5
Members
Working towards these commitments
Secure Tenure Rights
Strong Small-Scale Farming Systems
Equal land rights for women
Secure territorial rights for Indigenous Peoples
Locally-managed ecosystems
Inclusive decision-making
Transparent and accessible information
Effective actions against land grabbing
Achievements
Country context
Land Rights in DRC
Major land governance problems faced in DRC:
In the DRC, the current land tenure system follows the 1973 law that gives all power to the Congolese state as owner of the land. It can therefore allocate land for conservation, real estate development, construction in an urbanisation programme or make land available to public or private investors. However, the Land Law does not reserve any place for the management of rural land, which continues to be governed by local customs and managed by customary authorities.
For the communities, land is an essential component of their identity and a question of survival. The absence of a legal mechanism in force raises the question of the security of the land rights of the clans holding traditional land control and the use rights of the actual farmers. In East DRC, the insecurity of land tenure, although contradictory to the 2006 Constitution, is reinforced by armed conflicts. Indeed, the land still available there is an extremely coveted resource - areas are delimited as national parks or belong to large landowners.
