ESCR-Net, in collaboration with Terra de Direitos, is pleased announce the release of a new publication titled Land in the Struggle for Social Justice: Social Movement Strategies to Secure Human Rights. Available in English, Spanish and Portuguese, the publication documents the experiences of diverse social movements that have utilized the human rights framework in their struggles for access to and control over land, and the lessons they have learned.
The publication introduces human rights – not as a narrowly defined legal concept but as a broad tool that is often useful in applying a wide range of creative strategies to realize grassroots demands related to land in the struggle for justice.
Four chapters offer several case studies that capture important experiences in the use of human rights in the context of social movements’ struggles for land. The first case describes the long struggle by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) in the Niger Delta, in defense of their rights to their land and against the ravages of oil extraction and resulting pollution. It highlights several innovative, human rights-based strategies employed by MOSOP, including the Ogoni Bill of Rights, work with UN special rapporteurs and treaty bodies and other mechanisms. The second case focuses on the use of human rights by the Nairobi Peoples Settlement Network (NPSN) in order to raise awareness among, organize and mobilize residents of the city’s informal settlements. It describes how the NPSN articulated the local realities of their members with international human rights standards and translated the demands of residents into policy proposals to promote a right to adequate housing and land in Kenya’s informal settlements.
The third case examines the experience of the Platforma DhESCA (Platform for Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights in Brazil) in their collaboration with National Rapporteurs, a mechanism modeled on the United Nations Special Rapporteurs. Focusing on the work of the National Rapporteur on the Right to Land, Territory and Adequate Food, this case reviews the work of this mechanism to identify broad trends in human rights violations in the country and amplify the voices of affected communities. The final case analyzes the development and eventual adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It narrates the long and arduous path that the indigenous rights movement followed to promote, in their own name, broad international recognition of the rights of indigenous people, including over their ancestral territories.
The publication was made possible due to the critical contributions of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, the Nairobi People’s Settlement Network, the Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education (Tebtebba) and the Plataforma DhESCA Brasil. It has also been strengthened thanks to the valuable input provided by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Abahlali baseMjondolo, South Africa and FIAN International.
Source: ESCR-Net
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