International Human Rights Day

10 December 2004
Andrew Fuys
International Land Coalition

On International Human Rights Day, we are all called upon to remember that one-fifth of the worlds population some 1.2 billion people must survive on less than one US dollar per day. Seventy-five percent of these extremely poor households live in rural areas. A growing majority of these households are headed by women. Hunger and poverty particularly in rural areas is the product of discrimination, lack of access to key resources and services and, above all, lack of respect for basic human rights.

More and more rural households are being deprived of their land the main source of their livelihood. If land access by poor men and women is not treated as a basic right, the downward spiral of poverty and conflict that this creates will only continue.

Strengthening rural peoples organizations, and particularly those of landless and small-scale farmers, is essential to resolving land conflicts and improving land access. The rights of peoples organizations to organize freely and engage in public debate over land and natural resource policy without facing intimidation and violence by state or private institutions are fundamental.

Women and women-headed households are the most vulnerable and constitute a growing majority of the extremely poor. Guaranteeing womens equal access to land and natural resources, education and other basic rights must be a prerequisite for eliminating extreme poverty.

For indigenous peoples, land and natural resources are not only the main source of food security, they are also directly linked to cultural and spiritual identity. Legal recognition of indigenous land rights is a basic precondition for self-determination and participation in sustainable development.

The relationship between land rights, poverty, conflict and environmental sustainability are well known, as has been recognized again and again by UN and other international agreements. Too often, though, the failure of national and global institutions to identify and carry out joint solutions limits their ability to increase land access and reduce rural poverty. Genuine and meaningful involvement by civil society including farmers unions, other rural peoples organizations and NGOs that work with them is a critical ingredient to effective policy reform.

On International Human Rights Day 2004, the International Land Coalition calls upon national and global institutions to recommit to empowering poor men and women through their secure access to land and other key natural resources. Only then will we realize our common goal of a world free from hunger and poverty perhaps the most fundamental human right of all.