Contracting Justice Workshop: Exploring socially just research processes

Participants at the Contracting Justice Workshop
(Photo credit: Cath Traynor/Natural Justice)

On the 13^th and 14^th March Natural Justice hosted a workshop centred on community-research contracts ensuring socially just research processes. This workshop aimed to gain valuable insights from indigenous communities through exploring the development of a ‘community-researcher contract’ between communities and researchers within the context of researching indigenous knowledge related to climate change.

The objectives of the workshop included legally empowering participants on issues related to laws and policies on indigenous knowledge systems, intellectual property rights and research ethics, and exploring the concept of contracts as a tool, and also critically reflecting upon the trail implementation of ‘community-researcher contract’ between two indigenous communities and three institutions conducting research with them.

The first day focused on legal empowerment and internal community discussions with representatives from the Nama, Griqua and Khomani San communities and a legal adviser.  The following day wider stakeholders were invited, including representatives from the University of Cape Town, Indiana University (USA), legal experts, civil society organisations including the Heinrich Boell Stiftung Southern Africa, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, and the Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network (OCSDNet). These varied interests and opinions contributed to a productive discussion regards where the tensions lie between the respective parties regards how research with indigenous peoples, both in terms of the frameworks that guide research processes and how in practice research with indigenous communities is conducted. Areas of tensions were identified and the role that community-researcher contracts could play to resolve these discussed.

Important aspects concerning policies alongside ethical and legal approaches were raised and considered in detail throughout the session. Issues were voiced surrounding the importance of consent processes, openness of research – but also some of the dangers of making indigenous knowledge open, particularly regards intellectual property issues, and that research process should benefit communities.

A particular notable and worthwhile moment of the workshop was hearing the opinions and viewpoints of the indigenous community’s youth representatives who stressed the importance of transparency, participatory action, capacity for further legal empowerment of the community members and beneficiation. Their involvement in this session was especially valuable for other participants in order to better understand from the community perspective, where and what the key issues were regards the development and implementation of research projects with communities or in their traditional lands.

Looking forward, these discussions will feed into the final analysis of the potential role of ‘community-researcher contracts’ as a tool to protect communities rights and to enable communities to negotiate mutually-beneficial research processes with research institutions. This analysis is being conducted by Natural Justice’s Climate Change Program together with research partners Dr. Laura Foster (Indiana University) and Dr. Tobias Schonwetter (Intellectual Property Unit, University of Cape Town), the Nama community in Khuboes, and the Griqua community in Vredendal.

Natural Justice – Cape Town Office - Skill and Information Sharing Session February 2016

Natural Justice’s Cape Town office hosted its second monthly Skill and Information Sharing Session on 29 February 2016. We were honored with the presence of Mr. Wilberforce Laate, our Ghanaian partner from CIKOD. His discussion focused on endogenous development and traditional leadership. It is particularly of interest since Natural Justice is currently working with the National Khoi & San Council to realize the formal recognition of Khoi-San peoples’ customary leadership institutions and its communities.

This approach of endogenous development entails the idea of taking a look backward, to pick up ideas and values that were useful from the past, in developing the future. It advocates that all aspects of a community must be regarded in that community’s development, those relating to the spiritual world, material world and social world. According to this endogenous development approach, development is already active in communities all the time. It is also a combination of both indigenous and appropriate external knowledge and support.

Mr. Laate also shared the traditional authority system in Ghana; how it works and what challenges they have faced and how they have been addressing these issues since the late 1950s when their colonial system ended.

The Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill 2015 (PDF), the first to give recognition to Khoi-San leadership institutions, is currently in South African parliament and open for public consultation (see Parliament news here and here). Thus, at this time, Mr. Laate’s insight on endogenous development and his example of the place of traditional authorities in Ghana serves as a shared African experience.

Workshop on Compliance Monitoring and Ground-truthing, 8th-9th December, 2014

The Natural Justice India team of eight members attended a workshop about Compliance monitoring and ground-truthing in the context of industries. The two day workshop held on the 8th and 9th of December was facilitated by NAMATI represented by Manju Menon and Kanchi Kohli. The first day of the workshop focussed on the process of ground-truthing and how to extrapolate and filter through multiple available legal data and clearance papers. This was followed by an exercise where the participants were divided into groups and collectively went through various official documents where the content was dissected to check for loopholes within compliance conditions. This exercise enabled the participants in a detailed structural industrial review comprising of reading and analysis of official documents such as letters of environmental clearance, reports on environment impact assessment and compliances etc. 

