Rediscovering land for business –A human rights analysis of land
grabbing and the responses of theinternational community
Sofía Monsalve Suárez
FIAN International

Tokyo, January 2012

FoodFirst Information and Action Network

1. FoodFirst Information and Action Network
Since 1986, FIAN has actively investigatedland conflicts and supported ruralcommunities in the defense and struggle for
their lands
FIAN Systematically applies a human rights
approach to land issues and conceptualizes
access to land as a human rights obligation.
Access to land is a key part of the right tofood (concept adopted by the UN Committeeof Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its
authoritative interpretation: GC N°12)2

2. Land Grabbing
Land grabbing is not a new phenomenon
FIAN investigated many cases in which land
grabbers were local and national elites (landlords, paramilitary groups, plantations andcompanies) as well as the government itself.
First cases of foreign land grabbing related tomining by foreign companies.
New type of land grabbing since three years

3Definition of Land Grabbing
Taking possession of and/or controlling ascale of land for commercial/industrialagricultural production which isdisproportionate in size in comparison to theaverage land holding in the region.
Definition focuses on the distributional
aspects of the phenomenon and its impact on
the political economy and the local andnational populations’ right to resources
national and foreign investors
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Scope of the phenomenon
50-80 million ha subject to negotiation byinternational investors; 2/3 in sub-SaharanAfrica.
Three quarters of the land deals announced
have yet to demonstrate tangible investment.
Drivers: Growing demand for resources (food,minerals, timber etc.)“Green grabs”
Investors include companies, foreign
governments, commercial farmers, financial
industry5

3. Concerns about Land Grabbing
Reduced land availability
Reduced political space for peasant oriented
agricultural policies
National markets are geared towards
agribusiness interests and global markets,
rather than sustainable peasant agriculture
for local and national markets
Model of agricultural production that
contradicts authoritative international
recommendations (e.g. IAASTD)
Commoditization of nature and agriculture
6One important driver: agrofuels
In 2006 about 14 million ha, i.e. about 1 % of
the world’s arable land.
Expected by 2030: 35-54 million ha (2.5 to3.8 % of available arable land)
EU consumption target: 10 % by 2020 ≙ 2030 million haInternational Energy Agency (IEA) estimations:20-30% of transport fuel demands in 2050
require 100-650 million ha of land (total area
under arable production today: 1,600 millionha)74. Human rights analysis of land grabbing
Land grabbing impacts the enjoyment of
human rights
Right to Adequate Food ( Art. 11 of theICESCR; interpreted by General Comment 12of CESCR)
Right to Adequate Housing (Art. 11 of theICESCR; GC 4 and 7)
Right to Adequate Standard of Living,
including Resources (Art. 11 of the ICESCR)
Right to work (Art. 6 of ICESCR)
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Rights of Indigenous peoples (Art. 13-19 ofthe Convention No. 169 of the International
Labor Organization (ILO; UN Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples)
Right to Self-determination and Right Not to
be Deprived of the One’s Means ofSubsistence (Art. 1.1 and 1.2 of ICESCR andICCPR)“New” rights regarding access to and control
over natural resources: rights of peasants, ahuman right to land9

5. Extraterritorial obligations
State obligations to respect, protect andfulfill: domestic and extraterritorial
obligations
Unequal economic power balance between
investor countries (and their corporations)and host countries
Investor States must regulate, at the domestic
level, international land acquisition andrelated investment activities.
Regulatory measures at the multilateral level
involving other investor countries.
106. International Responses to Land Grabbing

Two main international responses:
Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible
Governance of Tenure of Land, Forests andFisheries (VG land)
Principles for Responsible AgriculturalInvestments (RAI)

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VG LandRAI

Background:
Build on the final
declaration of theInternational
Conference on
Agrarian Reform andRural Development(ICARRD), 2006 andthe Voluntary
Guidelines on the Right
to Food

Response to thephenomenon of largescale land investment.
Self-regulatory policy
advice to mitigate thenegative impacts oflarge-scale landacquisition.

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VG LandRAI

Nature of Instrument:
Refer to binding
human rights
obligations

No reference to humanrights law; build on
CSR frameworks

Core content and scope:
Governance of land,
fisheries and forests:
who decides which
resources can be usedby whom and underwhich conditions; andhow decision making
should be done

Seven principles, suchas recognition ofexisting land andresource rights, foodsecurity, transparency,
consultation andparticipation,
economic, social andenvironmental viability

13VG Land

RAI

Institutional setting and modality of negotiation andadoption:

Developed by FAO
Drafted and negotiatedin intergovernmental
process in theCommittee on World
Food Security (CFS)
Inclusive andparticipatory processincluding different civilsociety actors, esp. thegroups most affectedStarted as agency-led
initiative without
participation of all
governments and not
clearly anchored in aconcrete multilateral
institutional setting.
NGO and mixed
coalitions of civilsociety organizations
and UN agencies haveparticipated in roundtables14

7. Recommendations

Apply the precautionary principle and prevent
large-scale land acquisition
Reform the current investment promotion
system with clear reference to international
human rights law
Drop consumption targets for agrofuels,
freeze policies that encourage the use ofagrofuels

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Implement human rights based land policies(domestic level and international cooperation)and implement final declaration of theICARRD
implement the recommendations of IAASTD
Substantial investment in agroecologicalpeasant farming, combining modern andtraditional knowledge on sustainableagricultural systems

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Global Alliance against Land Grabbing createdin Mali in November 2011.
Dakar Appeal against Land Grabbing, signed
by more than 900 organizations:
http://www.dakarappeal.org/

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For more information
Visit www.fian.org
Personal contact: monsalve@fian.org

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