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Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- For some of the groups that are the most vulnerable today, this means protecting existing access to land, water, grazing or fishing grounds, or forests, all of which may be productive resources essential for a decent livelihood. In such cases, as detailed below, the right to food may complement the protection of the right to property or of indigenous peoples' relationship with their lands, territories, and resources. In other cases, because landlessness is a cause of particular vulnerability, the obligation of the State goes further: it is to strengthen such access or make it possible - for example, through redistributive programmes that may in turn result in restrictions on others' right to property. This obligation of States is especially clear in cases in which the members of such groups have no alternative means of producing food or gaining sufficient income to purchase food that is sufficient, adequate and culturally acceptable.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 40c
- Paragraph text
- [In order to respect the right to food, States should:] Respect the needs of special groups. States should implement the specific rights of indigenous peoples by demarcating their lands and territories and by providing them with specific protection. States should also protect access to fishing grounds, grazing grounds and water points for fisherfolk, herders and pastoralists, for whom the protection of commons is vital. The recognition of communal rights should extend beyond indigenous communities, at least to certain communities that entertain a similar relationship with the land, centred on the community rather than on the individual;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- International human rights law protects the relationship of indigenous communities with their lands, territories and resources by requiring States to demarcate such land, protect it from encroachment and respect the right of the communities concerned to manage it according to their internal modes of organization. Although sometimes those guarantees seem to be honoured more in the breach than in the observance, case law shows that use rights derived from customary tenure can be recognized and protected by the legal system; it also shows that the right to communal property - a right of the community rather than of the individual - is an alternative to individual property rights. On both counts, it can serve as a source of inspiration, in order to enhance the protection of the rights of other users of natural resources.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- At the international level, the right to food is recognized as a distinct and fundamental right in a number of international instruments. It was recognized in article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and reaffirmed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (article 11) and, through the right to life, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is also conferred in article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is further recognized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (articles 3, 24, para. 2 (c), and 27), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (articles 12, para. 2, and 14) the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (article 5 (e)) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (articles 25 (f) and 28, para. 1).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The following examples illustrate the positive role played by regional human rights mechanisms. In the case Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya) and Minority Rights Group International on behalf of Endorois Welfare Council v. Kenya, the Endorois, a primarily pastoralist indigenous community, were removed from their lands by the Government of Kenya to establish a wildlife reserve. The African Commission found Kenya to have violated articles 8, 14, 17, 21 and 22 of the African Charter. The Commission noted that, as a consequence of its removal, the community had been "relegated to semi-arid land", which was unsuitable for pastoralism. The ability to graze animals, a key means of subsistence for the community, had become impossible as a result of loss of their land and this threatened the community's survival.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the right of all peoples to freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources - as provided for in article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 16 December 1966 and in article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966 - entails the protection of indigenous peoples from certain forms of dispossession from their territories or from the resources on which they depend. Article 5 (d) (v) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination also protects the right of indigenous communities to their lands. And the right of indigenous peoples to the official recognition and registration of their territories has been affirmed under relevant regional human rights instruments. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights consider that indigenous people's traditional possession of their lands has effects equivalent to those of a State-granted full property title: therefore, where members of indigenous peoples have unwillingly lost possession of their lands after a lawful transfer to innocent third parties, they are entitled to the restitution thereof or to obtain other lands of equal extension and quality. The right of indigenous communities to their lands includes the right to the natural resources contained therein. Property, as protected under article 21 of the American Convention on Human Rights, is considered to constitute a collective right of indigenous people, since land ownership is often centred not on the individual, but rather on the group and its community. Thus, States may have to recognize the customary systems of land tenure that protect communal property rights - for example, by giving the community a right to veto the alienation of its land by one of its constituent members, whether an individual or a clan, village or tribe.