Call for cases on land rights and the right to food
Annual report to the General Assembly of Mr. Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on the right to food
Deadline: 22 January 2010
In order to collect information for his next report, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food launches a call for information on cases that illustrate the links among security of land tenure, ccess to land, and the right to food. He also intends to organize regional consultations.
In 2010, the Special Rapporteur will devote his annual report to the United Nations General Assembly to the issue of security of tenure and access to land. Access to productive resources plays a vital role in the realization of the right to food. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides that ‘developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve
the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources’ constitutes a tool to ensure the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger (art. 11(1)(a)). The Voluntary Guidelines for the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security, adopted by the Member States of the Food and Agriculture Organization in 2004, also recommend that ‘Statesshould take measures to promote and protect the security of land tenure, especially with respect to women, and poor and disadvantaged segments of society, through legislation that protects the full and equal right to own land and other property, including the right to inherit’ (8.10) ; and they note the role of agrarian reform in this context.
The report that the Special Rapporteur shall present to the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly will cover the protection of land users; land title schemes; agrarian reform; commercial pressures on land; agricultural workers on large-scale plantations; and the needs of special groups, as well as the tension between environmental preservation and access to land for agriculture. It will include an
analysis of the relationship between access to land and the progressive realization of the right to food and recommendations to States on each of these topics. You are invited to participate by providing the Special Rapporteur a brief description of cases that illustrate current trends concerning access to land as a component of the right to adequate food. The Special Rapporteur will use the replies that he receives as background to his report to the General Assembly. In addition, he may call for presentations of certain illustrative cases (includingpresentations made by NGOs, social movements, local community members and involved lawyers) at the regional consultations. Selection of these cases will be based upon geographical and thematic representation.
The Special Rapporteur will ensure that his work on land issues is informed by the regional consultations organized in the context of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on responsible governance of land tenure.
How to participate?
If you are interested in participating, please fill in the attached Submission form, and send it before 22 January 2010 to [email protected].
To facilitate the preparation and processing of replies, a simple standard form has been prepared. Please add any existing documents as appendices and refer to them in this standard form. Please understand, however, that our capacity is limited. We guarantee to take all submissions into consideration, but not all appendices, especially if they are long. We will acknowledge receipt of your submission. Although we will only consider information that is sent from reliable and identified sources, the anonymity of the individuals or groups submitting information will be fully preserved.
If you would like more information on the work of the Special Rapporteur, please visit www.srfood.org and subscribe to the newsletter about his work.
Please forward this call to any organization that may wish to participate in this call.