Day two of the workshop was about following up of the ground-truthing methodology within a context. The discussion was kept significantly contextual where a possibility of paralegal involvement as an important methodology was explored. The process of identifying and training paralegals was discussed. Since monitoring is often an issue when one is not based in the context, constant monitoring is included within the ground-truthing process. It was pointed out that the ground-truthing method can also get ingrained in the larger praxis of community involvement and process of paralegal training, also specifically along the lines of a participatory research project.

Legal and Conflict Transformation/Negotiation Training in Manicaland, Zimbabwe

From September 29 to October 3, Stephanie Booker of Natural Justice hosted 5 days of legal and negotiation training in Manicaland, Zimbabwe, with Chiadzwa Community Development Trust and members of communities from Mutare and Arda Transau. The meeting was supported by Ford Foundation Southern Africa and the Heinrich Boll Foundation.

Supported by the legal expertise of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association, participants were led in two-day training, discussions and information sharing on relevant laws and policies in Zimbabwe with respect to the environment and human rights and regional and international law.

From 1 - 3 October, Zimbabwean organisation Centre for Conflict Management and Transformation led an interactive training with participants on inter-community conflict and general principles of engaging with external actors. The sessions gave insight on engaging an issue from different perspectives.

The training session complemented the existing community protocol processes being engaged in the community at present. In addition, a small number of participants from mining impacted communities across Zimbabwe took the opportunity to join the much-sought after training, to learn from about relevant laws and policies and to share experiences with community members across Zimbabwe.

E-module on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) for Communities

Natural Justice has developed learning e-modules on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), a mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through which developing countries are encouraged to contribute to mitigation actions. Over fifty developing countries are engaged in REDD+ and globally there are hundreds of projects and initiatives. The majority of the Earth’s forests are inhabited by Indigenous peoples and rural communities, many of whom may be affected by REDD+ policies, programmes and projects.

Legal Training for San Youth

cc !Khwa ttu

On 4th of June, Natural Justice held a one day legal training with San youth at !Khwa ttu, the San Education and Cultural Centre. The legal training was held with fifteen San youth from southern Africa and focused on the rights of indigenous peoples, intellectual property rights and environmental law. The legal training course will be held on two further occasions in 2014.

The students taking part in the legal training course are part of an 8-month accredited Nature and Cultural Site Guide Skills Programme run through !Khwa ttu's Training Department. During the course, San youth learn about their roots, culture, history and traditional knowledge.

Natural Justice provides legal support and training to San and Khoi communities in southern Africa through partnership with Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa. For more information on the work of Natural Justice with the San and Khoi please refer to our website and the Heroes Project.

Call for Applications: Legal Officer, Kenya

Natural Justice: Lawyers for Communities and the Environment is a young and fast-paced non-profit organisation specialising in human rights and environmental law. We are a pioneering international team of legal practitioners, who conduct comprehensive research on environmental and human rights law, support communities and local organisations, provide technical advice to governments and intergovernmental organisations, and engage in key international processes in pursuit of environmental and social justice.

Natural Justice currently works in Africa, Asia and Latin America, with its headquarters in Cape Town and regional offices in Malaysia, India, and USA.

What are we looking for?

Natural Justice has been working with communities, NGOs and government agencies in Kenya since 2009. Due to increasing demand from our partners, we are seeking a full-time lawyer to lead and co-coordinate our work in Kenya. The successful candidate will be based in Nairobi and will be expected to begin work immediately.

Application process:

Deadline: 18 April 2014, 17:00 GMT

Designing training materials for legal empowerment initiatives

Arpitha Kodiveri of Natural Justice, India attended a weeklong workshop on designing training materials for legal empowerment initiatives held in Ahmedabad. The workshop was organized by the Center for Social Justice (CSJ), an organization that pioneered the use of principles of adult education in creating innovative legal training sessions.

