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News (234)
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Harvard Fund Involved in Land-grabbing Case |
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By :Caio de Freitas Paes / Translated by Roberto Cataldo |
| 15 October 2020 |
In September, the court in Brazil’s Bahia state ruled that a company in which Harvard University’s endowment fund was invested had illegally acquired the land for a large farm in the Cerrado grasslands.
The Gleba Campo Largo farm, spanning 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres), has for years been the focus of violent
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South Africa: Official Extort Black Farmers |
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By :Dan Meyer,thesouthafrican.com |
| 12 October 2020 |
The DA say that they have evidence that agriculture officials in Mpumalanga have solicited bribes from emerging black farmers.
Emerging black farmers in Mpumalanga are being harassed and threatened by officials within the province’s Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), allegedly due to the fact that they refuse
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USA: CSOs Urge Senate Reject SCotUS Pick |
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By :Over 150 organizations |
| 06 October 2020 |
Following the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court, over 150 justice organizations and movements, including advocates for the homeless and defenders of the human right to adequate housing, issued a letter urging the Senate to oppose her confirmation. While the nomination raises a broad
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New from HIC-HLRN: “A Pandemic of Violations” |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 05 October 2020 |
On the occasion of World Habitat Day (5 October 2020) and “Urban October,” HIC-HLRN has produced its annual report from the HLRN Violation Database.
This year’s review of patterns and trends in housing and land rights violation around the world is dedicated to the theme: A Pandemic of Violations: Forced Evictions
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New from HIC-HLRN: "A Pandemic of Violations" |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 05 October 2020 |
On the occasion of World Habitat Day (5 October 2020) and “Urban October,” HIC-HLRN has produced its annual report from the HLRN Violation Database.
This year’s review of patterns and trends in housing and land rights violation around the world is dedicated to the theme: A Pandemic of Violations: Forced Evictions
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New: Customary Practices Dispossessing Women |
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By :HIC-HLRN, Mazingira Institute and Pamoja Trust |
| 25 September 2020 |
Customary Practices That Dispossess and Displace Women from Their Habitats
HIC-HLRN has just released the outcomes of a study of the impacts of customary practices on women’s housing, land and property rights in Kenya.
This study is a product of a collaborative project of Mazingira Institute (MI), Pamoja Trust (PT) and
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Kenya: Impoverishing Women with "Development" |
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By :HIC-HLRN, Mazingira Institute and Pamoja Trust |
| 25 September 2020 |
HIC-HLRN has just published the results of a study on the impacts of infrastructure development that dispossesses and displace women in Kenya. The report is a baseline assessment of women’s wealth, wellbeing and habitat values at stake.
This is the product of a collaborative project of Mazingira Institute, Pamoja Trust and
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500K Rural Tibetans Sent to Labor Camps in 2020 |
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By :Helen Davidson, The Guardian and agencies |
| 23 September 2020 |
In 2019 and 2020, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) introduced new policies to promote the systematic, centralized, and large-scale training and transfer of “rural surplus laborers” to other parts of the TAR, as well as to other provinces of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In the first 7 months
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Zimbabwe: Evicted Villagers’ Living Hell |
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By :Tatenda Chitagu, The Standard |
| 22 September 2020 |
Evicted Lowveld villagers endure two months of hell
By the roadside in the scorching Lowveld heat, a group of women and children sit under a tree, their few belongings scattered all over the place.
Two women have just finished preparing a very small meal of sadza and cow peas, hardly enough to
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CSOs Urge UNGA to End Apartheid in Palestine |
| 22 September 2020 |
Global Response to Israeli Apartheid: A Call to the UNGA
Apartheid is a crime against humanity, giving rise to individual criminal responsibility and State responsibility to bring the illegal situation to an end. In May 2020, a large number of Palestinian civil society organisations called on all States to adopt “effective countermeasures,
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Zim: Divorce Law Spurs Women`s Rights Struggle |
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By :Lungelo Ndhlovu, Thomson Reuters Foundation |
| 11 September 2020 |
Zimbabwe divorce law spurs women`s fight for property
The law rejects the traditional thinking that only financial contributions count when splitting property, its supporters say
BULAWAYO—When Smangele Tshuma got divorced after five years of marriage, her in-laws forced her out of the home that she had been living in with her husband
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Guatemala: Denouncing Land Defender Murders |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 09 September 2020 |
So far in 2020, four farmer leaders have been murdered, and another one is missing. The organization also denounced the extrajudicial eviction of indigenous communities.
Guatemala`s government withdrew several institutions that enforced and veiled over land rights, such as the Secretariat for Agrarian Affairs (SAA), the Presidential Commission for the Coordination
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US War on Terror Displaced 37 million+ |
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By :John Ismay, The New York Times Magazine |
| 08 September 2020 |
A new report calculates the number of people who fled because of wars fought by the United States since
At least 37 million people have been displaced as a direct result of the wars fought by the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, according to a new report from Brown
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USA: Eviction-Public health-Election |
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By :Jacob Passy, Market Watch |
| 02 September 2020 |
Renters in U.S. cannot be evicted through the end of the year due to coronavirus, CDC order states
Unpublished order provides declaration for renters to sign stating they are unable to pay rent, have sought government assistance
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is implementing a temporary eviction moratorium through the
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Palestine: Join Al-Haq Law School Program (10/2020) |
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By :Al Haq |
| 24 August 2020 |
Al-Haq International Law School Program, 12–22 October 2020
The Al-Haq Center for Applied International Law is pleased to announce its Sixth International Law Summer School Program for professionals, legal researchers, post-graduates and academics in the fields of international law and human rights.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing uncertainty around international
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Palestine: Join Al-Haq Law School Program (10/2020) |
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By :Al Haq |
| 24 August 2020 |
Al-Haq International Law School Program, 12–22 October 2020
The Al-Haq Center for Applied International Law is pleased to announce its Sixth International Law Summer School Program for professionals, legal researchers, post-graduates and academics in the fields of international law and human rights.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing uncertainty around international
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India: Turning 170K-ha Forest to Coal |
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By :Hannah Ellis-Peterson, The Guardian |
| 08 August 2020 |
India plans to fell ancient forest to create 40 new coalfields
Narendra Modi’s dream of a ‘self-reliant India’ comes at a terrible price for its indigenous population
Over the past decade, Umeshwar Singh Amra has witnessed his homeland descend into a battleground. The war being waged in Hasdeo Arand, a rich and
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Land Times issue 20 |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 08 August 2020 |
HIC’s Housing and Land Rights Network (HIC-HLRN) welcomes you to its 20th issue of Land Times. This milestone edition emphasizes the role of civil society in identifying and remedying housing and land rights problems in the context of a global pandemic.
Amid this protracted crisis, events and developments in the Middle
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Brazil: Resisting Pandemic Repossessions |
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By :Alexander Putti, CartaCapital |
| 06 August 2020 |
On Monday, 10 August, representatives of urban and rural popular movements and parliamentary fronts for urban reform and human rights met virtually with the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, to ask for the vote on the bills 1975/2020 and 827/2020 that suspend the removal and reintegration actions
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USA: Eviction Wave as Moratoriums End |
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By :Regina Garcia Cano and Michael Casey/AP |
| 04 August 2020 |
Wave of evictions expected as moratoriums end in many states
BALTIMORE— Kelyn Yanez used to clean homes during the day and wait tables at night in the Houston area before the coronavirus. But the mother of three lost both jobs in March because of the pandemic and now is facing eviction.
The
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Occupied Kashmir’s Year of Exploding Memories |
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By :Adil Amin Akhoon, Sharafat Ali, Foreign Policy |
| 02 August 2020 |
In Kashmir, a Year of Exploding Memories
A year after the state’s special status was revoked, peace remains a distant hope.
SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir—Over the past year, life in Indian-administered Kashmir has grown markedly more challenging. On 5 August 2019, New Delhi revoked Article 370—which had guaranteed a measure of autonomy
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USA: Mass Evictions to Hit People of Color Hardest |
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By :Camilo Maldonado, Forbes |
| 29 July 2020 |
Update: mass evictions set to begin - communities of color to be hardest hit
NEW YORK, NEW YORK—During a Monday interview on Fox Business, White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow backtracked his comments made Sunday and clarified that the eviction moratorium extension would be for mortgages in forbearance.
With regards
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Battir, Palestine: Settlers Invade Heritage Site |
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By :Yuval Abraham, +972 mag |
| 29 July 2020 |
‘I want Battir to go to hell’: Settlers move in on Palestinian World Heritage site
Palestinians in the West Bank agricultural village of Battir are encountering armed Israeli settlers trying to push them off their land.
Khaled and Miriam Muammar live in Battir, an agricultural village in the occupied West Bank, just
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USA: Esselen Tribe Regains Land after 250 Years |
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By :Mario Koran, The Guardian |
| 28 July 2020 |
Northern California Esselen tribe regains ancestral land after 250 years
The tribe purchased the 1,200 acre ranch near Big Sur as part of a $4.5m deal and will use it for educational and cultural purposes
The Esselen Tribe of Monterey county now owns a small piece of their ancestral land along California’s
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Kashmir: Prolonged Settler Colonialism |
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By :Samreen Mushtaq and Mudasir Amin/The Polis Project |
| 27 July 2020 |
India’s settler colonialism in Kashmir is not starting now, eliminating the natives is a process long underway
From controlling space to regulating movement, from land holdings to resource extraction, from neoliberal policies converging with colonial aims to memory erasures and intensive surveillance, the Indian state has been at it for long.
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Western Sahara: NGOs Appeal to UNSC |
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By :GSGPPHRWS |
| 16 July 2020 |
NGOs –– Geneva Support Group for the Protection and Promotion
of Human Rights in Western Sahara
Open letter to the President of the UN Security Council
H.E. Mr. Christoph Heusgen
Your Excellency,
Having followed the discussion at the high-level open debate held on 7 July on the theme "Peace operations and human rights," the 214
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Palestine/Israel: JNF Trees Dispossess Bedouin |
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By :Zafrir Rinat and Almog Ben Zikri, Haaretz |
| 14 July 2020 |
Israel pushing large tree planting in Naqab to disclaim lands to Bedouin
Israel is pushing through a plan to plant trees across a significant swath of the Negev in a bid to deny Bedouin residents from accessing the lands.
The plan is described as “agricultural planting” but local activists and human
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A Chinese Province Razes Its Countryside |
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By :Alexander Boyd, SupChina |
| 10 July 2020 |
A Chinese province razes the countryside. Why?
How are Shandong villagers being convinced to go along with a provincial plan to raze their homes and move them into high-rises? With promises of economic benefits in the future, and if that doesn’t work, with coercion and threats.
Since March, the provincial government
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USA: Judge Shuts Down Dakota Access Pipeline |
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By :Amy R. Sisk, Bismarck Tribune |
| 06 July 2020 |
A federal judge has ordered the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline while a lengthy environmental review is conducted of the project opposed by environmentalists and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
The move was requested earlier this year by Standing Rock and three other Sioux tribes in the Dakotas who fear environmental harm from
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USA: Evictions Soon to Hit Black Renters Hardest |
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By :Renae Merle, The Washington Post |
| 06 July 2020 |
Evictions are likely to skyrocket this summer as jobs remain scarce. Black renters will be hard hit
Eviction moratoriums and unemployment benefits are expiring, which will have a bigger effect on minority neighborhoods, experts say.
