Re-Establishing an Asset Base and Protecting Access to Productive Resources in Post-Conflict Areas of Northern Uganda

Land and conflicts in South Sudan: Taking the land question seriously in the peace building process

This report on the Scoping and Status Study on Land and Conflict reviews the global context and the inspiration driving the study, The three key findings of the study are the existence of multiple areas of UN engagement on land and conflict across the UN pillars, the existence of multiple entry points for improved synergy and that the status quo is not fit for purpose. Based on the above findings, the study presents six recommendations  for consideration by the Rule of Law Resource and Coordination Group, the UN Working Group on Transition, other non-UN entities and Member States.

Solutions at Scale: Overcoming Land as a Driver of Conflict and Bottleneck to Recovery - Paper

Based on the experiences of Amerindian communities in Guyana, this briefing presents some of the main causes of forest conflicts in the country as well as recommendations for how to address these. In particular, the document presents the following points: 

• Lack of full recognition of indigenous peoples’ land rights in line with international law, absence of effective FPIC procedures and limited transparency in forest governance are key underlying causes of forest-related conflicts in Guyana; 

This is the first of a series of consultations on the human rights challenges and dilemmas involved in the
acquisition and use of land – held individually or collectively - for private or state-owned business and
economic purposes. The aim of the series of consultations is to develop a framework that leads to an end of
human rights abuses at any stage of the process – before acquisition, during acquisition, and after operations
have commenced and, if necessary, relocation and rehabilitation arranged, and compensation paid.

Africa’s Great Lakes Region has in recent years experienced
political strife, armed conflict and population displacements
with severe humanitarian consequences. While these events
have clearly revolved around political struggles for the control
of the state, recent research has pointed to the significance
of access to renewable natural resources as structural causes
and sustaining factors in struggles for power in the region.
Contested rights to land and natural resources are significant,

This research investigates the changing landscape of gendered land rights in Rwanda, and examines the impact of the statutory changes introduced by laws governing land, inheritance, succession and matrimonial property passed between 1999 and 2013. In addition to assessing the extent to which gendered, land-related legal provisions are put into practice and rights secured, this research also seeks to understand whether changes introduced to the legal framework gave rise to land disputes, and if so, the types of land disputes provoked and whether they involved gender-based violence.

This case study, based on interviews in Rwanda and an extensive review of secondary material, builds on previous analysis, and examines proposed land reforms as articulated in the National Land Policy. However, it does not attempt to be a comprehensive review of the land policy – more in-depth studies have already been conducted. Instead, it situates the policy and the process involved within the wider debates about governance and conflict resolution in the country.

More than 200 years after its Örst publication, the Malthusian thesis is still much debated, albeit in a modiÖed form. Rather than predicting a global catastrophe, most neo-Malthusians stress the local character of the relationship between population pressure, natural resource scarcity, and conáict as well as its dependency on the socio-political and economic context. This softened version of Malthusíthesis has received little empirical support in cross-country studies.

Since the early 1990s, parts of Afri-ca’s Great Lakes Region have expe-rienced political strife, armed con-flict and population displacements withsevere humanitarian consequences. De-spite great progress towards sustainablepeace in all the countries of the region,sporadic violence continues in some ar-eas, particularly in the Eastern DemocraticRepublic of Congo (DRC). Conflicts in theGreat Lakes Region are highly interlinked,with political and military alliances, refu-gee movements, and ethnic solidarities ty-ing the fates of the countries of the re-gion.

Rwanda is a small, landlocked country with an area of 26,338 square kilometres, only 52% of which is used or developed. The country has a population of nearly ten million people, with a population growth rate of 3.1% and a high urbanisation rate of 8% a year. The average population density for the country as a whole has been estimated at 330 persons per km in 2002, making it one of the highest density levels in Africa. This stimulates a high demand for housing, especially in urban areas where 25,000 new dwelling units are said to be needed annually.