Communities around the world are reeling from the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken to contain it. Now more than ever, the ability to know, use, and shape the law is critical. Access to health care and various forms of relief hinge on the ability to know one’s rights and navigate complex systems. As emergency actions escalate, citizens must ensure that governments do not use the pandemic as an excuse to entrench unjust or discriminatory policies.

Namati has created a list of COVID-19 resources that address topics relevant to grassroots justice groups (available as a Google Doc 52 or PDF 74). Inside, you’ll find reflections and advice on:

In late March, Indian Premier Narendra Modi imposed a three-week lockdown to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. Since then, tens of thousands of migrant workers who had previously provided cheap labour in wealthy homes or on construction sites in the nation’s growing metropolises have been making their way back to their rural home regions.

Rural women make up a quarter of the world’s population, but many face legal and social barriers that limit their ability to access, use and benefit from the land they tend and depend on for their livelihoods.

Evictions have emerged as the most common housing, land and property risk globally associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in spite of the fact that access to adequate housing is essential to reduce the spread of the virus. This arises due to a combination of factors, the main one being the suspension and loss of livelihoods on a massive scale resulting from public health prescriptions resulting in an inability to pay rent. Opportunistic actors (governments, armed groups, and landlords) may also use this crisis to evict people from houses, camps and informal settlements.

This scoping study analyses gendered impacts of large-scale extractives, hydropower and agribusiness investments that result in communities’ changed access to and control over land, water and other natural resources. Large-scale commercial pressures on natural resources have been on the rise over the course of the past decade leading to growing concerns on their costs, benefits and human rights impacts.

Garment workers in Cambodia have been devastated by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Years of chronically low pay in the sector have forced workers to rely on debt – most of which is provided by microfinance institutions (MFIs) and collateralised by borrowers’ land titles – to meet their basic needs. Hundreds of thousands of heavily indebted workers are now out of work, after hundreds of factories suspended their operations, putting them at risk of land loss and other human rights abuses.

In the six months since the coronavirus began its global spread, more than 15 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and more than 600,000 have perished, causing governments around the world to institute lockdowns and shut down businesses while entire industries have been devastated.

In the six months since the coronavirus began its global spread, more than 15 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and more than 600,000 have perished, causing governments around the world to institute lockdowns and shut down businesses while entire industries have been devastated.

In the six months since the coronavirus began its global spread, more than 15 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and more than 600,000 have perished, causing governments around the world to institute lockdowns and shut down businesses while entire industries have been devastated.

Brunei Darussalam strives to build on its Millennium Development Goals achievements to take greater strides towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This virtual side event was proposed as part of the 2020 SDG High Level Political Forum which was held from 7th to 16th July 2020. It was organised by the SDG Land Momentum Group, an informal group of civil society organizations and multilateral agencies which advocate the implementation of the land targets of the SDGs and support their monitoring.