A backlog of eviction cases is beginning to move through the court system as millions of Americans
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UNHCHR Urges Israel Halt Annexation Plans |
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By :OHCHR |
| 29 June 2020 |
Bachelet urges Israel to halt West Bank annexation plans, warning “shockwaves will last for decades”
GENEVA—The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on Monday added her voice to the wave of international and national calls on the Government of Israel not to proceed with its plans to illegally annex
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What Happens When the Eviction Bans End? |
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By :Kriston Capps, City Lab |
| 29 May 2020 |
What Happens When the Eviction Bans End?
States are reopening courts to eviction hearings even as coronavirus-driven job losses continue, setting the stage for “a housing crisis of unparalleled magnitude.”
Last week, a crowd of about 30 people lined up in a single-file, socially distanced line outside the district court in Petersburg,
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USA: A Coming ‘Avalanche of Evictions’ |
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By :Sarah Mervosh, The New York Times |
| 27 May 2020 |
An ‘Avalanche of Evictions’ Could Be Bearing Down on America’s Renters [i.e., in USA]
The economic downturn is shaping up to be particularly devastating for renters, who are more likely to be lower-income and work hourly jobs cut during the pandemic.
EUCLID, Ohio — The United States, already wrestling with an economic
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USA: The Coming Eviction Crisis |
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By :Megh Wright, New York magazine |
| 18 May 2020 |
Patriot Act Returns to Terrify You About an Eviction Crisis
Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix series, Patriot Act, returned last night with its first new episode since the pandemic began, and Minhaj wasted no time addressing the show’s new remote format: “Don’t think of this as a Netflix show compromising. Think of this as a YouTube video overachieving.”
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World Distracted, Amazon Keeps Burning |
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By :Agence France-Presse |
| 09 May 2020 |
With world distracted, the Amazon rainforest continues to burn
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit a new high in the first four months of this year, with 1,202 square kilometres of forest wiped out
That was a 55 per cent increase from the same period last year, and the highest figure for
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Brazil: Ashaninka Win Case against Loggers |
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By :YaleEnvironment 360 |
| 01 May 2020 |
Indigenous group wins case over illegal tree logging
The Ashaninka indigenous community in Brazil has won a two-decade federal court dispute against illegal logging interests, receiving $3 million in compensation and an official apology from companies for cutting down thousands of mahogany, cedar, and other tree species in the Kampa do Rio Amônia
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USA: Which States Protect from Eviction? |
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By :Dan Keating and Lauren Tierney, The Washington Post |
| 29 April 2020 |
Which states are doing a better job protecting renters from being evicted during the coronavirus pandemic
For millions of renters who have lost income, rent day on May 1 is a looming disaster.
A majority of the country’s 43.8 million renting households have lost at least some of their income in the coronavirus shutdown,
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Evicted Indigenous People in Manaus |
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By :Ignacio Amigo, Mongabay |
| 29 April 2020 |
Evicted indigenous people in Manaus struggle to stay safe amid COVID-19 crisis
A group of about 400 indigenous people were displaced from an informal settlement on the outskirts of Manaus in the Brazilian Amazon in February, reportedly in connection with drug trafficking issues in the area, despite previous promises to regularize
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South Africa: Hsg Crisis, Eviction amid Lockdown |
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By :Kim Harrisberg, Thomon Reuters Foundation |
| 24 April 2020 |
Evictions, power cuts heighten South Africa housing crisis amid lockdown
JOHANNESBURG—From demolished shacks to water and electricity shutoffs, South Africa’s coronavirus lockdown is worsening the country’s housing crisis, despite government orders to suspend evictions, residents and activists warned.
With many unable to work or pay rent since stay-at-home orders went into effect
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Guatemala: Evicting Maya Q’eqchi` amid COVID-19 |
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By :Minority Rights Group International |
| 21 April 2020 |
Violent attempt to evict Maya Q’eqchi villagers despite COVID-19 crisis in Guatemala
On 13 April 2020, private security forces suspected of working for Industria Chiquibul, S.A., an agribusiness engaged in the harvesting and extraction of palm oil, attempted to evict 200 indigenous peasant families from their homes in Tierra Blanca, municipality
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Call to Protect Dalit Rights during Pandemic |
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By :International Alliance for Social Justice |
| 16 April 2020 |
Global Call for Protecting Dalit Rights During COVID-19 Pandemic
We, the global alliance of Dalit organizations, strongly urge the Member-States of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), United Nations, civil society, and donor agencies to provide immediate relief to poor Dalits and protect their basic human rights during
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Impact of Souapiti Dam in Guinea |
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By :Human Rights Watch |
| 16 April 2020 |
Guinea’s 450 megawatt Souapiti dam, scheduled to begin operating in September 2020, is the most advanced of several new hydropower projects planned by the government of President Alpha Condé. Guinea’s government believes that hydropower can significantly increase access to electricity in a country where only a fraction of people have
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BADIL Palestinian Rights Course |
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By :BADIL |
| 10 April 2020 |
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights
BADIL`s second International Mobilization Course: The Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, West Bank, Palestine, 17 July - 28 July 2020.
This course is an opportunity for international advocates, activists, mobilizers, policy officers and interested individuals, to gain a deeper understanding of a human
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Brazil: Land Defender Zezico Guajajara Murdered |
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By :BBC World |
| 01 April 2020 |
Zezico Guajajara, an Amazon Guardian has been shot dead on 31 March 2020
A member of a protected tribe in the Amazon has been killed by gunmen, authorities in the Brazilian state of Maranhão say.
The body of Zezico Guajajara, of the Guajajara tribe, was found near his village on Tuesday. He
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South Africa: Evictions Despite Moratorium |
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By :Abahlali baseMjondolo |
| 29 March 2020 |
Evictions continue in Durban despite the national moratorium
The national government made a clear promise that there would be no evictions during the national shutdown implemented to slow the spread of the coronavirus. However, today, at around 12:30, Calvin Security returned to the Ekuphumeleleni settlement in Mariannhill, which falls under
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Kenya: Women Resist Custom for a Fair Share |
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By :David Muchui, The Nation |
| 25 March 2020 |
Widows fight customs, biased laws denying them share of family wealth
In Summary
In Meru County and elsewhere, thousands of widows are at the mercy of ruthless in-laws and corrupt government officers.
Human Rights Watch cites discriminatory laws and customs as some of the factors that continue to fuel the violation of women’s
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South Africa: Call for Solidarity amid Crisis |
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By :Abahlali baseMjondolo |
| 22 March 2020 |
Coronavirus: A Call for Solidarity in a Time of Crisis
Abahlali baseMjondolo has held small meetings with elected leaders in all the provinces where we have members to discuss the coronavirus crisis. The best available scientific information has been shared with our members. We have decided to suspend our entire programme
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ZA/Palestine: Apartheid 60 Yrs after Sharpeville |
| 21 March 2020 |
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Time to Recognise and End Israeli Apartheid over the Palestinian People
21 March 2020
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also marks the 60th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre under apartheid in South Africa, on 21 March 1960. At Sharpeville, police opened
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US Aid to Israel Razing Palestinian Homes |
| 16 March 2020 |
House Democrats ask if Israel violating US aid restriction by using resources to demolish Palestinian homes.
More than 60 Democratic lawmakers are pushing the Donald Trump administration to clarify whether Israel uses American military equipment to demolish Palestinian homes in the West Bank, hinting that doing so could trigger military aid
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Kashmir: India to "Reclaim" Encroached Land |
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By :Safwat Zargar, scroll.in |
| 15 March 2020 |
The Jammu and Kashmir government [under Indian occupation] plans to reclaim at least 1 lakh [100,000] hectares of encroached state land and village commons by the end of this month. About 65% of this land falls in the Jammu division of the newly created Union Territory, revenue department officials told
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Uganda: Thousands Homeless for Land Privatization |
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By :Bill Oketch, Daily monitor |
| 25 February 2020 |
More than 35,000 people from 20 villages are homeless after being evicted from about 9,300 acres of land in Kiryandongo District to pave way for large scale farming.
No one seemingly knows the exact year when the government allegedly gave the land to agricultural companies for large scale farming.
The government says
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Indonesia: Taman Sari`s Eviction |
| 19 February 2020 |
Taman Sari`s evicted residents pursue alternative avenues after court loss
BANDUNG –Residents who were evicted from Taman Sari subdistrict in Bandung, West Java, have filed more than 100 complaints to the government’s online public-service complaint system to step up their fight against their eviction.
Twenty residents submitted around 120 reports regarding
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India: Evictions in Honor of Trump Visit |
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By :Avinash Nair, The Indian Express |
| 18 February 2020 |
Ahead of Donald Trump’s visit to India, officials serve 45 families in Gujarat slum with eviction notices. The move comes just days after the AMC began building a wall allegedly to cover the Saraniyavas or Dev Saran slum on a route that the US President is likely to take while
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Watch: The Heart of Nuba |
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By :Storyville Global, BBC World |
| 12 February 2020 |
For thirty years, Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, waged a brutal and bloody war on his own people. This program filmed before al-Bashir was ousted, features Dr. Tom Catena a U.S. doctor and missionary who has been working in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan (South Kordofan) for over
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Bolsonaro`s Ambiguous Amazon Plan |
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By :Luciana Coelho and Gustavo Uribe, Folha de São Paulo |
| 10 February 2020 |
Bolsonaro`s Proposed Amazon Plan Is Vague and Uncertain. Officials improvised the proposed project on eve of Davos event to appease critics.
SÃO PAULO and BRASÍLIA—Bolsonaro`s finalized his plan for the Amazon right before the World Economic Forum in Davis, Switzerland. The government wanted to alleviate investor doubts about the government`s inaction in forest
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Brazil: President Opens Indigenous Land to Mining |
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By :Amazon Watch |
| 06 February 2020 |
Illegal Bill to Permit Mining on Indigenous Territories Proposed by Bolsonaro to Brazil`s Congress
Yesterday, marking his 400th day in office, Brazil`s extreme-right President Jair Bolsonaro proposed new legislation that would permit industrial mining, oil and gas projects, and hydroelectric dams on protected indigenous lands. The bill – which brazenly violates Brazil`s constitution
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Navajo Pres. Sides with Kit Carson on Palestine |
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By :The Red Nation |
| 02 February 2020 |
Navajo Nation President Nez Sides with Kit Carson on Palestine
The [president of the] Navajo Nation’s partnership with Zionist organizations raises historical questions.
