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.

Since a century ago, there have been many efforts to attract foreign investment in Afghanistan. These efforts include the codification of laws and policies and the provision of facilities for participation of foreign companies in the Afghan economy through partnership with the government and partnership with private sector in this country.

ABSTRACTED FROM INTRODUCTION: 

At the beginning of this textbook, the authors would like to make two suggestions about how to approach the study of property law.

While there is no right to land codified in international human rights law, the Convention for the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), provides for women’s right to own and inherit property without discrimination on the basis of sex. Afghanistan ratified CEDAW in 2003, without reservations. CEDAW (Article 14) also calls for rural women to have equal access to economic opportunities, to credit and loans, social security programs, and to adequate living conditions, including access to housing.

This report is the first in a series of three on issues related to theft of state and private lands by private individuals, armed groups, communities, the government and the state. This report, which provides the foundation for the subsequent reports, is issued separately and stands alone as a summary of the basic legal framework for land administration and management (A&M) in Afghanistan.

The second in a series of three reports entitled, “The Stolen Lands of Afghanistan and its People; The State Land Distribution System,” this report focuses on how state lands are distributed. This paper is the result of a desktop review and joint research by the UNAMA Rule of Law Unit (RoL) and the Civil Affairs Unit (CAU) in seven provinces—Kabul, Nangarhar, Kunduz, Balkh, Herat, Gardez, and Kandahar.

This report looks at the ways in which natural resource management—the institutions, policies and practices that govern land, water, forests, minerals, hydrocarbons—interact with violent conflict in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan continues to struggle to overcome decades of war and civil strife. Its political context remains complex and dominated by the Taliban insurgency, narcotics production, weak governance and incomplete rule of law. After more than fifteen years of state building Afghanistan remains a fragile state.

This paper reviews the formal treatment of land rights in Afghanistan over the post-Bonn decade (2002 - 2012). The objective is to document the developments in the recent past to better understand present and possible future trends.

The Annual Country Reviews reflect upon current land relations in the Mekong Region, and has been produced for researchers, practitioners and policy advocates operating in the field. Specialists have been selected from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to briefly answer the following two questions:

This paper examines how far Afghanistan’s Land Acquisition Law complies with standards required for World Bank financing of public interest projects that unavoidably extinguish or diminish existing land rights in the project area. For this purpose, the law was compared with standards laid down in World Bank ESS5 on Involuntary Settlement. Additional reference was made to ESS1 on social risk and impact assessment, and to ESS7, in regard to communities whose socio-culture and livelihoods rely distinctively and historically upon collectively-based tenure or land use.