Natural Justice Contributes Chapter to New Book on Indigenous Peoples' Access to Justice

On 19 May 2014, the Columbia University Institute for the Study of Human Rights held a side event during the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to launch a new book, "Indigenous Peoples' Access to Justice, Including Truth and Reconciliation Processes." The book arises out of an Expert Seminar on the same subject, held at Columbia University  from 27 February to 1 March 2013 that was co-hosted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Center for Transitional Justice and Columbia University.

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. 

Second edition of The Living Convention is now available in English and Spanish

The Living Convention provides a range of the most important provisions relating to the linkages between Indigenous peoples and local communities and, among other things, their territories, lands, natural resources, and knowledge systems. It sets them out in an ordered manner, grouping similar provisions under the same heading to enable the reader to quickly assess the extent of international law relating to specific issues. 

The Living Convention is divided into three parts:

Part I sets out the rationale and methodology of the research undertaken to develop the compendium in Part II.

Part II contains a compendium of internationally recognized rights that support the integrity and resilience of Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ territories and other social-ecological systems. 

Part III sets out a number of key questions concerning, for example, the utility of integrated rights approaches, how international law can be reformed, and how national governments can better uphold their international commitments. It then suggests initial activities that could further deepen the analysis and ways to address the current weaknesses in the development and implementation of international law. 

Conservation and Land Grabbing

Salamander in the
reptile house at London Zoo
(Courtesy of Harry Jonas)

Harry Jonas (Natural Justice) attended a workshop in London (26-27 March) entitled: “Conservation and Land Grabbing: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?” The meeting was hosted by IIED, the International Land Coalition, Maliasili Initiatives and the Zoological Society of London and was held at the London Zoo. Harry Jonas presented on the ICCA Legal Review and the Living Convention on Biocultural Diversity. Other presenters included: Lorenzo Cotula (IIED), Fiona Flintan (ILC), Guy Counga (CISDL), and Dorothy Nyingi (National Museums of Kenya). The workshop concluded with a number of tentative conclusions and ways forwards. Harry thanks the organizers for the opportunity to present and looks forward to contributing to the Poverty and Conservation Learning Group.