Community based lawyers from different parts of India partnered with  their counterparts from the CSJ to brainstorm on  different methods  and approaches to  designing training material.  Arpitha worked closely with the group to develop a detailed methodology for providing training in environmental law to paralegals in India.

The training module and methodology is due to be  field tested in the coming few months in Gujarat.

CIEL Guide on Amici in international investment arbitration

Non governmental organizations that work in the area of international investment litigation have been bolstered in their defense of public interest, thanks to the new Guide for Potential Amici in International Investment Arbitrations. This joint publication by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the International Human Rights Program at the University Of Toronto Faculty Of Law explains when and how NGOs can strategically intervene as a third party in international investment arbitrations as an amicus curiae (friend of the court).

The guide also provides background on why international investment disputes arise, the ways in which human rights can be implicated, and how amicus curiae can bolster human rights in investment disputes. 

In particular, this guide  focuses on the potential of filing amicus submissions at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which specializes in disputes between governments and companies.

Given the opacity of ICSID-arbitrated proceedings, there is a clearly identified need for NGOs, acting as amici, to highlight human rights concerns, and focus attention towards public interest issues.

The full report, with annexes is available here.

ICCA meeting for Southern and East Africa discusses ICCA examples from the region

On 8 November Natural Justice and the ICCA Consortium co-convened a meeting near Cape Town, South Africa, on Indigenous Peoples and Local Community Controlled Territories and Conserved Areas (ICCAs) in Southern and East Africa, to identify examples and best practices from the region. 

Following a comprehensive introduction to ICCAs and their recognition under relevant international law by Natural Justice, two expert panels introduced and discussed ten individual examples of ICCAs in the region. 

On the basis of experiences from Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania, the 25 participants from the region discussed various strategies and best practices for communities to protect their ICCAs. The discussions revolved around management of ICCAs, documentation of ICCAs, and strategic litigation. 

Africa Regional Symposium for Community Land and Natural Resources Protection

From 5-7 November, 30 pioneering community and civil society experts gathered in the !khwa ttu San community centre outside Cape Town, South Africa, for the first Africa Regional Symposium for Community Land and Natural Resources Protection. 

The Symposium, co-convened by Natural Justice and Namati, facilitated an exchange of best practices on community empowerment for strengthening land and natural resources rights among twelve African countries and more than two dozen communities. 

The event set out to meet three interrelated objectives: 

1. Share best practices, tools and strategies for empowered community land and natural resource management and protection; 

2. Support each other to confront local and/or national challenges to community land and natural resources claims; and 

3. Brainstorm new and innovative forms of legal empowerment and build a cross-disciplinary community of practice that fosters continued dialogue and learning. 

New IIED Publication on Legal Empowerment and Accountability in Africa's Land Rush

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has released a new publication entitled "Accountability in Africa's Land Rush: What role for legal empowerment". According to IIED website, "In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in acquiring farmland for agricultural investments in lower-income countries. Whilst such investments can create jobs, improve access to markets and support infrastructure, many large land deals have been associated with negative impacts for local populations, including the dispossession of land and other resources and increased conflict over economic benefits. There is growing evidence on the scale, geography and impacts of large deals. But less is known about how the legal frameworks regulating this land rush shape opportunities and constraints in formal pathways to accountability; and how people who feel wronged by land deals are responding to seek justice, and to what ends. 

This report assesses the state of evidence on pathways to accountability in the global land rush, with a focus on Africa. It also identifies areas for a new research agenda that places accountability at its centre." The publication is available in English here.

Workshop on Legal Tools and Agricultural Investments in Bangkok

Palm oil development in peninsular

Malaysia. 

From 7-8 March, Harry Jonas (Natural Justice) attended a workshop on Legal Tools for Accountability in Agricultural Investments for South East Asia hosted by Focus on the Global South and the International Institute for the Environment and Development.

Participants engaged with a range of issues over the two days, including: investment protection and promotion in the ASEAN; national legal frameworks; human rights mechanisms; government investor and farmer-investor contracts; and international regulatory frameworks. The workshop was held in Bangkok, and was preceded by a public forum held at Chulalongkorn University entitled: Rethinking Policy and Legal Frameworks for Inclusive and Sustainable Investments in Agriculture in South East Asia.

