To say that access to land is one of the most important conditions for the
empowerment of African women, would be an understatement. The cultivation of land is one
of the main sources of income and economic wealth depends strongly on a well-elaborated
system of land tenure. However, developing and protecting land rights1
for women in mainly
male-dominated societies is a long-term work. Even though law initiatives2 may guarantee a
de jure equal access to land for women, the outcome highly depends on the way the culturebound

The new Rwandan land policy consider appropriate land administration as a platform of land management and an ideal channel to provide security of livelhood to the people by securing land tenure system for their profit.
At present Rwanda carries out limited land registration on a centralised manual system on a demand led basis in rural and urban areas. Currently approximately 20,000 land applications are in process, mainly in urban areas.

As Parliamentary gender quotas have become increasingly popular, so too
has the debate surrounding their effectiveness in enhancing women’s
representation and gender equality in governments around the world. Women offer
unique and important perspectives to the political process, and thus their increased
political representation and empowerment can advance the very process of
development. In 2003, the Rwandan government Constitutionally enacted a gender

Experiences of Women in Asserting their Land Rights: The Case of Bugesera District, Rwanda

This brief discusses a pilot intervention in Rwanda led by the Belgian
NGO, RCN Justice & Démocratie, with support from the International
Development Law Organization (IDLO) and the Belgian Government. A
more detailed and complete discussion of the pilot is given in Lankhorst
and Veldman (2011a). The pilot aimed to transform the customary
resolution of disputes involving women’s land claims concerning
inheritance or marital relations. The intervention examined whether
and to what extent it was possible to increase the scope for acceptance

Up to one quarter of the world’s population is estimated to be landless, including 200 million
people living in rural areas,1
and approximately 75% of the world’s population living in extreme
poverty (less than $1/day) live in rural areas.2
According to the Food and Agriculture Agency of the
United Nations (FAO), “rural landlessness is often the best predictor of poverty and hunger.”3
“While not the only pathway out of poverty, ample evidence suggests that access to land is effective

Since 2004, Rwanda has embarked on an ambitious land tenure reform programme (LTR) aimed
at increasing security of tenure to all land owners and the elimination of all forms of
discrimination. This has largely been achieved through the establishment and implementation of
a new legal, regulatory and institutional framework.
This paper discusses the ongoing land tenure reform programme and its impact on women’s land
rights. It focuses on the role of women in the decision making in the course of developing the

Land rights and the forest peoples of Africa - Historical, legal and anthropological perspectives
A series of five country studies, plus a broad overview, examining indigenous peoples' land rights in the forested countries of Africa.

In Rwanda, for many years ago, rights over land for women and female orphans were not
recognized. The main causes were the inexistence of efficient land administration systems and
the prevalence of traditional system of land tenure which were complex and did not favor
women and female descendants. In 2004, the Government of Rwanda had adopted a new land
policy which was complemented by the 2005 Organic Land Law and a series of laws and
regulations with regard to access to land, land management perspectives, and to the modalities

The aim of this policy brief is to describe current and historical conflicts over rights to land and natural resources within and surrounding protected areas in Rwanda. We examine the roots of contested claims between citizens and the State and offer some potential avenues for resolving these conflicts in ways that consider both the priorities of the Government of Rwanda and the rights of local communities that depend on protected area resources.

This publication contains the struggles of four cases presented by the aggrieved communities in Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and deliberated by an international panel of experts during the Asian People’s Land Rights Tribunal. These cases have all exhausted various grievance mechanisms, seeking justice for the violations committed on people’s land and human rights. A set of recommendations for the communities as well as national government and international organizations, are addresses in this publication.

This video documents the struggle of sugarcane farmers of Valencia, Bukidnon, Philippines in claiming their rights to the land they have long been cultivating. It tells how farmers were harassed by the former landowner who, despite notice of redistribution under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), wanted to hold on to the land and continued to force evict them.