Black men fighting for their freedom once drenched the earth with the blood of white men. We know this history. At the same time, our grandfathers carried guns against
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How Chevron Crushes an Environment Defender |
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By :Sharon Lerner, The Intercept |
| 29 January 2020 |
How the Environmental Lawyer Who Won a Massive Judgment against Chevron Lost Everything
Last August, during the second-hottest year on record, while the fires in the Amazon rainforest were raging, the ice sheet in Greenland was melting, and Greta Thunberg was being greeted by adoring crowds across the U.S., something else happened
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Criminal Conspiracy of the Century |
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By :HLRN |
| 28 January 2020 |
In joint presentations, US President Donald Trump and pro tem Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu revealed the long-anticipated/-dreaded “deal of the century” today in a White House ceremony. The entitled “Peace to Prosperity” document is now available for scrutiny. The plan, echoing the South African vision of Grand Apartheid, seeks
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Wealth Inequality, not Over-population Causes Climate Crisis |
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By :The Conversation |
| 28 January 2020 |
Stop blaming population growth for climate change. The real culprit is wealth inequality. Consumption by the world’s richest 10% makes up half of the planet’s consumption-based CO₂ emissions. Why we should be wary of blaming ‘overpopulation’ for the climate crisis
The annual World Economic Forum in Davos brought together representatives from government and
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Nigeria: Mass Evictions, Protests as Housing Crisis Mounts |
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By :Libby George, Reuters |
| 24 January 2020 |
Mass evictions prompt protests as Nigerian housing crisis mounts
LAGOS—The men in naval uniforms charged into the Nigerian waterfront village of Okun Glass in the morning, chased out the residents, then called in the bulldozers.
De facto village leader, 75-year-old Dauda Musa, said he fled as the men fired guns into the
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States Urge Spain to Respect Saharawi Rights |
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By :Western Sahara Resources Watch (WSRW) |
| 22 January 2020 |
As a matter of extraterritorial human rights obligation, Namibia and East-Timor have today recommended Spain to respect the Saharawi people`s right to free, prior and informed consent before any exploitation of Western Sahara`s natural resources.
Spain today went through its third Universal Periodic Review, a peer review in the
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Peru: Indigenous Win Amazon Oil Battle |
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By :Maria Cervantes, Reuters |
| 22 January 2020 |
Peruvian indigenous group wins suit to block oil exploration in Amazonian region
LIMA—A Peruvian judge ruled that the government exclude an indigenous region of the Amazon near the border with Brazil from any oil exploration and exploitation, a legal group said on Wednesday, in a win for native communities that have
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CSOs Blast UN’s Corporate Take-over |
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By :FIAN and various CSOs |
| 16 January 2020 |
WEF takeover of UN strongly condemned. With the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos around the corner, hundreds of CSOs reiterate condemnation of the partnership between the corporate world with the UN.
As corporate executives fly into Davos for the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF),
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Outrage over Siemens Backing Adani Coal |
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By :Deutsche Welle |
| 13 January 2020 |
Climate Activists Outraged as Siemens Backs Adani Coal Mining Project in Australia
Siemens has announced it will remain involved in a controversial coal mining project in Australia, despite massive environmental criticism as the country continues to be ravaged by bushfires.
The German engineering conglomerate has a contract worth roughly €18 million ($20 million) which requires
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Brazil: 2 Indigenous Guajajaras Murdered |
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By :Rosa Gauditano, Survival International |
| 09 December 2019 |
Last Saturday, December 7, two indigenous Guajajara men were shot to death and two others injured. The shots were fired by occupants of a vehicle on the side of a road through Cana Brava Indigenous Land. This attack comes just over a month after the murder of Paulo Paulino Guajajara,
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‘Amazon Completely Lawless’: Bolsonaro’s 1st Year |
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By :Matt Sandy. The New York Times |
| 05 December 2019 |
Deforestation in the world’s largest rainforest, an important buffer against climate change, has soared under President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil.
RIO DE JANEIRO—When the smoke cleared, the Amazon could breathe easy again.
For months, black clouds had hung over the rainforest as work crews burned and chain-sawed through it. Now the rainy
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India: Gov’t. Rethinks Vicious Forest Act |
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By :Ishan Kukreti, Down to Earth |
| 18 November 2019 |
Government withdraws proposed changes to Indian Forest Act. Minister Prakash Javadekar said draft created misconception among people.
The Union government was withdrawing the officers’ draft of the Indian Forest Act (IFA), 1927 amendment, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) Prakash Javadekar told reporters on November 15, 2019.
Inspector General of Forests (Forest
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UN Report on Israeli Colonies Speaks Truth |
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By :Robert Fisk |
| 14 November 2019 |
He’s a very tall man with bright eyes and a broad smile, and he holds out a great paw when he greets you. But Michael Lynk is no gentle giant.
He may teach human rights law at the Western University in London, Ontario, but as the UN’s special rapporteur on human
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Report to UNCERD on Israeli Apartheid |
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By :Middle East Monitor |
| 14 November 2019 |
Eight Palestinian, regional and international NGOs have submitted a substantial report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), ahead of the committee’s upcoming review of Israel’s next month.
According to a statement published this week, the NGOs in question were Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Al-Haq,
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Brazil: The Life and Death of the Guajajara |
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By :Carol Marçal, The Guardian |
| 08 November 2019 |
It is not news that the Brazilian government has been failing to protect Indigenous lands and Indigenous rights. But due to ever-increasing invasion of their territories by land grabbers, loggers and even drug traffickers, the Indigenous Peoples from several groups in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil decided to
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Major Victory for Ecuadoran Indigenous Peoples |
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By :DTE Staff |
| 07 November 2019 |
Chinese company pulls out of contract to drill for oil in remote rainforest after protests by indigenous groups
Indigenous leaders from Ecuador’s Amazon declared victory on November 6, 2019, after revealing that the country’s government had granted a force majeure request by Andes Petroleum Ltd Ecuador to stop drilling in a rainforest concession
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Brazil: Loggers Murder Amazon Forest Defender |
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By :Aljazeera |
| 03 November 2019 |
An indigenous forest defender has been killed and another wounded after they were ambushed by illegal loggers in Brazil`s Amazon forest, according to authorities.
Paulo Paulino Guajajara, a leader of an indigenous group seeking to protect the Arariboia indigenous reserve in Maranhao state from incursions, was shot in the face while on a
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Kenya: Village Struggles with Industrial Giant |
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By :Lotte Hughes and Daniel Lepariyo, The Star |
| 01 November 2019 |
David v Goliath: A small village’s struggle with an industrial giant
Known as Kambi Turkana to its largely Maasai neighbours, Lorropil has 47 residents, including Turkana, Samburu, Kikuyu, Il Chamus, Kisii and Kalenjin. Akiira Geothermal Ltd claims these destitute people are ‘squatters’ who have only recently moved onto the land in
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Framing the Inquiry into Land Inequality |
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By :Arantxa Guereña and Marc Wegerif |
| 30 October 2019 |
The International Land Coalition (ILC) has launched a research project on land inequality in the world, beginning with an exercise of framing the approach the many related complexities of land inequality. The result of that initial effort is a coherent framework for research and action with suggested themes and questions for
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Canada: B.C. to Align Laws with UNDRIP |
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By :Stephanie Wood, National Observer |
| 24 October 2019 |
B.C. tables United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples bill today
British Columbia is the first province to begin legislating the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a landmark international document on Indigenous rights.
The province is introducing a bill today that will ensure all provincial laws
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USA: Island Returned to Indigenous Owners |
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By :Julia Wick, Essential California, Los Angeles Times |
| 22 October 2019 |
Eureka returns an island to a tribe nearly 160 years after a massacre
California is in a moment of long overdue reckoning with the state’s original sin: the blood-soaked treatment of the people who inhabited this land long before any white settlers ever dreamed of Manifest Destiny. In recent
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Adani Coal Takes Native Land as Oz Burns |
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By :Ben Doherty, The Guardian |
| 31 August 2019 |
While Queensland extinguishes native title over Indigenous land to make way for Adani coalmine
Palaszczuk government did not announce decision Wangan and Jagalingou people say makes them trespassers on their own land
The Queensland government has extinguished native title over 1,385 hectares of Wangan and Jagalingou country for the proposed Adani coalmine in
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USA: New Rule to Make Residents Homeless |
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By :Carey L. Biron, City |
| 13 August 2019 |
`We will become homeless`: U.S. residents fear housing rule change could force them out of homes. The rule change could make an entire household ineligible for social housing if a single member is undocumented, say experts.
WASHINGTON - Fears are mounting across the United States over a proposal by President Donald
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Kashmir: Land Grab and Political Disempowerment |
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By :Subodh Varma, News Click |
| 11 August 2019 |
Land Grab, Political Disempowerment Are Twin Pillars of J&K Changes
Pursued through repressive clampdown, cloaked in rhetoric of ‘development’.
Buried deep within the new law that divided Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, lie provisions that reveal the real intent of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government. These changes, affecting political
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PHROC Rebukes Donor States over UNRWA Cuts |
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By :Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) |
| 04 August 2019 |
Palestinian Refugees must not suffer the consequences of alleged misconduct. Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) criticizes funding cuts to UNRWA over ethics evaluation.
PHROC: Support UNRWA and Ensure Refugee Rights under International Law
A ten-page report was issued by the ethics office of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
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EU Now Funds Israel’s Destruction of Palestine |
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By :David Cronin, Rights and Accountability |
| 02 August 2019 |
The European Union is financing Israeli bodies that oversee home demolitions and other crimes against the Palestinian people.
Two years ago, Benjamin Netanyahu was heard complaining that the European Union was “crazy” for attaching “political conditions” to its relations with Israel. By the prime minister’s yardstick, matters have become less “crazy” since then:
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Women Speak out on Land Rights |
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By :ESCR-Net |
| 02 August 2019 |
Women articulating shared positions and advancing collective action on land and natural resources
In recent years, coordinated by the Working Group on Women and ESCR, grassroots women leaders have been articulating shared positions and advancing collective action on land and natural resources; most recently, via a second exchange and a series
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Most South Africa Municipalities Don’t Deliver |
| 02 July 2019 |
Most South African municipalities not delivering for citizens
If the South African public were ever in doubt at the reasons for service delivery protests in townships and municipalities, a closer look should be taken at the municipal audit report released by Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu who expressed concern at the financial mismanagement
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A New Wave of Demolitions by Israeli Court |
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By :Press TV |
| 22 June 2019 |
The Supreme Court of Israel has reportedly approved plans for the demolition of 100 Palestinian apartments units on the southeastern outskirts of occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds on the grounds that they have been built close to the separation wall that snakes across occupied Palestinian territories and isolates large swathes of
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German Firm’s Crimes against Palestinians |
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By :Adri Nieuwhof Rights and Accountability |
| 10 June 2019 |
German firm escalates its war crimes against Palestinians
German construction giant HeidelbergCement is expanding its plunder of Palestinian resources, a war crime punishable under German and international law.
HeidelbergCement operates a stone quarry in the occupied West Bank without permission of the Palestinians.
After exhausting the Nahal Raba quarry, the Israeli army has
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More US Jews Support Quitting WB Colonies |
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By :Judy Maltz, Haaretz |
| 02 June 2019 |
Growing Number of U.S. Jews Support Evacuation of All West Bank Settlements, Survey Finds. AJC poll exposes deepening divide between American and Israeli Jews on issues like Trump`s policies and the importance of “caring about Israel.”
