The Milestone Judgements of the Bangladeshi High Court
The two cases included in this volume are landmark cases, confirming Urdu-speaking community members as citizens of Bangladesh, the only country most have ever known and the country they call home. It includes Bangla translations of both court judgments (the court issued them in English) as well as a two page summary of each decision (also in Bangla) to make the content easier to understand for ordinary people. Paralegals will be able to use these cases in printed form during their outreach and awareness raising in Urdu-speaking camps in Bangladesh.
We hope these English and Bangla language versions will make the significance of these legal decisions accessible to all Bangladeshis – Urdu-speakers, Bangla-speakers, government servants, and others alike. Urdu-speaking Bangladeshis no longer need to feel the law is abstract or distant; they can use these court decisions, among other legal provisions, to understand, exercise, and protect their basic rights as citizens.
Our gratitude extends to the Council of Minorities for its collaboration on this publication, to Zakir Akmal & Associates for their invaluable translation support, and to all those in Bangladesh using innovative strategies to put the law into people’s hands and make justice a reality for all.
AdvocAid works with girls and women caught up in Sierra Leone’s often unjust legal system. It is the only organisation in West Africa providing holistic access to justice via free legal representation, education empowerment, detainee support and a ‘moving forward’ programme, ensuring detainees leave as stronger women with brighter prospects.
Network Spotlights are short profile articles focusing on members of the Global Legal Empowerment Network. Spotlight articles use case studies and ‘key lessons’ to provide insights into the work of network members. Whether you are working in the same country, with similar issues or want to understand new legal empowerment approaches, the Network Spotlight is a useful learning resource.
The Accountability Lab partners with civil society organizations in the developing world to build sustainable tools for new and innovative approaches to bolster accountability. The organization works to generate cost-effective relationships based on trust and cooperation rather than co-optation and dependency. In Liberia it is supporting a community justice program.
Network Spotlights are short profile articles focusing on members of the Global Legal Empowerment Network. Spotlight articles use case studies and ‘key lessons’ to provide insights into the work of network members. Whether you are working in the same country, with similar issues or want to understand new legal empowerment approaches, the Network Spotlight is a useful learning resource.
In recent years, governments across Africa, Asia and Latin America have been granting vast land concessions to foreign and domestic investors for agro-industrial enterprises and resource extraction. Often, governments make concessions with a view to furthering development and strengthening the national economy. Yet in many cases, these land concessions dispossess rural communities and deprive them of access to natural resources vital to their livelihoods and economic survival. Even when communities welcome private investment, projects are often undertaken in ways that lead to environmental degradation, human rights violations, loss of access to livelihoods, and inequity.
Communities generally have little power to contest such land grants or advocate for terms more favorable to local prosperity, particularly where they operate under customary law and do not have formal legal title to their lands. In this context, communities need strong legal protections for their lands and natural resources, as well as expedient government implementation of clear, simple, and easy-to-follow legal procedures for the documentation of customary land rights.
Various nations have passed laws that make it possible for rural communities to register their lands as a single legal entity and act as decentralized land administration and management bodies (referred to herein as “community land titling” or “community land documentation”). These laws have the power to protect community lands according to customary paradigms and boundaries — including all family land, forests, grazing lands, water bodies, and other common areas critical to community survival. However, due to various political, financial and capacity constraints, these laws are often not widely or successfully implemented.
To investigate how to best support implementation of such laws, the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) launched a randomized controlled trial in Liberia, Uganda and Mozambique from 2009 to 2011, entitled the “Community Land Titing Initiative.” Together with the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) in Liberia, the Land and Equity Movement in Uganda (LEMU) in Uganda, and Centro Terra Viva (CTV) in Mozambique, IDLO supported communities to follow their nation’s community land registration laws, taking note of the challenges and successes that transpired in the course of these efforts. The first study of its kind worldwide, the intervention’s goal was to better understand both the type and level of support that communities require to successfully complete community land documentation processes as well as how to best facilitate intracommunity protections for the land rights of vulnerable groups.
The study’s primary objectives were to:
1. Facilitate the documentation and protection of customarily held community lands through legally established community land titling processes;
2. Understand how to best and most efficiently support communities to successfully protect their lands and determine the types and level of support required to support communities in these processes; and
3. Devise and pilot strategies to guard against intra-community injustice and discrimination during community land titling processes, and to protect the land interests of vulnerable groups.
