The UN has published global guidelines on ‘land grabbing’, the purchase of land by rich nations and foreign companies in developing countries.
The guidelines, which are non-binding, call on governments to safeguard the rights of the indigenous population which uses the land.
200m hectares, an area eight times the size of Britain, are estimated to have been bought or leased over the past ten years.
“Giving poor and vulnerable people secure and equitable rights to access land and other natural resources is a key condition in the fight against hunger and poverty,” said the Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, José Graziano da Silva.
“It is a historic breakthrough that countries have agreed on these first-ever global land tenure guidelines,
“We now have a shared vision. It’s a starting point that will help improve the often dire situation of the hungry and poor.”
Tens of thousands of people are thought to have been forcibly moved from their lands in order to make way for foreign companies.
The new guidelines are designed to ensure that people have access to their ancestral land, fishing grounds and forests, however as the guidelines are not obligatory, it will be difficult to ensure implementation by countries.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