Fewer American Jews consider “caring about Israel” an important part of being Jewish, a
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Zimbabwe Farmers Hawking to Survive |
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By :Jeffrey Moyo, IPS |
| 28 May 2019 |
Zimbabwe’s Resettled Farmers Hawking Cigarettes to Survive
MARONDERA, Zimbabwe—Subsistence farmer Rogers Hove proudly brandishes a worn-out letter for his five-hectare piece of land he obtained from government following the chaotic land seizures from white commercial farmers over two decades ago. What matters most to him, he says, “is to see my
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World Bank’s Attack on Small Farmers |
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By :AfricaFocus Bulletin |
| 27 May 2019 |
Editor`s Note:
“Enabling the Business of Agriculture,” promoted by the World Bank, and now enhanced with a new sub-indicator on land policy, is presented as a way to advance agricultural development, particularly in Africa. In reality, notes a new report from the Oakland Institute, it gives an additional push to a
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EU Partners with Israeli War-crime Financier |
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By :Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada |
| 21 May 2019 |
The European Union is expanding its partnership with Bank Leumi, a major financier of Israeli settler colonies on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
The EU claims to oppose Israel’s construction of settlements in the occupied territories, a war crime.
However, on Monday, Emanuele Giaufret, the EU ambassador in Tel Aviv,
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Kenya: Ex-president Fined €9 million for Land Grab |
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By :Brian Wasuna and Richard Munguti, Daily Nation |
| 18 May 2019 |
Ex-president Moi ordered to pay widow Sh1bn [€8,853,030] for grabbed land
On 21 September 1983, former President Daniel arap Moi forcibly took over a 53-acre piece of land owned by ex-chief Noah Kipngeny Chelugui through a scheme that involved ordering lands officials to make the necessary transfers to register the property,
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Al-Haq International Law Summer School 2019! |
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By :Al-Haq |
| 30 April 2019 |
24 June–8 July 2019
Al-Haq Center for Applied International Law is pleased to announce its Fifth International Law Summer School for post-graduate law students, legal researchers and professionals in the fields of international law and human rights. The training will take place over two weeks in Ramallah, occupied Palestinian territory
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Tibet: China Imprisons Local Land Defenders |
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By :Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) |
| 28 April 2019 |
Nine Tibetans sentenced up to 7 years in prison under China’s “organised crime” crackdown
A notice issued in February 2018 by the Tibet Autonomous Region Public Security Department had criminalised various human rights activities such as local activists espousing causes like economic freedom, right to livelihood, environmental protection, cultural freedom (Article
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DRC: Failed Agro-Industrial Park Model |
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By :Oakland Institute and HLRN |
| 25 April 2019 |
The Bukanga Lonzo Debacle: The Failure of Agro-Industrial Parks in DRC is a new report of the Oakland Institute that exposes the numerous land rights violations and human rights abuses, pollution and health hazards, misspent funds, charges of embezzlement and corruption, and legal action since the establishment and collapse of
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Women’s Land and Home--Uganda |
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By :HIC-HLRN and SSA:UHSNET |
| 15 April 2019 |
How—and how much—housing and land rights violations affect women
Dispossession, forced eviction and other land and housing rights violations can have a more-significant and differentiated impact on women, given that women are often more social and economically vulnerable than men. This is particularly true, as women often start out from a
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Waorani People Sue for Survival against Big Oil |
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By :Reynard Loki, Independent Media Institute |
| 11 April 2019 |
Indigenous peoples go to court to save the Amazon from oil company greed
On 27 February, hundreds of Indigenous Waorani elders, youth and leaders arrived in the city of Puyo, Ecuador. They left their homes deep in the Amazon rainforest to march peacefully through the streets, hold banners, sing songs and,
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India’s Unrelenting Forced-eviction Crisis |
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By :HLRN-India |
| 09 April 2019 |
New report highlights the unrelenting crisis of forced evictions, finds over 200,000 persons evicted in India in 2018. Over 114 houses demolished every day, 23 people evicted every hour.
On the eve of India’s General Elections, Housing and Land Rights Network India (HLRN) held a press conference in New Delhi today
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USA: Court Challenge to Israel’s Colonies |
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By :Mairav Zonszein, The Nation |
| 18 March 2019 |
In a First, Palestinians Challenge Israel’s Settlement Enterprise—in a US Court
The challenge comes in response to a case filed by Israeli settlers against Airbnb.
Randa Wahbe is a United States citizen with West Bank residency who is studying for a PhD in anthropology at Harvard University. Over the years, the 31-year-old
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Australia: Ngaliwurru & Nungali Native Title Ruling |
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By :RT |
| 15 March 2019 |
Australian Aboriginals to get billions in compensation for land & spiritual loss in landmark case
Aboriginals in Australia have won a ground-breaking case that paves the way for billions of dollars in compensation claims for colonial land loss, as well as loss of spiritual connection.
The High Court of Australia ruled
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United Nations` Land and Conflict Guidance |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 15 March 2019 |
Competition and control over land are among the common root causes and subjects of conflict, as well as the underlying factors hindering recovery and durable peace. Meanwhile, land has not been adequately treated in conflict management and resolution. At the same, the land and conflict nexus is only becoming more
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Sahel: Displacement Crisis |
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By :UN News |
| 05 March 2019 |
Drastic deterioration in security across Burkina Faso as 70,000 flee their homes in past two months, UN warns
The landlocked West African country of Burkina Faso is facing “unprecedented” displacement, triggered by armed groups and intercommunal clashes, and exacerbated by long-term food insecurity, UN aid officials said on Tuesday.
According to the
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USA: Court Rules IFC Not Immune |
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By :Diane Desierto, European Journal of International Law blog |
| 28 February 2019 |
SCOTUS decision in Jam et al v. International Finance Corporation (IFC) denies absolute immunity to IFC…with caveats
When it rains, it somehow pours.
February 2019 ended up being such a landmark month for international law adjudication. A day after the International Court of Justice released its landmark Chagos Advisory Opinion (finely discussed by
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Indian Court Orders Eviction of 1 Million Tribals |
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By :Rahul Bedi, The Telegraph |
| 22 February 2019 |
Indian Supreme Court orders eviction of 1 million tribal forest dwellers
NEW DELHI—India’s Supreme Court has ordered the eviction of over 1.1 million tribal and other traditional forest dwellers, after it recently rejected their ancient ownership claims on jungle land.
Experts estimate that the 20 February legal fiat could result in
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Petition to Stop Land Grabbing in Sierra Leone |
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By :Okland Institute |
| 21 February 2019 |
Stop the criminalisation of land rights defenders!
Oakland, CA—One month after violent incidents in the SOCFIN plantations in Sierra Leone leading to brutal repression by security forces, the death of two people and 15 people arrested, Sierra Leonean and international civil society organisations urge the government of Sierra Leone and the
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Fighting Displaces 100K in Burkina Faso |
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By :Reuters |
| 19 February 2019 |
UN: Fighting, Instability Have Displaced 100,000 in Burkina Faso
GENEVA—More than 100,000 people have been displaced by factional fighting and lawlessness in Burkina Faso, most within the past two months, according to a U.N. report published Tuesday.
"Burkina Faso is, for the first time in its history, facing massive internal displacement,"
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Palestine/Israel: Fake Justices |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 13 February 2019 |
In early September 2018, after years of legal proceedings, the justices of Israel’s High Court determined there was no legal obstacle to demolishing the structures in the community of al-Khan al-Ahmar, located about two kilometers south of the Jerusalem-choking Kfar Adumim settler colony. The Court delivered that conclusion as the
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Zim: CSOs Pose Resolving Govt Displacements |
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By :Tatenda Chitagu, newsday |
| 13 February 2019 |
The Zimbabwe People’s Land Rights Movement (ZPLRM), a member of the Habitat International Coalition (HIC), has slammed government over planned displacements of thousands of villagers across the country and urged President Emmerson Mnangagwa to walk his talk over the irreversibility of the land reform programme.
HIC is an independent international coalition
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EU-Morocco Fishery Accord Violates Law—Again |
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By :The Greens-European Free Alliance |
| 12 February 2019 |
EU-Morocco fisheries agreement violates international humanitarian law and denies self-determination of Western Sahara people.
Today, Members of the European Parliament voted in favour of the planned fisheries agreement between the European Union and Morocco. The vast majority of the catches under this agreement are however to take place to the waters
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AU Summit on Displacement Crisis |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 09 February 2019 |
Already 55 years ago, the Organization of African States was born with the purpose of peace and unity in what is now the African Union (AU), the largest regional organization on earth. This year, the 32nd regular annual AU summit at Addis Ababa (10–11 February 2019) focuses on another distinguishing
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Israel/Palestine: Tourism Accommodates War Crime |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 31 January 2019 |
The Israeli colonies in occupied Palestine constitute a war crime and crime against humanity. They form elements of the serious crime of population transfer, as codified in the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court, and which previously was prosecuted at the International Military Tribunals at Nuremburg and Tokyo. The
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USA: Gov`t. Shutdown Could Evict Millions |
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By :Jeff Andrews, Curbed |
| 07 January 2019 |
Funding for HUD’s rental assistance programs would lapse if shutdown drags on
Entering its third week, and with no end in sight, the partial federal government shutdown is putting millions of low-income tenants who depend on funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at risk.
On January 4, HUD
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S A: Reviews Land-Expropriation Bill |
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By :Linda Ensor, BusinessDay |
| 24 December 2018 |
The draft Expropriation Bill gazetted by public works minister Thulas Nxesi last week for public comment was a disappointment and would not accelerate land reform, the Land Access Movement of SA (Lamosa) said.
It believes the proposed legislation lacks justice and provides no equity for homeland dwellers.
Lamosa, a federation of rural
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Zuma Complicit in Zimbabwe Land Grabs |
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By :Chris Bateman, Biznews |
| 19 December 2018 |
CAPE TOWN — They say it takes a strong constitution to become a country’s president, but it also takes a strong Constitution to bring to account an almost omnipotent president. Or former president, shall we say. One who came to believe that he could get away with almost anything once
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Israel Court OKs Evicting 700 Jlem Palestinians |
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By :Middle East Monitor |
| 22 November 2018 |
The Israeli Supreme Court yesterday rejected a petition submitted by 104 Palestinians against claims by a right-wing Israeli organisation paving the way for 700 Palestinians to be forced from their homes, Haaretz reported.
The 700 Palestinians, who make up 70 families, have been going through a legal battle to protect their
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UN Peasants’ Rights Declaration Adopted in GA |
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By :HLRN |
| 20 November 2018 |
NEW YORK—The UN General Assembly’s Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) passed a draft that would have the Assembly adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. This vote assures that the Declaration will enter the next edition of Human Rights:
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40-yr Struggle: Rights to Housing, Land and City |
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By :Álvaro Puertas Robina, Thomas Reuters Foundation |
| 12 November 2018 |
Are our global property rights still guaranteed? 40 years of global struggle for rights to housing, land and the city
Gentrification, forced evictions, lack of access to housing - these are all concepts familiar to us. They pose serious and real threats in all corners of the world and can violate
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Lebanon: Evicting Syrian Refugees |
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By :Nora Stel and Anke van der Meijden, Lebanese Center for Policy Studies |
| 24 October 2018 |
This article is based on a forthcoming policy paper examining the causes, characteristics, and consequences of the eviction of Syrian migrants and refugees from Riyak, Lebanon in 2017, in light of recent developments encouraging Syrian refugees to return to their home country.
