Search results

While the whole world attempts to save itself from the pandemic, the indigenous peoples of Latin America are dying. Abandoned by the state and with no adequate comprehensive healthcare services or clean water, they are extremely vulnerable to the virus that is fast expanding throughout the continent.

This research assesses the extent to which countries have advanced their commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals to ensure secure land rights for all. While some countries have allocated resources and strengthened land rights in an inclusive manner, most countries are yet to prioritize land rights in their national development agendas.

In November 2018, a Honduran court convicted seven people for the murder of indigenous leader and human rights defender Berta Cáceres. 38 months after the unfortunate event, her family and members from the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH, for its acronym in Spanish), still demand that the Honduran authorities also investigate, prosecute and convict the masterminds of this crime.

“Women’s rights from the ground up” includes a high-level vision of how we see change occurring and the tools we can use to secure women’s land rights. It also draws on discussions with Oxfam staff and partners to help build a stronger, shared narrative on women’s rights and gender justice in our land and natural resources work.

In most countries, land inequality is growing. Worse, new measures and analysis published in this synthesis report show that land inequality is significantly higher than previously reported. This trend directly threatens the livelihoods of an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide involved in smallholder agriculture.

In Colombia, the women who defend their land, their culture, and the environment are being threatened, harassed, and sometimes even murdered. These women are true peace builders, but the State provides them with barely any protection. If urgent measures are not taken, their lives are in grave danger.

In 2015 we celebrated world leaders’ recognition of the foundational and strategic role that secure land rights for all –women and men, regardless of ethnicity, religion, place of residence, or civil, economic, social, or political status—must play to achieve a world free of poverty, hunger and systemic gender discrimination.

We are in the midst of the single biggest attack in the world today on people’s identity, rights, livelihoods and security, as well as our environment. They cannot afford to lose this fight, nor can we.

This report launches a Global Call to Action on Indigenous and Community Land Rights, backed by more than 300 organizations all over the world. It is a manifesto of solidarity with the ongoing struggles of indigenous peoples and local communities seeking to secure their land rights once and for all.

Responding to the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report on Climate and Land, Aditi Sen, Oxfam’s senior climate policy advisor, said: “Land is central to the fight against the climate crisis and hunger. Industrial agriculture, deforestation and increasing weather shocks are destroying the land we depend on for food, with the world’s poorest hit hardest. “We need to put a stop to destructive industrial agriculture and invest in agro-ecological approaches that store carbon, improve soil health and increase…