Findings and Recommendations:
This report details the communities’ various experiences undertaking the land documentation activities and summarizes the initial impacts of these efforts under the following subject headings: conflict resolution and prevention (encompassing boundary harmonization and demarcation); intra-community governance (encompassing by-laws/constitution drafting); and conservation and sustainable natural resources management (encompassing land and natural resource management plan drafting). It then briefly reviews the obstacles confronted relative to the administrative components of the process.
The report next outlines findings relative to the optimal level of legal intervention necessary to support communities’ successful completion of community land documentation processes as well as what endogenous factors may impact a community’s success. The report then details findings concerning how best to facilitate intra-community protections for the rights of women and other vulnerable groups during the land documentation process. It concludes by setting forth findings and recommendations intended to inform policy dialogue, help nations to refine and improve the implementation of existing community land documentation processes, and provide useful insights for countries seeking to develop laws and policies for community land documentation.
The report also concludes that community land documentation may be a more efficient method of land protection than individual and family titling, and should be prioritized in the short term.
ISBN: 978-0-9858151-0-3
In 2013, a group of 20 expert advocates from across Africa gathered for a three-day symposium to share experiences and practical strategies for effectively supporting communities to protect their lands and natural resources. The symposium illuminated many similarities between the types of threats to communities’ land and natural resource claims, as well as underlying factors that drive and exacerbate the threats.
Since the symposium, pressures on community land and natural resource rights have only increased. it is more necessary than ever to share strategies, successes, lessons, and resources across a wide network of local practitioners, legal champions, policy advocates, media allies, and supporters.
This book is a collection of case studies and analysis written by practitioners, for practitioners. Together, they share a variety of ingenious, creative, and practical strategies for proactively confronting the forces that undermine community land and natural resource tenure security in Africa.
Nepal National Dalit Social Welfare Organisation (NNDSWO) is committed to the elimination of caste-based discrimination and centuries of “untouchability”. It advocates for the rights and interest of Dalits, builds their capacity and confidence so they can claim and exercise their own rights. It promotes better access to quality education and sustainable livelihoods, and raises awareness on healthy living.
Network Spotlights are short profile articles focusing on members of the Global Legal Empowerment Network. Spotlight articles use case studies and ‘key lessons’ to provide insights into the work of network members. Whether you are working in the same country, with similar issues or want to understand new legal empowerment approaches, the Network Spotlight is a useful learning resource.
The Inter-American Program of Judicial Facilitators (also known by its Spanish acronym IJFP) works to build access to justice for vulnerable women and indigenous communities who live in rural areas by establishing a program of judicial facilitators or paralegals, with national coverage, administered by the Justice Department and recognized by the judiciary.
Network Spotlights are short profile articles focusing on members of the Global Legal Empowerment Network. Spotlight articles use case studies and ‘key lessons’ to provide insights into the work of network members. Whether you are working in the same country, with similar issues or want to understand new legal empowerment approaches, the Network Spotlight is a useful learning resource.
The Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project provides free legal services to men, women, and unaccompanied children in immigration custody in Arizona, USA. It works to ensure that all immigrants facing removal have access to counsel, understand their rights under the law, and are treated fairly and humanely.
Member Spotlights are short profile articles focusing on members of the Global Legal Empowerment Network. Spotlight articles use case studies and ‘key lessons’ to provide insights into the work of network members. Whether you are working in the same country, with similar issues or want to understand new legal empowerment approaches, the Member Spotlight is a useful learning resource.
You can download or access this Member Spotlight online by clicking on the light blue buttons at the top right of this page.
SUAKA, the Indonesian Civil Society Network for Refugee Rights Protection, assists asylum seekers with legal advice and education during their resettlement claims in Indonesia. It also advocates for the country to sign the 1951 UN Convention on Refugee Rights, and is building a network of students, academics, volunteers and organizations to work for the country’s largely forgotten refugees.
Network Spotlights are short profile articles focusing on members of the Global Legal Empowerment Network. Spotlight articles use case studies and ‘key lessons’ to provide insights into the work of network members. Whether you are working in the same country, with similar issues or want to understand new legal empowerment approaches, the Network Spotlight is a useful learning resource.
Grupo de Monitoreo Independiente de El Salvador (GMIES) works to idependently promote respect for labor rights, improve working conditions, conducts research on labor laws and develops innovative proposals to improve the working lives of communities across Central America.
Network Spotlights are short profile articles focusing on members of the Global Legal Empowerment Network. Spotlight articles use case studies and ‘key lessons’ to provide insights into the work of network members. Whether you are working in the same country, with similar issues or want to understand new legal empowerment approaches, the Network Spotlight is a useful learning resource.