Lebanon’s Eviction of Syrian Refugees and the Threat of
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Statement of the ICC on Palestine |
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By :ICC |
| 17 October 2018 |
Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, regarding the Situation in Palestine
I have been following with concern the planned eviction of the Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, in the West Bank. Evacuation by force now appears imminent, and with it the prospects for further escalation and
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Ethiopia Takes Land Back |
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By :Chiamaka Ihekwoaba, the nerve africa |
| 01 October 2018 |
Ethiopia has revoked a total of 412.6 hectares of land held by investors, including Ethiopian-born Saudi billionaire Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi for failure to create jobs and develop the city, as promised when the lands were awarded to them, head of Addis Ababa Land Bank Tesfaye Tilahun told the Voice of
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UNHRC Adopts Peasant Rights Declaration |
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By :La Via Campesina |
| 30 September 2018 |
UN Human Rights Council passes a resolution adopting the peasant rights declaration in Geneva
GENEVA—Seventeen years of long and arduous negotiations later, peasants and other people working in rural areas are only a step away from having a UN Declaration that could defend and protect their rights to land, seeds, biodiversity, local
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Ecuador: Chevron to Pay for Environmental Damage |
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By :Mongabay |
| 14 August 2018 |
Chevron must pay for environmental damage in Ecuador, Constitution Court rules
The Constitutional Court of Ecuador has issued a long-awaited ruling in favor of those affected by the transnational oil company Chevron, which operated through its subsidiary Texaco in Ecuador between 1964 and 1990. The court rejected the protection action that
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Evicted Apaa Residents Accuse UN of Neglect |
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By :Witness radio |
| 07 August 2018 |
Gulu. Hundreds of locals who have for the last one month camped at the UN premises in Gulu Municipality seeking its intervention over the ongoing evictions in Apaa Village, Itirikwa Sub-county, Adjumani District have accused UN officials of neglect.
The locals say since July 11 when they issued a letter to
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Myanmar: Struggles against Grabbing Fortress |
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By :Rina Chandran, reuters |
| 06 August 2018 |
BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Saw Ma Bu’s family has lived in the mountainous forests of Myanmar’s Kayin state for generations, farming and fishing in the Salween river, even as a decades-long armed conflict raged in the region.
Now, he says, they fear their way of life is under threat as
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Tanzania: Losing the Serengeti |
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By :The Oakland Institute |
| 02 August 2018 |
OAKLAND CA—Today, the Oakland Institute releases Kuipoteza Serengeti, Ardhi Ya Wamasai Iliyopaswa Kudumu Milele, a Kiswahili translation of the report Losing the Serengeti: The Maasai Land that was to Run Forever.
Based on field research, never publicly-seen-before documents, and an in-depth investigation into Tanzania’s land laws, the report reveals how Tanzania’s
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Kenya: Kibera Demolitions Begin |
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By :Julius Otieno, Star; Josphat Thiong`o, Standard Digital |
| 24 July 2018 |
Anguish as houses demolished to pave way for Kibera link road
23 July 2018
Julius Otieno, Star
Human rights activists have accused Kenya Urban Roads Authority of violating the agreement that would have seen victim of Kibera evicted in a humane way.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has in this regard called
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Uganda: Amuru Land Grab Apaa Village Evictions |
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By :Minbane.wordpress.com |
| 20 July 2018 |
That the Northern Uganda have been in deep end of the stick in many eyes is evident, by how lax the state has been to take care of their needs and their rights. That can now be proven by the forceful evictions from land in Apaa Village in Amuru District/Adjumani
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Palestine: Israel’s Demolishing Khan al-Ahmar |
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By :Akram Al-Wa`ra, Mondoweiss |
| 05 July 2018 |
Despite international condemnations, Israel prepares to demolish Khan al-Ahmar
KHAN AL-AHMAR, occupied West Bank, Palestine—Scenes of destruction and despair spread over the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar on Wednesday, as armed Israeli forces arrived at the village’s entrance with bulldozers.
The nightmare that the village’s 200 residents had feared for over
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Puerto Rico: Parasites in Paradise |
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By :Democracy Now |
| 06 June 2018 |
Puerto Rico continues to recover from Hurricane Maria as it commemorates 120 years of US occupation (since 1898). In the ongoing post-disaster phase, the island Is becoming a “playground for the privileged,” where disaster-capitalist investors move in as homes foreclose and schools close.
While healthcare, the public school system and infrastructure
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Tanzania: Maasai Losing Lands to Tourism |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 25 May 2018 |
The indigenous Maasai people of Tanzania face appalling levels of human rights abuses, including intimidation, violent evictions, arrests, beatings, and starvation, by the Tanzanian government and some of the safari businesses that operate in the country, the Oakland Institute said today in a new report.
· In the past year, tens
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Another Mozambique Land Grab |
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By :Timothy A. Wise, Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute |
| 23 May 2018 |
Growing Resistance: The Rise and Fall of Another Mozambique Land Grab
The rice fields of Xai-Xai, three hours up the coast from Maputo, are vast, coming into view as we descended onto the alluvial plain from the villages that dot the hills above. They stretch across the plains toward the Indian Ocean
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Unearthing Truths: Israel, Nakba and JNF |
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By :The Editors of Moving Forward |
| 01 May 2018 |
The monthly Moving Forward is published with support from Jews Say No! That organization engages in community education, street theatre, and organizing to make their members’ voices heard in Jewish communities and as partners in the broader movement for justice in Palestine/Israel. The following article is the editorial to Moving
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30 Cities Join Global Sur and Hasankeyf Action Day |
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By :Platform No to the Destruction of Sur, Istanbul Sur Solidarity, Mesopotamia Ecology Movement, and Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive |
| 30 April 2018 |
DIYARBAKIR / AMED—As part of the Global Sur and Hasankeyf Action Day in almost 30 cities, actions have been organized on 28 April 2018. Activists and civil organization raised awareness on the ongoing destruction of the two antique cities Sur and Hasankeyf at the Tigris River in North (Turkish) Kurdistan.
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Five Alarming Land Grabbing Cases |
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By :iwgia.org |
| 19 April 2018 |
Extractive industries remain a concrete threat to indigenous communities and this year`s The Indigenous World 2018 describes many cases of land grabbing from indigenous peoples. In this article we take a closer look at some of the examples.
In many countries forced evictions and land grabbing in the name of conservation, development
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Right to the City in Greater Beirut |
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By :HIC-HLRN and Amel Association |
| 14 April 2018 |
HLRN has just released its new publication Right to the City in Greater Beirut: Context Assessment in Light of the Refugee and Displacement Crisis. This assessment offers critical insight into municipal governance in Greater Beirut, a city largely formed and characterized by human migration through its history, while more recently
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Myanmar: Rohingyas’ 13 Demands for Return |
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By :The Star (Petaling Jaya)/AP |
| 13 April 2018 |
Rohingya give Myanmar official list of demands for repatriation
DHAKA—A Myanmar Cabinet minister visited a sprawling refugee camp in Bangladesh for Rohingya Muslims, who described the violence that forced them to flee Myanmar and presented a list of demands for their repatriation.
Social Welfare Minister Win Myat Aye on Wednesday met
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Kashmir: Land Dispute behind Girl’s Rape, Murder |
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By :Aijaz Hussain and Muneeza Naqvi, Associated Press |
| 12 April 2018 |
Rape and murder of Kashmiri – girls in religious policy
SRINAGAR (Indian-occupied Kashmir)—The girl, just 8 years old, grazes the ponies of her family on a cold January day in the forests of the Himalayan foothills when she was kidnapped. Her raped and mutilated body was found in the woods
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Land Day: 17 Fallen in 2018, as the 6 in 1976 |
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By :Al-Arabiya net |
| 30 March 2018 |
In Palestine, "the Return March" is emerging, and Israel is killing the demonstrators. Three thousand occupation soldiers deployed in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip with orders to fire live bullets. Thousands of Palestinians marched Friday near the border between Gaza and Israel in a protest march called
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USA: Alaska Natives Continue Land Fight |
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By :Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News |
| 27 March 2018 |
Alaska’s landless communities continue fight for land
Representatives of five Southeast Alaska communities continue their fight for recognition under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. But they’re still facing opposition.
It’s been almost a half-century since Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which created more than 200 corporations with land,
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Land Haunts Germany`s Namibia Genocides |
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By :Joe Brock, Reuters |
| 07 March 2018 |
Land haunts Germany`s effort to atone for Africa genocide
OKAHANDJA, Namibia—Namibia’s Herero people are heartened that Germany is keen to atone for the genocide of their ancestors, but they expect something Berlin says it is not in a position to give.
“What we want is our land,” said 74-year-old Alex Kaubtauuapela, whose
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South Africa: Confiscating White Farmers` Lands |
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By :The Independent |
| 01 March 2018 |
South Africa‘s parliament has passed a motion that could lead to the seizure of land from white farmers without paying them compensation.
Passed by an overwhelming majority of 241 votes to 83 votes against, the proposal to amend Section 25 of the constitution would allow expropriation of land without any financial
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1st Arab Conference on Land Governance |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 28 February 2018 |
Dubai Land Department announces the conclusion of the first Arab land governance conference
The conference, organized in partnership with the World Bank, the Global Land Tool Network, UN-HABITAT, the League of Arab States and the Arab Surveying Association, was attended by more than 300 participants, representing several regional and international bodies.
Dubai
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Peru: Shipibo-Konibo Forced from Forest to Slum |
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By :Jack Guy, Editing by Anastasia Moloney and Ellen Wulfhorst, Thomson Reuters Foundation |
| 20 February 2018 |
Forced from rainforest, Peruvian tribe faces new woes in Lima slum
LIMA—Wedged between the rubbish-choked Rimac River and lanes of traffic belching fumes, the Cantagallo slum in downtown Lima is a far cry from the Amazon rainforest land that the Shipibo-Konibo people were forced to flee two decades ago.
Hundreds of
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Peru: Chaparrí Land Defender Tortured, Killed |
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By :Dan Collyns, The Guardian |
| 14 February 2018 |
José Napoleón Tarrillo Astonitas murdered for opposing land traffickers seeking to clear land in the Chaparrí Ecological Reserve, say local witnesses
A criminal gang involved in land trafficking has tortured and murdered a community leader in northern Peru, according to his wife and local villagers who witnessed the killing.
José Napoleón Tarrillo
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South Africa: The Great Land Grab Cover-up |
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By :Michelle Hay, Land and Accountability Research Center |
| 05 February 2018 |
The great land grab cover- up: how the government is helping chiefs and mining companies to steal your land
You’re sitting at home, minding your own business, reading the news on your phone. If you are part of an unfortunate 30% of the population, you could, at any time, get a
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Tanzania: Gov`t Seeks to Demolish 1,200 Homes |
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By :IPPMedia.com |
| 02 February 2018 |
Advice given by World Bank to government officials against demolishing over 1,200 houses between Ubungo and Kimara suburbs of Dar es Salaam to pave way for a six-lane highway has saved them from losing their houses.
