News

Tens of thousands face eviction from Haiti camps, according to Amnesty

Published in Tuesday April 23rd, 2013 In In the media

Rights group Amnesty International has collected dozens of testimonies from Haitians who have been kicked out of makeshift camps set up by those left homeless by the 2010 earthquake.

EU agrees mortgage law to avoid more housing bubbles

Published in Tuesday April 23rd, 2013 In In the media

EU countries reached a deal with the European Parliament on Monday on the bloc’s first common rules on mortgage lending, in an attempt to avoid a repeat of property bubbles that helped fuel the euro zone’s debt crisis. Once written into European Union law, the rules will force lenders in Europe’s 6.5 trillion euro ($8.5 trillion) mortgage market to check the creditworthiness of potential customers and their ability to repay, banning self-certified or “liar” loans.

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Ethiopian PM Rejects Land-Grab Allegations

Published in Monday April 22nd, 2013 In In the media

Ethiopia remains one of the world’s poorest nations, with its government attempting to attract large-scale foreign investment in a bid to alleviate poverty and create jobs to millions of citizens. Investors from India, China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are currently eyeing large tracts of land to cultivate cereals, coffee, tea and rice, among others. According to human right organisations, Ethiopia has leased over 600,000 hectares of land to Indian companies alone.

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Locals need more legal rights in big African land deals

Published in Monday April 22nd, 2013 In In the media

Large-scale land deals in can offer benefits, such as job opportunities, market access and infrastructure improvements, supporters say. But critics note that they also can lead to local people losing control of land, and can spur economic conflict in local communities.

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African slum dwellers get boost to improve living conditions

Published in Monday April 22nd, 2013 In In the media

Unveiled on Tuesday during the ongoing UN-Habitat’s Governing Council in Nairobi, the Community Managed Development Fund targets close to 800,000 slum dwellers living in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Spain approves new eviction law

Published in Monday April 22nd, 2013 In In the media

Spain’s Parliament on Thursday approved a new mortgage law it hopes will calm a national outcry over the dramatic increase in evictions in recent years, but anti-eviction lobbyists said the law was insufficient. Repossessions because of mortgage nonpayment have soared since Spain’s economic crisis began in 2008. Spaniards are angry that most people still have to pay off their mortgage debt even after eviction.

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Land ownership debate hots up at the National Constitution Convention in Zambia

Published in Monday April 22nd, 2013 In In the media

Heated and protracted debate yesterday characterised proceedings at the National Constitution Convention in Lusaka as delegates deliberated on the issue of land ownership. A number of delegates demanded that land should not be recklessly sold to foreigners because it belonged to Zambians.

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UN experts urge World Bank to adopt human rights standards on the eve of key gathering in Washington

Published in Thursday April 18th, 2013 In News on the Rapporteurs

A group of United Nations independent experts called on the Word Bank to adopt human rights standards this weekend, during the review of its environmental and social policies.

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Safeguarding land rights: An opportunity for the World Bank to lead

Published in Monday April 15th, 2013 In Opinion

At the start of the Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty this week, World Bank President Dr. Jim Kim made some welcome remarks about the global land rights crisis. He did not respond directly to the withering criticism of the role the Bank has played in promoting land grabs. But he did say that the Bank shares the concerns about the risks of large-scale land acquisitions, and importantly he acknowledged that “additional efforts must be made to build capacity and safeguards related to land rights and to empower civil society to hold governments accountable.”

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Criminalization of homelessness – local impact, global issue

Published in Wednesday April 10th, 2013 In Social movement news

As the economic crisis continues at the bottom end of the income spectrum, the past week has brought two victories worth noting, from the most humble of tent encampments to the marble halls of the U.N.’s Palais Wilson in Geneva.

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