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	Common Ground: Securing Land Rights for 2.5 Billion People by International Land Coalition, agencies   March 2016   2.5 billion people at risk of hunger and poverty if land rights are not protected   Indigenous Peoples and local communities protect half the world''s land, but formally own just 10 percent, according to a report released today by a global alliance of NGOs.   The report, “Common Ground: Securing Land Rights and Safeguarding the Earth,” is published by the International Land Coalition (ILC), Oxfam, and the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). Together with more than 300 organizations and communities from around the world, they have launched the Land Rights Now campaign, calling for the amount of land these communities own to double by 2020.   Mike Taylor, ILC’s Director, said: “Billions of people around the world depend on their land to live; if we do not fight to secure this essential human right, we are turning our backs on them, their cultures, and the environment. The lives of those who depend on community-owned land for their homes and livelihoods are at stake.”   The report and the Land Rights Now campaign highlight the experiences of people who depend on land for their livelihoods as well as their cultural identity.   Mansa Ram, a local leader of a community in India’s Udaipur where lands were under threat, said: “These lands are our livelihoods. From these lands we were able to harvest resources. The land belonged to us, the water belonged to us. From this, we were able to live. When we had common land we felt free.”   Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said: “Oxfam is standing with the 2.5 billion people around the world who rely on community lands - for their livelihoods, security and cultural identity. We are calling for indigenous and community land rights to be secured once and for all: this struggle is as much about fighting poverty as it is about tackling injustice and inequality; and advancing women’s rights.”   The report breaks down the reasons why land rights are needed:   Fight poverty and hunger: Ninety percent of Africa’s rural land is undocumented, leaving rural communities vulnerable to land-grabbing. The lack of land rights is directly linked to the continent’s high poverty rates, where almost half of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day.   Promote gender equality: Tanzanian women with secure land rights earn three times more income than those without; in India, secure land rights have been linked to a decrease in violence generally, including up to eight times less domestic violence.   Tackle climate change: Collectively-owned forests and pastures are better protected and cared for than government lands. Unrecognized indigenous territories in the Amazon Basin, the Mesoamerican region, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia alone store the carbon equivalent of nearly 1.5 times the world’s 2015 emissions. Without legal protection, they are at risk of being razed.   Global warming would likely exceed 2 degrees and bring about catastrophic heatwaves, droughts, storms, and flooding.   Prevent conflicts with corporations: Businesses that ignore community land righs can face project costs almost 29 times higher, and even risk having their operations suspended or shut down.   Andy White, RRI’s Coordinator, said: “Secure land rights for local peoples are a win for all of humanity. Respect for these rights is crucial for communities whose lives center around their ancestral lands; for governments committed to fighting poverty, limiting carbon emissions, and promoting economic development; for companies seeking to limit their financial risks and ensure stable production; and for people everywhere who want a more stable and secure world.”   The importance of land rights is underscored in two major recent international agreements, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. Addressing the unique needs of the world’s 2.5 billion Indigenous Peoples and local communities is crucial to fulfilling the aspiration of the SDGs to “leave no one behind.”   http://www.landcoalition.org/en/news/ilc-launches-report-oxfam-and-rri-common-ground-securing-land-rights-and-safeguarding-earth http://www.iied.org/protecting-land-community-resources-africa#.Vt_6z365Gek.twitter http://www.fidh.org/en/issues/globalisation-human-rights/communities-first-new-training-manual-to-empower-people-affected-by http://business-humanrights.org/en/ http://solidgroundcampaign.org/ Visit the related web page
	Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights by OHCHR, Caritas   February 2016   Caritas promotes OHCHR human rights manual to advance eradication of extreme poverty, by Floriana Polito, Humanitarian Policy Officer with Caritas Internationalis   Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical letter, Laudato Sì, “For poor countries, the priorities must be to eliminate extreme poverty and to promote the social development of their people.”   Caritas works on poverty in its many forms around the world, giving material and spiritual help, but also advocating to change unjust systems which keep people in poverty.   Franciscans International and ATD Fourth World have produced a document called “Making Human Rights Work for People Living in Extreme Poverty: a Handbook for Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights” which Caritas Internationalis supports and will promote for use among its member organisations to help to eradicate extreme poverty at all levels.   The handbook translates the legal language of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights and makes them more accessible to a wider audience so these global policy guidelines reach the grassroots and give people practical tools to reclaim and access their human rights (eg. to adequate housing, food, education, access to health care and legal services, to mention but a few). The manual can be used by social workers, teachers, legal advisors, religious institutions, policy makers or anyone who works with people living in poverty to ensure that public policies reach the most vulnerable and marginalised of the society.   The preface to the 2012 document says, “In a world characterised by an unprecedented level of economic development, technological means and financial resources, that hundreds of millions of persons are living in extreme poverty is a moral outrage. The present Guiding Principles are premised on the understanding that eradicating extreme poverty is not only a moral duty but also a legal obligation under existing international human rights law.”   The language of the handbook is simpler than the original principles and it offers concrete actions so that people in extreme poverty have greater access to their rights whether they be economic, social, cultural or civil and political.   We see the handbook as being a useful tool for Caritas social workers who have contact with local or national authorities to ensure inclusion and effective participation of people living in poverty in policy and decision-making processes.   The handbook uses a rights-based approach and aims to empower people living in extreme poverty. People in poverty may not know their rights or how to access them because of lack of information, lack of contact with the right people, poor education or quite simply no internet.   The Guiding Principles give guidance to social workers on how to better understand the consequences of extreme poverty in terms of the human rights of people who are living in these conditions. By proposing concrete actions for people to reclaim their rights and thus promoting them as active agents of their own change the groundwork is laid for collective action to change unjust structures.   Caritas member organisations will have the opportunity to attend workshops organised by Franciscans International/ATD Fourth World in various parts of the world. The first will be in Senegal on 1-4 March. The handbook can be accessed in Spanish, French and English.   Note: The Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights are based on international human rights norms and standards. The Guiding Principles provide global policy guidelines focusing specifically on the human rights of people living in poverty. They are intended as a practical tool for policy-makers to ensure that public policies (including poverty eradication efforts) reach the poorest members of society, respect and uphold their rights, and take into account the significant social, cultural, economic and structural obstacles to human rights enjoyment faced by persons living in poverty.   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/DGPIntroduction.aspx http://www.caritas.org/2016/02/caritas-promotes-manual-to-eradicate-extreme-poverty/ Visit the related web page
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