E/C.12/GC/26 their free and prior consent after a lawful transfer to third parties “are entitled to restitution thereof or to obtain other lands of equal extension and quality”.23 In recent jurisprudence of regional human rights courts, some of the rights applicable to Indigenous Peoples concerning land have been extended to some traditional communities that maintain a similar relationship to their ancestral lands, centred on the community rather than the individual.24 17. 3. Peasants and other people working in rural areas 18. Access to land has particular importance for the realization of the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas worldwide.25 For peasants, access to land and other productive resources is so important for the realization of most rights under the Covenant that it implies for them a right to land. Articles 5 and 17 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas recognize this right to land for peasants and other people working in rural areas, which include agricultural workers, pastoralists and fisherfolk. This right can be exercised individually and collectively. It includes the right to have access to, sustainably use and manage land to achieve an adequate standard of living, to have a place to live in security, peace and dignity and to develop their cultures.26 States should take measures to support peasants to use the land in a sustainable manner, to maintain soil fertility and its productive resources, and to ensure that their methods of production do not endanger the environment for others, in terms of aspects such as access to clean water and preservation of biodiversity. 19. If disputes over land arise between Indigenous Peoples or peasants, States shall provide mechanisms for the adequate settlement of those disputes, making every effort to satisfy the right to land of both groups. 27 Both groups depend to a large extent on access to communal lands or to collective ownership. Respect for Indigenous Peoples’ selfdetermination and their customary land tenure system necessitates recognition of their collective ownership of lands, territories and resources. 28 There are also other groups, including peasants, pastoralists and fisherfolk, for whom access to communal lands or the commons for gathering firewood, collecting water or medicinal plants or for hunting and fishing is essential. Customary forms of property may provide security for people who depend on commons and for whom formal property rights are generally not an appropriate solution. However, ill-conceived attempts to formalize customary tenure rights through titling schemes and the enclosure of communal lands might exclude such people from access to resources on which they depend, affecting the right to food, the right to water and other rights enshrined in the Covenant. Consequently, States have an obligation to guarantee secure access to legitimate land users without discrimination, including those who depend on collective or communal land. B. Participation, consultation and transparency 20. Participation, consultation and transparency are key principles for the implementation of obligations arising from the Covenant, including in relation to land. Individuals and 23 24 25 26 27 28 6 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay, Judgment, 29 March 2006, para. 128; and African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya) and Minority Rights Group (on behalf of Endorois Welfare Council) v. Kenya, para. 209. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in its general recommendation No. 23 (1997), also highlighted that compensation “should as far as possible take the form of land and territories” (para. 5). Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Moiwana Community v. Suriname, Judgment, 15 June 2005, paras. 132–133, and Saramaka People v. Suriname, Judgment, 28 November 2007, para. 86. For an example of the importance of land for peasants’ civil and political rights, see Portillo Cáceres et al. v. Paraguay (CCPR/C/126/D/2751/2016). Human Rights Council resolution 39/12, annex, art. 17 (1). On the need to harmonize the right to land of peasants and Indigenous Peoples, see Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Indigenous Communities of the Lhaka Honhat (Our Land) Association v. Argentina, Judgment, 6 February 2020. A/HRC/45/38. See also Käkkäläjärvi et al. v. Finland (CCPR/C/124/D/2950/2017). GE.23-00043