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Indigenous peoples are already among the world's most vulnerable and marginalized communities in many parts of the world owing to discriminatory policies. They are highly dependent on natural resources, with subsistence agriculture, hunting and gathering forming a core part of their livelihoods, and they often have very limited additional income from other activities. Additionally, they may face situations where the land tenure and access rights of their communities are not legally recognized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The pressures referred to above exacerbate conflicts over land and lead to a worrisome criminalization of social movements aimed at carrying out agrarian reforms "from below", including by claiming land that is unused and, in their view, should be distributed more equitably. As a result, serious violations of a range of human rights occur, including murders of peasants connected to such activities, which the Special Rapporteur has documented in a number of communications to States. But the increased pressures on land are also a source of concern because of the weak protection of those who depend most on the land for their survival: smallholders, traditional fisherfolk, pastoralists and peoples (including indigenous and tribal peoples) that rely on the products of the forest. The present report first addresses the situation of indigenous peoples, which is specific insofar as the right of such peoples to have their lands demarcated and protected is recognized under international law. It then considers the position of smallholders, who cultivate the land in conditions that are often insufficiently secure, and that of other land users, such as fisherfolk, pastoralists and herders, who are particularly dependent on commons. The key message is that, while security of tenure is important and should be seen as crucial to the realization of the right to food, individual titling and the creation of a market for land rights may not be the most appropriate means to achieve it.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- One billion people are hungry today. For the vast majority - smallholders or agricultural workers, herders, artisanal fisherfolk and members of indigenous communities - access to land is a condition for the achievement of a decent standard of living. The reason why approximately 500 million people depending on small-scale agriculture are hungry is not only that the price they receive for their crops is too low and they are less competitive than larger production units, but also that they cultivate plots that are often very small - which makes the vast majority of them net food buyers - and they are often relegated to soils that are arid, hilly or without irrigation as they compete against larger productive units for access to land and water. Whether because small-scale farming has become non-viable or because they have been expelled from the land in the absence of effective security of tenure, many such farmers become agricultural workers on large-scale plantations, where they are often paid lower than subsistence wages and left without social or legal protection. Artisanal fisherfolk pastoralists and agro-pastoralists now face a similar threat: as land becomes scarcer, they increasingly risk being excluded from the fishing and grazing grounds on which they have been able to rely for generations. And the precarious position of indigenous peoples and forest-dwelling populations may be attributed in particular to the increased pressure on the forests on which they depend for their livelihoods.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Indigenous peoples often live in physically isolated and harsh environments and rely on fragile ecosystems that are particularly susceptible to climate change and natural disasters. Such ecosystems include tropical rainforests, arctic regions, deserts, low-lying and coastal areas, small islands, open grasslands and mountainous areas. Damage to these ecosystems threatens indigenous peoples' resource bases and traditional ways of securing food. As a result of a decline in biodiversity, traditional subsistence food is being lost in these regions, along with access to medicinal plants traditionally used to ward off pests and disease.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- For these groups, the existence of commons is vital. As noted by the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, in some legal cultures, community-based ownership of natural resources such as grazing lands, forests, water, fisheries and surface minerals is a traditional and effective way to grant control and proprietary rights to persons who have little or no other property. Such systems should be both recognized and fully protected against arbitrary seizure. Indeed, under existing international law, the requirements applicable to indigenous peoples may have to be extended to at least certain traditional communities that entertain a similar relationship with their ancestral lands, centred on the community rather than on the individual. That would encourage the management of common-pool resources at the local level by the communities directly concerned, rather than through top-down prescriptions or privatization of the commons. When such arrangements are institutionalized, the decentralized management of common-pool resources, recognizing their function as collective goods, is recognized as highly effective. Those negotiating the modalities of the use of the commons have the best information about its carrying capacity, and thus about uses that are sustainable, and the users have strong incentives to monitor the use of the commons and to report infractions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- As customary forms of tenure are recognized, the relationship between individual and communal rights may vary. For instance, communal land rights may be formalized as an aggregation of individual rights. In Cambodia, although land may be held by indigenous communities as a whole, the 2001 Land Law allows individual community members to leave and receive their share of communal land, subject to the agreement of the entire community. Another approach is to allow local community authorities to administer rights. In Latin American States where indigenous groups have been granted both political rights and land rights, such groups have been able to achieve a degree of autonomy over land management, while gaining tenure security.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
12 shown of 12 entities