Farmers from Cambodia have filed a lawsuit in a Thai civil court against Asia’s largest sugar producer, accusing it of rights abuses after it allegedly kicked farmers off their land, a rights group said on Monday.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 3,000 people, is the first class-action lawsuit filed in a Thai court by plaintiffs from another country against a Thai company operating outside Thailand, the group, Inclusive Development International, said in a statement.

With a population of 163 million people and an area of only 147,570 square kilometers, Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Land scarcity, insecure tenure, and other factors have contributed to a high volume of land conflicts. Such problems are compounded by Bangladesh’s weak land governance systems, extensive informal settlements in urban areas and widespread landlessness in rural areas.

Across the globe, grassroots organizations are combatting injustice by helping people to understand, use, and shape the laws that affect them. Few of them receive the recognition they deserve. We want to change that. 

In 2015, Namati launched the world’s first competition to celebrate great deeds in the field of legal empowerment. This year, the biennial Grassroots Justice Prize returns -- bigger and better than before. 

By: Juliana Nnoko-Mewanu

Date: August 17th 2016

Source: Human Rights Watch

Enact Proposed Law to Protect Rural Communities

Date: August 1st 2016

Source: NTV Uganda

Members of Parliament have condemned government’s move, saying it’s suspect and could fuel land grabbing. They are vowing to oppose the amendment.

By: Wade Shepard

Date: January 27th 2016

Source: CityMetric

Using CEDAW and its Optional Protocol to advance women’s land and property rights

2 AUGUST 2015 / SIMONECUSACK

Graciela Dede, Mayra Gomez and Esther Waweru reflect on how the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol can help to advance women’s land and property rights. Read the full post here. 

Courtesy of the Optional Protocol to CEDAW website

Does international law favor companies over people?

A new article by Lorenzo Cotula explores this question by examining human rights and land rights in the context of international investment law. The article, “Property in a shrinking planet: fault lines in international human rights and investment law” is published in the June 2015 issue of the International Journal of Law in Context.

Abstract