The over 8,000 residents who had already been served with letters by Tanzania Roads Agency
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England: Locals` Concern over Home Demolition |
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By :Jo Taylor and Nic Rigby, BBC |
| 27 January 2018 |
Genesis Housing Association is considering the future of Alexandra Court in Southend, which could see it torn down and a new block built in its place with double the number of flats.
One woman spoke of her dismay after being told it was her "home for life."
Genesis has assured tenants they
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China’s OBOR Project Dispossesses, Displaces Tibetans |
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By :David Brewster, Inside Policy |
| 24 January 2018 |
China’s Belt and Road Initiative will result in important strategic consequence for the countries of South Asia, writes David Brewster. But its impact on China itself should not be ignored.
In geopolitical terms, South Asia has long functioned like an island, nominally attached to Eurasia but not really part of it.
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Canada to Monitor Its TNC Conduct Abroad |
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By :Nicole Mordant, Reuters |
| 18 January 2018 |
Canada said on Wednesday it is creating an independent watchdog to monitor and investigate claims of human rights abuses by its companies operating abroad, describing it as the first initiative of its kind in the world.
The body, which will initially target the mining, oil and gas, and garment sectors, will
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Czechia: Roma Forcibly Evicted in Brno |
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By :Michaela Pa , Brno Daily |
| 17 January 2018 |
About a year ago, one hundred families living in houses owned by a private company on Bratislavská, Vlhká and Francouzská streets were informed that their rent leases will not be renewed. In response, the desperate tenants and citizens’ initiative “Chceme bydlet!” organized a street demonstration.
After intense negotiations between the firm
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Belgium Supports UNRWA as USA Defunds |
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By :Haaretz |
| 17 January 2018 |
Belgium has stepped in to help out the UN Agency assisting Palestinian refugees with an immediate disbursement of $23 million Wednesday a day after the Trump administration suspended $65 million in aid for the international organization.
Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Wednesday that "for a lot of
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Philippines: Demolition Looms for 200 Households |
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By :Antoinette O. Marquito, Philstar |
| 09 January 2018 |
CEBU, Philippines — About 200 families in Sitio Tangke, Barangay Mambaling will lose their homes after the court ordered the demolition of their houses because the owner will utilize the lot.
The demolition started yesterday and there was no resistance or commotion.
But Janny Anter, president of Panaghugpong-Kadamay, a homeowners’ association in
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South Africa: Constitution-based Land Restitution? |
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By :Alet Janse van Rensburg, news24 |
| 20 December 2017 |
ANC`s land expropriation decision an admission of its own failures
The ANC’s decision at its national conference to go ahead with the expropriation of land without compensation is an admission of its own failure to pursue real land distribution, experts say.
The ruling party announced on Wednesday evening that its committee on
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Brazil: Solidarity against Landless Camp Evictions |
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By :MST and Via Campesina |
| 14 December 2017 |
An aggressive attack is being waged against Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), the Landless Workers Movement, in the northern State of Pará, Brazil.
Large-scale landowners along with local judicial authorities, mainstream media and the Brazilian military police are targeting MST camps throughout the country. In Marabá, located in the
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China: Beijing House Demolitions Spark Rare Street Protests |
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By :Emily Feng and Charles Clover, Financial Times |
| 12 December 2017 |
Aggressive Chinese eviction methods fuel anger among residents forced from rented homes
Fear and cold stalk the streets of Feijia, a north-eastern suburb of Beijing that is to be largely demolished on Friday, leaving hundreds of migrant families potentially homeless in winter.
Leaflets scattered across Feijia’s main street depict photos of masked
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Myanmar: At Least 800K Rohingya Flee |
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By :Reuters |
| 17 November 2017 |
The following article series follows the Rohingya flight as it has grown since August 2017. According to UN OCHA, As of 4 October 2017, Bangladesh hosts more than 800,000 Rohingya refugees, and this number continues to increase daily. Before this crisis began, the country was already hosting a verified population
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Nigeria: 30K Evicted, Defying Court |
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By :Amnesty International |
| 14 November 2017 |
Deadly mass forced evictions make life misery for waterfront communities
Over 30,000 forcibly evicted from settlements in Lagos state in defiance of court orders
11 people unlawfully killed and at least 17 missing after violent evictions by security forces and unidentified armed men
300,000 others are under threat of further forced evictions
Evicted residents
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Out of Africa: Human Rights Habitat Struggles |
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By :Marie Huchzermeyer, CUBES/Wits Univ. and Joseph Schechla, HLRN |
| 07 November 2017 |
From Africa to the World: Struggling for Human Rights to Housing, Land and the City
Mid-October 2017, Nairobi was host to an intense engagement on housing rights, social justice and the right to the city. This was amid political turmoil in Kenyan towns and cities, and unrelated to this but largely
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New Report: India`s Farm Widows |
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By :HLRN-India and Prakriti Resource Centre for Women and Development |
| 15 October 2017 |
Report on farm widows of Maharashtra highlights human rights violations
recommends urgent state intervention to prevent social and economic exclusion
NEW DELHI—A study released today by Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) India (New Delhi), and Prakriti Resource Centre for Women and Development (Nagpur) reveals the acute vulnerability of farm widows
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Peru: Six Land Defenders Shot Dead |
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By :Dan Collyns, The Guardian |
| 07 September 2017 |
The victims were targeted by a criminal gang who wanted to use their lands to grow lucrative palm oil, according to local indigenous leaders
Six farmers have been shot dead by a criminal gang who wanted to seize their farms to muscle in on the lucrative palm oil trade, according
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The Cost of Land Grabbing in Mozambique |
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By :Burag Gurden, Pambazuka News |
| 31 August 2017 |
The cost of land grabbing in Mozambique`s Tete Province
Tete Province is very rich in coal. An estimated 23 billion tons of mostly untapped coal lies beneath Tete. It is expected to become the region’s energy powerhouse built on coal and hydroelectricity. However, local farmer communities have been on the losing
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Tanzania: Forced Evictions of Loliondo Maasai |
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By :Chris Lang, Conservation Watch |
| 30 August 2017 |
“Forced evictions of Maasai people in Loliondo, Tanzania”: Urgent Alert from the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs
The International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) last week put out a short report about the violent evictions of Maasai pastoralists in Loliondo, Tanzania.
According to reliable information received by IWGIA, forced and
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USA: Seniors Suffer with Reverse Mortgages |
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By :Jenifer McKim, The Washington Post |
| 25 August 2017 |
More seniors are taking loans against their homes—and it’s costing them
As she was getting on in years and her resources dwindled, Virginia Rayford took out a special kind of mortgage in 2008 that she hoped would help her stay in her three-bedroom Washington rowhouse for the rest of her life.
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UN Reports on Rakhine Living Conditions |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 23 August 2017 |
After one year of consultations held across Rakhine State (Myanmar) and in other parts of the country and the region, the UN’s Advisory Commission on Rakhine State submitted its final report to national authorities on 23 August.
The Commission, chaired by Kofi Annan, has put forward recommendations to surmount the
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Global Peasant Movement Convene at Bilbao |
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By :Huffington Post |
| 28 July 2017 |
Global Peasant Movement Assesses and Responds to a Heated Political Moment
Four years ago, La Vía Campesina brought its peasant activists from around the world to Jakarta for its VI International Conference. The gathering was held in a padepokan, a Javanese center reserved for the teaching and exchanging of knowledge and
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No SDGs without Major Progress on Land |
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By :Luca Chinotti, International Land Coalition |
| 28 July 2017 |
Land and the SDGs: Key takeaways from the 2017 HLPF and what we need to do next
This was the clear and strong message that was brought by the land community into the major global forum on the SDGs, the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), which is the central platform for
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Nigeria: Forced Evictions in Badia-East (Lagos) |
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By :Spaces for Youth Development and Social Change |
| 15 June 2017 |
Spaces for Change NGO Staff Arrested, Released
LAGOS—A Task Force squad comprising demolition agents of the Lagos State Government and scores of heavily-armed security operatives invaded Badia-East this morning, Thursday, June 15, 2017. With the aid of bulldozers, sledge hammers, iron bars, and earth-moving equipment, they levelled all the structures in
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China Evicts More Tibetan Nomads for “Development” |
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By :RFA |
| 15 June 2017 |
Tibetan nomads forced from resettlement towns to make way for development
Tibetan nomads previously forced from traditional grazing lands in a state-directed resettlement scheme in Qinghai are now being told to go back, as authorities begin to target their current homes for development as tourist centers and housing for government employees,
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India: Landless Women Attacked in Odisha |
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By :Ranjana Padhi, The Wire |
| 02 May 2017 |
The powers that be in Sipasarubali, Odisha work to take over forest land to build a beach resort, villagers who are trying to fight them are under attack.
Puri, Odisha: On April 28, a friend and I went to Gola and Gopinathpur villages in Odisha to meet activists who, in the early 1990s, had
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Toward a UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants |
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By :La via Campesina |
| 09 March 2017 |
The need for a UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other People Working in Rural Areas is all the more urgent and evident in the 21st century. Despite years of campaigning for a better recognition and protection of the rights of peasants, displacements and criminalization continue affecting hundreds
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Cambodia: Land Grabs, Defender Jailed |
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By :Prak Chan Thul and Alisa Tang, The Japan Times |
| 25 February 2017 |
Amid land grabs and evictions, Cambodia jails leading activist
PHNOM PENH—Even before a Cambodian judge sentenced land rights activist Tep Vanny to prison, her fellow campaigners said her fate had already been sealed.
Vanny, who fought the evictions of thousands of residents from lakeside land in Phnom Penh to make way for
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South Africa: Vengeful Burning of Migrant Homes |
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By :Lynsey Chutel, QZ.com |
| 21 February 2017 |
African migrants in South Africa are in fear for their lives—again
Once again, there are signs of growing xenophobia in South Africa. Despite the lives lost in previous waves of violence, the country has still not learned this painful lesson.
It’s a familiar escalating narrative: vigilante groups accuse foreign migrants of local
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Report: Forced Evictions Fuel Land Disputes |
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By :Kieran Guilbert, Rights Resources |
| 09 February 2017 |
DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Forced evictions of local communities from their lands by foreign companies fuel around two-thirds of land ownership disputes across Africa, often sparking strikes or violence which can prove costly to investors, activists said on Thursday.
Pushing people off their land drives more conflict over land rights
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Palestine UNSR Urges SC to End Colonies |
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By :OHCHR |
| 03 February 2017 |
West Bank: United Nations Special Rapporteur urges the security council to stop illegal settlements
GENEVA—United Nations Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk has called on the United Nations Security Council and the General Assembly to explore effective diplomatic and political measures to ensure Israeli compliance with Security Council resolution 2334, which
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Colombia: Seeking Justice from Chiquita Banana Wars |
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By :Matt Kennard and Nick MacWilliam, In These Times |
| 27 January 2017 |
Chiquita made a killing from Colombia’s civil war. Will their victims finally see justice? A long-running case against the banana giant is moving forward in U.S. court.
Getting an interview with Anabel (not her real name) is not easy. In Colombia, witnessing paramilitary violence against your family generally means you keep
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Namibians Sue Germany for Land Grab, Genocide |
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By :Al Jazeera |
| 06 January 2017 |
The Ovaherero and Nama people of Namibia launch lawsuit against Germany for alleged land theft and killing of 100,000 people more than 100 years ago.