Harry thanks colleagues at Focus and IIED for what was a useful and thought-provoking few days.

EMRIP Submission on Indigenous Peoples and Access to Justice

Orang asli (Indigenous peoples) of Malaysia celebrate a

successful High Court judgment in 2012. Photo via The Star.

On 11 February, Natural Justice made two submissions to a Human Rights Council-mandated study by the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) on access to justice in the protection and promotion of the rights of Indigenous peoples. The draft study will be presented at the sixth session of EMRIP in July.

The first submission had a global focus and consisted of two parts. Part I included inputs and experiences from several countries in Asia, Africa, and North and South America, with particular emphasis on the protection and stewardship of Indigenous peoples’ customary territories and resources. These were primarily drawn from a series of legal reviews coordinated in 2012 by Natural Justice and Kalpavriksh on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCA) Consortium.  It focused on the following themes before setting out key recommendations from the legal reviews:

1. The relationship between access to justice and a range of other Indigenous peoples’ rights;
2. Systemic and structural threats to Indigenous peoples’ rights and their territories and resources;
3. Judicial systems themselves as a barrier to justice;
4. Landmark judgments;
5. Landmark legislation; and
6. Continuing challenges with implementation and compliance.

Namati Hiring

Natural Justice-partner Namati is hiring! Namati, which develops, implements and evaluates models for delivering quality legal aid at scale, has three positions open: Director of Finance and Administration; Director of Communications and Advocacy; and Director of Research and Evaluation. Completed applications should be emailed to employment@namati.org by January 31, 2013. 

Learn more about the positions, and Namati, here. Follow Namati on Twitter here, like them on Facebook here, and subscribe to their Youtube channel here.

Animated Film on REDD+

The Global Canopy Programme has released an updated version of “An Introduction to REDD”, described as "a short animated film that aims to explain REDD+ to non-expert audiences in a clear and succinct way."

Find out more about the film here, including versions in French, Portuguese and Spanish.

UN Resolution on Legal Aid

Via namati.org

The United Nations Commission for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice has unanimously adopted a resolution for the groundbreaking UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems. The principles and guidelines are the first international instrument on legal aid.

According to analysis by Namati, some of the most significant components of the resolution are:

Law, Environment and Design Workshop - Bangalore

Natural Justice and the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology co-hosted a workshop entitled “Engendering Dialogue among Law, Environment and Design” at Srishti's campus in Bangalore, India on 7 December, 2012. The workshop sought to share the visions of participants, discuss ways of working together, and explore possible intersections between law, environment and design. The workshop also saw the launch of the website of Natural Justice and Srishti’s exciting new joint project, the Law, Environment and Design (LED) Lab (opening January, 2013). Representatives from the Global Environments Summer Academy, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment also participated in the workshop. 

While the LED website is not yet fully populated, it can be accessed here.

Workshop on Legal Empowerment in Southeast Asia

Rooftops in Jakarta.

From 6-7 November in Jakarta, Indonesia, Harry Jonas (Natural Justice) attended a two-day workshop on legal empowerment in Southeast Asia. Hosted by Namati, the Open Society Justice Initiative, the Indonesian Legal Resource Centre, and the TIFA Foundation, the workshop brought together over 30 lawyers and legal specialists focusing on legal empowerment in the region. Over the two days, the group heard presentations, engaged in participatory methodologies and developed a forward-looking strategy for the region. Participants also assessed how to ensure that justice issues are referenced in the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals process, which they considered to be a particularly strategic approach to creating systemic change. On behalf of the Natural Justice team, Harry thanks the organizers for the opportunity and looks forward to supporting next steps.

ALF Presentation on Creative Media and the Law

Namita Malhotra of the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) presented on her experiences using different forms of media to communicate the law at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology on 3 October, 2012. The presentation introduced faculty from Srishti and the Natural Justice India team to the use of different media forms and some of their potential challenges. ALF has used these different forms as tools to intervene on a variety of issues ranging from piracy to censorship. Their work continues to highlight the need for experimental modes of communicating the law, with an emphasis on exploring how the law can be deconstructed and understood through a multidisciplinary lens. This presentation will help to inform Natural Justice and Srishti’s work in setting up a lab to focused on exploring how design can be used to flesh out legal problems.