Land rights
Land remains one of the most critical issues faced by minorities and indigenous populations. Disadvantaged groups worldwide rely on their traditional lands for their livelihoods, economic fortune, and basic survival. For many peoples, land serves as the centre for religious and cultural life. Minorities and indigenous populations alike face significant challenges in ensuring that their lands are properly demarcated and protected; ensuring equal access to lands for subsistence and livelihood similarly remains an important priority. Securing governmental recognition of traditional forms of land tenure, particularly for groups who hold land communally, is often an uphill battle for minority and indigenous groups. Equally difficult is gaining compensation for forced resettlement/displacement, evictions and seized lands.
Below is a collection of international instruments, legal cases, key studies, and litigation tools available for the protection of land rights. This website approaches land as one of the numerous natural resources necessary for the cultural, religious, economic and social survival of minorities and indigenous groups. Though issues of adequate housing and evictions are touched upon in the cases, normative instruments and reports below, this website largely focuses on the communal aspects of land and property rights. The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions offers an expansive compilation of information and tools for the issues surrounding housing and eviction.
Useful reports and litigation tools
The Rights of Indigenous Peoples, UN Fact Sheet
United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations
United Nations Guide for Indigenous Peoples
UN Complaints Procedures, Fact Sheet
United Nations Documents by Treaty
Complaint Procedures within the United Nations Treaty System
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Guide for Minorities and Indigenous Peoples (MRG Guide)
Minority Rights: A Guide to United Nations Procedures and Institutions (MRG Guide)
How to Complain to the UN Human Rights Treaty System
Best practices
Nisga'a Agreement
The Nisga'a Agreement gave final settlement to issues of aboriginal rights, land title, and self-governance among the Nisga'a people of British Columbia, Canada. Signed in 1998, the Agreement represented the final culmination of years of negotiations between the Nisga'a and the Canadian government. Land and resource rights finally found resolution under the Agreement, which also provided for a significant degree of self-government among the Nisga'a nation. For more information on the Agreement, the Indian and Northern Affairs has an extensive explanation and set of resources on the treaty: http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/pr/agr/nsga/index_e.html
The Agreement's success was greatly facilitated by the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Delgamuukw v. British Columbia. The Court held that so long as an aboriginal people demonstrated exclusive land use at the time of sovereignty, as well as a continued substantial connection with the land in question, the aboriginal people retained a right to exclusive use and occupation. For the text of this decision, see http://www.canlii.org/ca/cas/scc/1997/1997scc105.html
Nunavut Land Claims Agreement
As the largest aboriginal land settlement in Canadian history, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement created the 350,000 square kilometre Nunavut territory for the indigenous Inuit. Both Inuit and non-Inuit alike are governed by a parliamentary democracy, and the Agreement further gave the Inuit increased representation on the wildlife, resource and environmental management boards that help determine the fate of Nunavut. See the Nunavut government's website for more information about the Agreement, the territory and the government: http://www.gov.nu.ca
Arctic Council
Representing both national governments and indigenous peoples, the inter-governmental Arctic Council exclusively focuses on the issues and concerns of Arctic States as to sustainable development. The Council currently has eight member states and six permanent participant organizations to represent indigenous populations. See http://www.arctic-council.org for more information.