Two indigenous groups in Namibia have filed a lawsuit against Germany, accusing it of genocide committed by colonial rulers more than a century ago.
The suit was filed
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Brazil: Eucalyptus War on Quilombo Lands |
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By :Luisa Torre and Patrik Camporez Macao, Al Jazeera |
| 05 January 2017 |
Brazil`s quilombos face eucalyptus giant in land war. "They stole our forests and our water. We took our medicine from the forest. Now, they put police and dogs at our door."
ESPIRITO SANTO, Brazil—In Sape do Norte, in the far north of Espirito Santo, Brazil, 32 communities refer to the 111,000 hectares
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UNSC Votes to End Israeli Settler Colonies |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 24 December 2016 |
It was the first time in eight years that the UN Security Council had passed a resolution condemning Israel’s illegal construction of settler colonies in occupied Palestine. The vote came on Friday, following an unprecedented intervention of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that had U.S. President-elect Donald Trump "advising" Egyptian
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India: Over 33K Homes Demolished in 2015–16 |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 22 December 2016 |
Over 33,000 homes demolished in urban India between 2015 and 2016
New Delhi—Data collected by Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) reveals that public authorities in India, in both the central and state spheres of government, forcibly have evicted at least 33,257 families across urban centers between January 2015 and December
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ECJ Rejects Morocco`s Western Sahara Claim |
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By :Dominic Dudley, Forbes |
| 21 December 2016 |
European Court of Justice dismisses Morocco`s claim to Western Sahara, throwing EU trade deal into doubt. The ruling on the bloc`s trade deals with Morocco means they do not apply to Western Sahara, which occupied territory is notable for its fish stocks, mineral extraction, agricultural exports and potential oil reserves.
Morocco’s
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Myanmar: AI Reports “crimes against humanity” |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 19 December 2016 |
A new report by Amnesty International (AI) documents a campaign of violence by the Myanmar security forces against Rohingya since 9 October 2016. Soldiers and police have randomly fired on and killed civilians, raped women and girls, torched whole villages and arbitrarily arrested Rohingya men without any information about their
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Mexico: Ranchers, Indigenous Contest Land |
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By :Tracy Barnett, Thomas Reuters Foundation |
| 19 December 2016 |
Both sides say the government is responsible for the dispute in Mexico`s Sierra Madre mountain range - but the government won`t get involved
LA YESCA, Mexico—Audelina Villagrana has run her ranch in Mexico`s Western Sierra Madre Mountains on her own since the death of her husband 23 years ago, herding livestock,
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World Bank: Gaza Water Crisis, Irreversible Damage |
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By :Amira Haas, Haaretz |
| 18 December 2016 |
The World Bank acknowledges there is a water crisis in the Gaza Strip, but it blames overpumping—not the Israeli occupation. For information of Israel’s preemptive pumping of Gaza’s aquifer, see Sustainable Management of the West Bank and Gaza Strip Aquifers (SUSMAQ) report المياه العابرة للحدود (2004) and map Land Times/أحوال
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Portugal: Statement by the SRs on Water& Housing |
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By :UN news |
| 13 December 2016 |
As the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the right to adequate housing and the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, we address you today at the conclusion of our joint official visit to Portugal, which we undertook at the invitation of the Government from 5 to 13 December
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Most New Yorkers on Edge of Homelessness |
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By :Amy Zimmer, DNAinfo |
| 25 November 2016 |
Most New Yorkers are roughly 1 paycheck away from homelessness, according to a new study.
More than half of all New Yorkers are teetering on the brink of homelessness — without enough cash in the bank to cover them in the event of a disaster or lost job, a troubling new
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Resisting Reed: Atlanta’s Peoplestown v. Mayor |
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By :Atlanta Progressive News |
| 24 November 2016 |
This Thanksgiving Day, Mayor Kasim Reed is thankful for eminent domain. Meanwhile, Peoplestown residents fight back.
ATLANTA—On Monday, November 21, 2016, the Housing Justice League, along with twenty residents from Atlanta’s Peoplestown community, tried to hand deliver a petition with over 6,000 signatures to Mayor Kasim Reed, asking him to stop
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Nigerian King Sues Shell in London |
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By :Alice Ritchie, Phys.org |
| 22 November 2016 |
Nigerian tribal king Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi has flown to London for a High Court hearing in which lawyers for more than 40,000 Nigerians are demanding action from Shell to clean up oil spills
King Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi holds up a plastic bottle containing contaminated water from his community
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Nigeria: UNSR Addresses “Brutal” Eviction of 30K |
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By :OHCHR |
| 17 November 2016 |
GENEVA—A United Nations human rights expert has asked the Government of Nigeria for an urgent explanation of the forced eviction of 30,000 people in Lagos State in the last week. Four people are reported to have died in the latest operation to clear irregular developments along the State’s
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USA: Oakland`s “Mega-evictor” |
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By :Sam Levin, The Guardian |
| 11 November 2016 |
The landlord who filed over 3,000 eviction notices. Pro-tenant group says a landlord who has a seat on Oakland’s housing cabinet is also the top evictor in the city, where a housing crunch has reached crisis levels
Leketha Williams was out of options. When the Oakland, California, mother was evicted and
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Myanmar: Kayin Farmers Fighting Land Grabs |
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By :Su Phyo Win and Myat Nyein Aye, Myanmar Times |
| 04 November 2016 |
Kayin State villagers are losing their land and are routinely persecuted through threats, arson and arbitrary arrest if they attempt to fight the unlawful seizures, according to a report released by an international rights group yesterday.
Around 70 percent of the people in Kayin State rely on land for their livelihood,
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Alternative Forums outside of Habitat III |
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By :Gregory Scruggs, Citiscope |
| 14 October 2016 |
Even as governments adopt the New Urban Agenda next week, multiple groups plan protests and contrary discussions.
A large crowd gathers at the Urban Social Forum in Rio de Janeiro, which took place as an alternative to the World Urban Forum in March 2010. More such events are expected at next
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Nigeria: When They Bulldozed, She Fought Back |
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By :Betty Abah and Elaine Zuckerman, Ms. magazine |
| 03 October 2016 |
Bimbo, 57 and a mother of four, grew up in Makoko, Lagos Nigeria’s largest slum, married, and established a thriving soft drink business in boisterous Badia East, another Lagos slum. Her life was upturned when the World Bank-financed Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance Project bulldozed Badia East in 2013 without notice.
The “urban
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US: Protests of Native Community on Water |
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By :Mary Annette Pember, indiancountrytodaymedianetwork |
| 28 September 2016 |
Benjamin Conrad, 20, only brings out his grandfather’s war bonnet for special occasions. Today was such a day.
Conrad of the Northern Arapaho, Choctaw and Creek tribes joined about 300 water protectors in a peaceful direct action opposing continued construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline under the Missouri River near the
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England: Record Evictions by Private Landlords |
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By :Patrick Butler, The Guardian |
| 28 September 2016 |
End of an assured shorthold tenancy cited by nearly a third of newly homeless households, figures show
Record numbers of families are becoming homeless after being evicted by private landlords and finding themselves unable to afford a suitable alternative place to live, government figures show.
The end of an assured shorthold tenancy
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Murder and Eviction: New Era of Global Land Rush |
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By :Oxfam international |
| 26 September 2016 |
Millions of people face being displaced from their homes as new data shows land sales covering an area the size of Germany are now under contract, warns Oxfam.
Seventy-five percent of the more than 1500 land deals sought over the last sixteen years now have contracts and their intended projects are getting
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Sri Lanka: Land Grab, Eviction of Fisherfolk |
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By :Oxfam International |
| 26 September 2016 |
In 2010, 350 families of farmers and fisherfolk living in Paanama, a coastal village in the east of Sri Lanka, were forcibly and violently evicted from lands they had cultivated and lived on for over forty years. These lands were taken over by the military to establish camps, and they
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South African Court Halts Eviction |
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By :Public Interest Law Alliance (PILA) Bulletin |
| 14 September 2016 |
South African Constitutional Court orders “meaningful engagement” in urgent forced eviction
The South African Constitutional Court has extended the Olivia Road case to urgent forced evictions, requiring meaningful engagement between the local authority and tenants—or occupiers in this case—before eviction can be deemed constitutional under the right to housing.
The applicants, amounting
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Thailand: Karens to Appeal Eviction Verdict |
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By :Forest Peoples Programme |
| 13 September 2016 |
Karens to appeal court verdict legalizing their forced evictions; indigenous organizations call for effective redress
Karen representatives today vowed to appeal against the recent Thai court verdict that ruled the authorities did not break the law in burning their properties to forcefully evict them from Kaeng Krachan National Park. Indigenous rights
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Kenya: Courts Stops Kibera Nubian Eviction |
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By :KBC Reporters |
| 31 August 2016 |
The High Court has temporarily barred Kenya Urban Roads Authority from evicting members of the Nubian community from their homes in Kibra constituency in Nairobi in order to pave way for construction of the Southern Bypass.
The community who are complainants in the case say the respondents did not follow
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Boston USA: Campaigning to Save Public Housing |
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By :NAHT |
| 22 August 2016 |
Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants (MAHT) spearheads campaign for City Vouchers to save our homes!
In response to Boston’s growing housing and homelessness crisis, MAHT is spearheading a broad coalition of housing and community groups to propose a city-funded voucher program. The program would provide “Housing First” for people experiencing homelessness in
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Kenya: Save School from Evictor |
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By :Victoria Green, thestar.co.ke |
| 08 August 2016 |
The governance of land, the most lucrative asset in Kenya, has become an impediment to the economic, political, and social development of Kenya and Kenyans. Large scale corruption in land governance is highlighted daily, from unfortunate family disputes to allegations of land grabbing by former officials and recently, Presidents.
Public institutions,
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World Bank Policies Imperil Land Defenders |
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By :Cyril Mychalejko, teleSUR |
| 04 August 2016 |
Just 5 months since the murder of Honduran environmental defender Berta Caceres, the Bank is passing new safeguards that do more harm than good.
The World Bank is expected to approve Thursday its new “Environmental and Social Framework” which civil society groups say weakens human rights protections and will likely endanger the very communities the safeguards are intended to protect.
At issue
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HIC Addresses Habitat III PrepCom3 |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 27 July 2016 |
The “New Urban Agenda,” from its inception, is inconsistent with historic agreements, today’s global priorities and the “world we need.” Particular interests have narrowed the Habitat Agenda to urban priorities, subordinated rural areas and ignored issues of forced migration, presuming that urbanization is “inevitable” and beyond human will or policy
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China: Profiting from Confiscated Tibetan Lands |
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By :Radio Free Asia |
| 11 July 2016 |
In the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China is confiscating lands at a low price and then reselling at a profit to Chinese developers. Newly built apartments in these lands are then sold back at high prices to the Tibetans from whom the land was first taken. The
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Israel: Water as a Tool to Dominate Palestinians |
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By :Camilla Corradin, Al Jazeera |
| 20 June 2016 |
Israel deliberately denies Palestinians control over their water sources and sets the ground for water domination.
