THE RIGHT TO LAND

We are publishing here a chapter of the book The United Nations’ Declaration on Peasants’ Rights, edited by Mariagrazia Alabrese, Adriana Bessa, Margherita Brunori, and Pier Filippo Giuggioli. This book was published by Routledge in 2022. The chapter is entitled The Right to Land, written by Lorenzo Cotula, who is principal researcher and head of law, economies and justice programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development.

“Building on this tapestry of human rights configurations, the UNDROP’s affirmation of peasants’ right to land represents a turning point in longstanding efforts to connect land to human rights. It raises questions about the legal contours of the right to land and how this newly affirmed right complements, and intersects with, other human rights. Although such questions are theoretical, they also have practical implications. Restrictive interpretations can hollow out the emancipatory potential of a new right from within, while clarifying the full reverberations of that right can facilitate its use in processes of change. It is therefore important to explore the social, economic, and political circumstances that led to the affirmation of the right to land, what the right to land entails in practice and its potential for bringing about the change peasant movements are fighting for around the world.“