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Highlights from the Rights and Resources Initiative
January to March 2018

At CSW62, rural and indigenous women's leadership took center stage

Photo credit: FECOFUN

Women around the globe are marching, running for office, and demanding that their voices be heard. Indigenous and rural women, in particular, are increasingly leading in community, civil society, and political spaces. They are also running for elected office to protect their ancestral forests—and winning.

While their contributions to global development goals are gaining greater acknowledgement in the international arena, indigenous and rural women still face consistency unjust laws and weak recognition of their rights around the world. This year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)—which focused on the empowerment of rural women and girls—highlighted the importance of securing their rights.

“We need comprehensive legal reforms throughout all laws that affect women’s interactions with and decisions about land and natural resources,” said RRI Senior Analyst Stephanie Keene during a recent CSW side event on the importance of securing land rights for women’s empowerment.

“Change starts with the community,” noted Winrose Mwangi, a member of GROOTS Kenya. She also highlighted specific ways that governments and the international community should harness the power of women to drive change, such as by supporting women to gather local-level data, sensitize communities, and bring together different stakeholders to discuss land policies. 

Throughout the convening, rural and indigenous women called on decision makers to recognize and support their role as leaders, keepers of ancestral knowledge, food providers, forest managers, and human rights defenders. Looking forward, a set of joint recommendations submitted during CSW can provide guidance for member states to support these emerging leaders and meet their commitments to women’s land and resource rights.

Read our blog on key takeaways from CSW62.

Related:

In other news

Advocates around the globe are raising the alarm over a move by the Philippine government to declare Indigenous Peoples and human rights leaders “terrorists,” including UN Special Rapporteur for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz. Read her powerful op-ed on how indigenous advocates around the world continue to stand up for their rights despite facing criminalization.
New reports find that the governance institutions needed to protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and rural women are inadequate in some 20 planned and ongoing REDD+ investments in DRC. While secure community rights to land and carbon are vital to the success of REDD+ and similar payment schemes, an examination of 24 countries preparing to enter the carbon market finds that only a few have implemented legal frameworks for carbon rights. (Photo credit: If Not Us Then Who?)
On March 3, 24 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean signed the first binding agreement to address human rights and the environment in the region. And in Colombia, the country’s highest court ruled that the government must take urgent action to protect its Amazon rainforest, marking the first favorable ruling in this type of lawsuit in Latin America.
Liberia’s newly-inaugurated President, George Weah, has an opportunity to catalyze respect for community land rights in Liberia and ensure lasting peace by passing the pro-community Land Rights Act, which would automatically recognize communities’ rights to their ancestral lands. Read RRI’s Solange Bandiaky-Badji on the international significance of this bill, and sign the petition urging President Weah and Liberia’s Senators to act on the 2014 LRA. (Photo credit: James Giahyue)
The Interlaken Group met in March to discuss alternative land-use agreements between communities and companies, next generation due diligence tools to help investors address land tenure risks, and ways to improve and increase dissemination of the Land and Forest Rights Guide and Land Legacy Guidance.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF)—one of the biggest climate financing institutions—has adopted a new Indigenous Peoples’ Policy and a new Environmental and Social policy, a result of long-term advocacy by Tebtebba and the RRI Coalition. In Colombia, the Process of Black Communities and the Environment and Society Association successfully advocated for Afro-descendant peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean to be recognized as beneficiaries under the new Indigenous Peoples’ Policy.
Secure indigenous, community, and rural women’s land rights are a solution to many global challenges. Help us spread the message far and wide.

RRI recently launched a think piece series, "Big Ideas. In Brief," a new platform for local leaders and experts. (Read the first two issues here and here.)

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Take note

  • Environmental expert and activist Ashish Kothari has published a new book, Alternative Futures: India Unshackled, a remarkable, first-ever collection of 35 essays on India’s future by a diverse set of authors—activists, researchers, media practitioners, and more.
     
  • We've just published a full report on what RRI accomplished last year. Download our 2017 Annual Narrative Report here.

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