historical lack of governance over its lands, failing to provide secure land rights and to control the extensive frauds resulting in public and private land grabs. The objective of this study is to depict evidence of these land grabs and propose a typology for analyzing them.

‘A Guide on Land and Property Rights in Pakistan’ was designed and prepared to facilitate the basic understanding of the complex principles of the Pakistani land and revenue administration system. The first edition, printed in December 2011, was warmly received by lawyers, national civil society organisations, community leaders, local authorities, donor agencies, and international affairs organisations, engaged in relief, rehabilitation, development or other similar works that necessitate some basic understanding of the land administration system in Pakistan.

Women have largely been excluded from the ownership and control of land in Pakistan, which is the single most important source of income and status in the agricultural economy. This systematic exclusion stems from multiple factors at both the policy and societal level, which include multiple and contradictory sources of law that fail to resolve the issue of women’s right to property as well as cultural bias and discriminatory practices that arise from the prevalent male-dominant mindset in rural areas.

Malaysia has declared its vision of developed country status by the year 2020. Much has been written about its top-down development approach, its relative economic success and the social as well as environmental costs of such approach. In 2011 and 2012 the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) set into motion a national inquiry into the status of customary rights to land in the country. As part of the inquiry, a nationwide series of consultations was held over several months in 2012, culminating in formal public hearings in Peninsular Malyasia, Sarawak and Sabah.

Drawing on original survey research, this study examines how lay Muslims in Malaysia understand foundational concepts in Islamic law. The survey finds a substantial disjuncture between popular legal consciousness and core epistemological commitments in Islamic legal theory. In its classic form, Islamic legal theory was marked by its commitment to pluralism and the centrality of human agency in Islamic jurisprudence. Yet in contemporary Malaysia, lay Muslims tend to understand Islamic law as being purely divine, with a single “correct” answer to any given question.

Han pasado 30 años desde la adopción del Convenio sobre Pueblos Indígenas y Tribales, 1989 (núm. 169) de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT) y, a pesar de que los Estados de América Latina reconocieron plenamente los derechos de los pueblos indígenas, este continúa siendo uno de los colectivos con mayor rezago en materia económico-social, aun cuando la región ha logrado grandes avances en este ámbito.

La Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) presentó el jueves 5 de abril de 2012 el documento "Desigualdades territoriales y exclusión social del pueblo mapuche en Chile: Situación en la comuna de Ercilla desde un enfoque de derechos", elaborado en conjunto con la agrupación Alianza Territorial Mapuche (ATM).

En América Latina se registran actualmente 826 pueblos indígenas que, para el año 2010, agrupaban a cerca de 45 millones de personas.

La ONU ha sido pionera en la defensa de sus derechos. En este video, la CEPAL convoca a los países de la región a poner en práctica políticas que pongan fin a las desigualdades que les afectan.

Na América Latina existem atualmente 826 povos indígenas que, para o ano de 2010, estão agrupados em cerca de 45 milhões de pessoas.

A ONU foi pioneira na defesa dos direitos dos povos indígenas. A CEPAL convoca os países da região a colocar em prática políticas que terminem com as desigualdades que eles sofrem.

El documento representa el esfuerzo conjunto de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y la Alianza Territorial Mapuche (ATM) destinado a trazar un panorama sociodemográfico y socioambiental de la población mapuche de la comuna de Ercilla. Constituye asimismo un aporte metodológico al seguimiento de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas consagrados en los instrumentos internacionales y ratificados por el Estado de Chile.