Occupied West Bank—As temperatures rise and summer months approach, yet again this year, thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are being deprived of their most basic need - access to water - as
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Standing up to TNC Land Grab in Sierra Leone |
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By :HLRN |
| 16 June 2016 |
HLRN has joined over 40 civil society organizations to express deep concern over the impact of a monoculture agricultural project that involves the dispossession of the people living in Malen Chiefdom, Pujehun District in Sierra Leone.
The project is the subject of an investment by SOCFIN Agricultural Company Sierra Leone Ltd.
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Zimbabwe Diamond-displaced Villagers Seek Help |
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By :Reuters |
| 13 June 2016 |
Zimbabwe Villagers Displaced by Diamond Mining Seek Government Help. More than 1,000 families were moved from their village in 2009.
MUTARE, Zimbabwe—Villagers relocated to a sprawling government-owned farm complex in eastern Zimbabwe to make way for the nation’s biggest diamond field are hoping that President Robert Mugabe’s move to take control
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Brazil: Guarani & Kaiowá Face Forced Eviction |
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By :FIAN International |
| 12 June 2016 |
With no access to their legitimate territory, the members of the Guarani and Kaiowá Apyka`i community will be prevented from exercising their fundamental rights as indigenous peoples, including feeding themselves adequately.
Despite intensive and coordinated international action, the sentence by the 1st Federal Court of Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul has followed
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Nigeria: Herdsmen, Land Use and Human Rights |
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By :Spaces 4 Change |
| 01 June 2016 |
Fulani herdsmen, herdsmen, hoodlums, intruders from Chad and neighbouring countries, or whatever appellation ascribed to their murderous activities, these names emit fumes of terror, anguish and fear. The fear they evoke is well founded. What started out as recurrent violent clashes between nomadic herdsmen and their host farming communities in
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Kenya: Bldgs. Demolished, 100s Homeless |
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By :AP |
| 06 May 2016 |
Nairobi—As emergency workers retrieved four bodies from a building that collapsed a week ago, bringing the death toll to 41, hundreds of Nairobi residents were evicted on Friday from nearby buildings that are being torn down to prevent other deadly disasters.
The demolitions began even as the rescuers continued digging the
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Counting Costs in Congo |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 01 May 2016 |
This week in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), thirty community leaders and field researchers from the villages of the Inga Valley met to consider their fate in view of the planned Inga3 project that proposes to inundate their communities. Organized locally by Association Droit et Developpement (ADEV) the communities’
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4 Tibetan Land Defenders Get Suspended Sentence |
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By :Tibetan Center for Rights and Democracy |
| 14 April 2016 |
Four Tibetan men have been given suspended jail sentences for petitioning against government confiscation of their land in Ka Bharma nomadic camp in Thangkor (Ch: Tangke) Township in Dzoege (Ch: Ruoergai) County, Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The four Tibetans are identified as Phurkho, Rinchen
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World Bank Accountability @ Spring Meetings |
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By :Oakland Institute |
| 12 April 2016 |
World Bank Accountability on Forced Resettlements Must be a Priority at Its Spring Meetings
Oakland, CA—World Bank accountability on forced resettlements resulting from its programs must be front and center at its spring meetings, taking place this week in Washington DC.
Between 2004 and 2013, nearly 3.4 million people were physically or economically
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Israeli Plunder of Palestinian Homes “Concerns” U.S. |
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By :David Alexander, Reuters |
| 02 April 2016 |
Crackdown on what Israel claims is illegal construction has already pitied Jerusalem against the EU, who funds some of the structures.
JERUSALEM—The United States is "concerned" about Israel`s demolition of Arab buildings in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, a State Department spokeswoman said on Friday, adding that it raised questions
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Iranians Buying up Land in War-torn Syria |
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By :Sirwan Kajjo and Mario Ritter, Voice of America |
| 27 March 2016 |
Iran’s government wants its builders to buy up property in Shi-ite majority neighborhoods of Syria’s capital, Damascus.
It is also asking construction workers to go to Syria.
This information comes from construction industry officials in Tehran and Iranian experts.
Iranian analyst Fariborz Saremi said owning real estate gives Iran more control over Syria
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Struggle in the City for Tibetan Nomads |
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By :Benjamin Haas, AFP |
| 23 March 2016 |
ABA (OCCUPIED TIBET)—By mid-morning, Lobsang’s leather cowboy hat is askew, his black robes dishevelled, and his breath stinks of booze. Once a nomad herder roaming the high Tibetan plateau, instead he stumbles around his sparse new concrete house.
For decades he and his wife grazed yaks and sheep, living a life
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Moscow: Massive, Overnight Demolition |
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By :The Moscow Times |
| 09 February 2016 |
Moscow sees large-scale overnight kiosk demolition
MOSCOW—Large-scale demolition of kiosks and small shopping centers began in Moscow on Monday night, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday.
As of Tuesday morning, 55 percent of the properties subject to removal had been completely removed, Sergei Shogurov, head of the capital`s real estate inspectorate,
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HLRN-India Launches Habitat III Status Report |
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By :HLRN-India |
| 05 February 2016 |
New Delhi—On Friday, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) launched its first Habitat III country report titled, Housing and Land Rights in India: Status Report for Habitat III. The United Nations (UN) Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III)—the third bidecennial international conference on habitat issues—will be held
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HIC-critics on Habitat III Policy Papers |
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By :HIC |
| 05 February 2016 |
Since the very early stages of the Habitat III preparations, Habitat International Coalition (HIC) has called for the integrity of the Habitat II (1996) commitments and modalities; this demand has three related aspects:
• Processes must uphold the Habitat II-established principle to be as inclusive as possible;
• Maintain the Habitat Agenda,
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USA: Oregon Land, “Rightful Owners” |
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By :Burns Paiute Tribe, et al |
| 15 January 2016 |
Please find below US press coverage of the ongoing, multidimensional land dispute in Oregon, USA. Follow the links below for a review of competing views.
Crackpots in Cowboy Hats, and in Congress
Whose Land Is It Anyway?
"We were here first.”
Eastern Oregon once had a Malheur Indian Reservation. Guess what happened.
Native American Tribe Says Oregon Armed
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Ethiopia`s Development Crackdown on Dissent |
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By :Charles Stratford, Al Jazeera |
| 10 January 2016 |
Rights groups say 140 people killed in recent weeks as government moves forward with controversial development plans.
Wolonkomi, Ethiopia—Security forces have killed at least 140 people during a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in Ethiopia in recent weeks, activists and rights groups say.
The protests by members of the country`s largest ethnic group,
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COP21: Land & Water Convergence Speaks |
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By :Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles |
| 08 December 2015 |
Parallel to the climate conference in Paris, social movements and allies within the “Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles” stand up for climate justice and real solutions to the climate crisis. This alliance of struggles has delivered its message to the COP21 currently meeting at Paris. Their statement follows.
The
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Nigeria: UNSR Urges Halt to Eviction Trend |
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By :OHCHR |
| 23 November 2015 |
GENEVA—The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha, today urged the Nigerian Government to put an immediate end to the ongoing trend of evictions in the country. The human rights expert raised concerns with the government about the large-scale demolitions and evictions carried out
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UNSR Reminds Govts. about Rights in Habitat III |
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By :OHCHR |
| 22 October 2015 |
NEW YORK / GENEVA—The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, Leilani Farha, today has challenged governments to go further and commit to bold action to end homelessness and improve housing conditions on a global scale. “I am convinced we can end the scourge of homelessness
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Habitat III National Reporting Tool |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 21 September 2015 |
Habitat III National Reporting Guidelines (merged with State obligations)
This Excel file attempts to merge the national Habitat III report outline proffered by UN-Habitat with the already-standing commitments of states and UN bodies at Habitat II (1996). For those following UN-Habitat`s advice, the left column leads with the agency’s reduced six
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CESCR: Spain Violated Debtor’s Housing Rights |
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By :ESCR-Net |
| 17 September 2015 |
New York—Today, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) published its first recommendations in response to an individual complaint, regarding a violation of the right to housing, under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR).
With its entry into force in
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New Extractionism in Occupied Western Sahara |
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By :WSRW |
| 31 August 2015 |
Amid Saharawi protests, San Leon Energy has begun to drill an on-shore well in occupied Western Sahara on 21 August.
The El Aaiun-4 conventional well is located on the so-called Tarfaya licence, near Foum el Oued, just above Western Sahara`s capital city El Aaiun. The drilling rig, a Cabot 750
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Veolia Jumps Jerusalem Rail |
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By :Who Profits |
| 27 August 2015 |
Veolia sells its shares in the Jerusalem light rail and completes withdrawal from the Israeli market.
More than a decade after winning the tender for the construction and operation of the Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR), Veolia Environnement’s subsidiary, Transdev, has sold all of its holdings in the JLR to a group
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German CSO Forum Addresses Habitat III |
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By :Forum on Environment & Development |
| 31 July 2015 |
The German Forum on Environment & Development was founded in 1992 after the UN conference in Rio on environment and development. Its purpose is to coordinate German NGOs in international political processes on sustainable development. It was strongly involved in the preparation and the civil society processes of the Habitat
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HIC Reviews Habitat III Issue Papers |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 31 July 2015 |
Habitat International Coalition has just issued its compilation of inputs from Members and officers following their review of the Habitat III Issue Papers. The 22 thematic contributions from technical experts selected by the UN-Habitat/Habitat III Secretariat have been drafted as a framework for the debate leading up to the Third
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Cambodia: CSOs Charge Boeung Kak Abuses |
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By :ESCR-Net |
| 01 June 2015 |
New York—The International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) sent a letter to the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia to express serious concern over the conditions faced by thousands of families who live, or lived prior to their eviction, near Boeung Kak Lake.
“The forcible evictions that
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CFS Develops Protracted-crisis Policy |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 01 May 2015 |
In October of this year, the Committee on Global Food Security is expected to adopt the new Framework of Action [to ensure] Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises. That global policy promises to usher in a new approach that formally operationalizes humanitarian, development and human rights principles combined to
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The Right to the City: Jerusalem |
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By :Joseph Schechla |
| 26 October 2014 |
HIC-HLRN has produced a new report from an ongoing study on the prospects of realizing the principles of the “right to the city” for specific cities in several regions.
This report finds that applying the "right to the city" in Jerusalem challenges the current governance grounded in discrimination against, and dispossession of
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Twiga Farm: Story of a Kenyan Land Grab |
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By :Leila van Rinsum, Pambazuka News |
| 08 October 2014 |
Landless citizens of a location just outside Nairobi have been fighting for their rights to land since Kenya’s independence 50 years ago. Successive governments – including those of two presidents, Jomo Kenyatta and his son Uhuru, who come from the area – have failed to give these people justice.
On Tuesday,
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Predatory Lender Wells Fargo Bank Forced to Pay |
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By :The Baltimore Sun, The New York Times |
| 15 June 2012 |
Wells Fargo Bank: A Predatory Lender Pays up
The Baltimore Sun
15 July 2012
Baltimore`s effort to recover millions of dollars in lost revenue stemming from the wave of home foreclosures that followed the collapse of the housing market in 2007 was vindicated Thursday when Wells Fargo Bank, the nation`s largest mortgage lender,
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