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23 November 2020
Authored by Dr Christophe Golay, Senior Research Fellow and Strategic Adviser on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at the Geneva Academy, our new Research Brief The Right to Land and Other Natural Resources details the content of this right, states’ obligations, as well as accountability mechanisms for its enforcement at national, regional and international levels. The Research Briefs also presents the Colombian case where peasant organizations are using the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) to protect peasants’ right to land.
‘The UNDROP has been adopted to rebalance power relations in rural areas and addresses a number of fundamental questions, including the right to land and other natural resources, a right that is central for billions of people. This right must now be implemented at national, regional and international levels’ underlines Dr Golay.
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The UNDROP recognizes the right to land and other natural resources for non-indigenous people and communities for the first time in international human rights law. It also provides that this right can be exercised individually and/or collectively.
On 17 December 2019, a number of UN special procedures and members of UN treaty bodies called for more accountability mechanisms to ensure UNDROP’ implementation. They committed to protecting the rights enshrined in the UNDROP, and they underlined that special measures shall be taken by states and other stakeholders to protect human rights defenders of land, environment and natural resources – who are the first victims of criminalization, intimidation and attacks against their physical integrity and life – and that their safety must be prioritized and protected via all available mechanisms.
In 2019 and 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee and the Interamerican Court on Human Rights referred to the UNDROP to protect the right to land in two important cases.
‘All human rights mechanisms should follow these examples, and make duty bearers accountable in cases of violations of the right to land and other natural resources. Civil society organizations and lawyers can also be instrumental in supporting peasants and other people working in rural areas in their claims, and in convincing human rights mechanisms to take steps to protect the rights enshrined in the UNDROP’ stresses Dr Golay.
This Research Brief is a summary of an upcoming Guide aimed at supporting the land community in UNDROP’s implementation, published with the International Land Coalition (ILC).
This guide focuses on the steps that states and international and regional organizations shall, and that social movements and civil society organizations should take to better promote and protect the right to land. It will be launch on 17 December 2020 to mark the second anniversary of UNDROP’s adoption by the UN General Assembly.
Asian Development Bank
Asian Development Bank
ILGA World
Via its DHRTTDs Directory, the Geneva Human Rights Platform provides a comprehensive list and description of such key tools and databases. But how to navigate them? Which tool should be used for what, and by whom? This interview helps us understand better the specificities of the March highlight of the directory: ILGA World Database.
SPC
In November, our Geneva Human Rights Platform – in partnership with the Pacific Community and the Commonwealth Secretariat – conducted its third and final UN human rights treaty body follow-up review pilot in Nadi, Fiji.
Adobe
This panel will address crucial questions surrounding the necessity of a legal framework for gender apartheid under international law.
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.
Adobe
This training course will examine how the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights have been utilized to advance the concept of business respect for human rights throughout the UN system, the impact of the Guiding Principles on other international organizations, as well as the impact of standards and guidance developed by these different bodies.
The Geneva Human Rights Platform contributes to this review process by providing expert input via different avenues, by facilitating dialogue on the review among various stakeholders, as well as by accompanying the development of a follow-up resolution to 68/268 in New York and in Geneva.
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This project addresses the human rights implications stemming from the development of neurotechnology for commercial, non-therapeutic ends, and is based on a partnership between the Geneva Academy, the Geneva University Neurocentre and the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee.
Geneva Academy
Geneva Academy