About rights4land.org

What is the Human Rights 4 Land Navigator?

This online tool provides an overview of the linkages between the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and international human rights standards.

The basis is a detailed mapping of the VGGT (paragraph by paragraph) showing how human rights standards, including binding human rights obligations, underpin the voluntary instrument. It has been developed in collaboration between TMG Thinktank and the Danish Institute for Human Rights with financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

How can it be used?

Users can explore the database and apply own filters. Search results can be exported to Excel and PDF.

The database can be used by for example National Human Rights Institutions, human rights experts, land rights advocates, civil society and research organisations working on land issues to understand the human rights implications of specific land issues, prepare reports to international human rights mechanisms, and inform legal action and advocacy efforts.

What part of the VGGT does it cover?

The mapping of linkages covers all substantive parts of the VGGT (part 2-7). Part 1 of the VGGT was excluded from the mapping as it introduces the general objectives of the guidelines and their nature and scope. Part 7 of the VGGT refers to implementation, promotion and evaluation of the Guidelines themselves, including the role of the Committee on World Food Security, development partners and UN agencies. As it does not have a substantive focus, this section was also excluded from the mapping.

Which human rights instruments are included?

Each paragraph (“i.e. the numbered paragraphs in the VGGT) have been mapped against a range of underlying human rights referring to the following international human rights instruments:

Core international human rights treaties, notably UN Covenants on civil and political rights and on social, economic and cultural rights; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; and Convention on the Rights of the Child.

UN Declarations, namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in the rural areas; and

ILO Conventions, notably the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) and the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111). The ILO Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107), the predecessor of ILO Convention No. 169, although still in force in some countries, is not used in the mapping.

Other UN standards such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The UNGPs are not organised by human right. Rather, they refer to broad areas of state duty and business responsibility for all human rights. Therefore, the references to the UNGPs in the database are organised by general descriptions of: (1) the overall purpose of the UNGPs; (2) the corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and (3) access to remedy for victims of business-related abuses.

Which instruments are not included?

It should be noted that regional human rights instruments have not been included in the mapping exercise. These may be added at a later stage.

The mapping only includes a restricted number of ILO Conventions, i.e. ILO Conventions Nos. 111 and 169. These are of most direct relevance to land tenure as this tool is primarily focussed on land governance. However, other ILO Conventions, including the ILO fundamental conventions on child labour, forced labour, freedom of association and collective bargaining, are also relevant to the VGGT

Details on method

The linkages between each paragraph of the VGGT and the underpinning human rights are made on the basis of the prior identification of the main human rights aspects (sometimes referred to as attributes) of each paragraph. The main human rights aspects have subsequently been clustered into 15 overall themes (same as the filter “land issues”).

The mapping is comprehensive but by no means exhaustive. Whereas human rights are interdependent and therefore all relevant to the VGGT, the mapping references the human rights more closely linked to the text of each paragraph. For example, while equality and non-discrimination should be considered universally applicable as principles and rights, for the purposes of user friendliness, it is not linked to every VGGT paragraph but only when the text references equality or similar. When the paragraph refers to consultation and participation, reference is made mainly to the rights to participation, access to information and self-determination, when applicable, although freedom of opinion and expression and of peaceful assembly and association are, for example, also relevant, among others. Similarly, although the right to health is also at play when discussing tenure security, it is not recalled in the mapping.

In order to guide and illustrate the rationale for the linkages and make the linkages as specific as possible, reference is made in explanatory notes to the interpretations and clarifications provided by the supervisory bodies charged with monitoring the application of the international instruments used in the mapping, wherever available. The explanations may relate to a human rights category such as ‘the right to adequate housing’ or to a specific article in a human rights instrument such as ICEDAW 14.2.a.

The linkages presented in the mapping refer to States’ obligations under international human rights law. Corresponding responsibilities of other actors, such as business enterprises, may also be identified and are, in some cases, explicitly recalled in the guidelines.

The mapping covers the paragraphs formulated in terms of what “States should” do, which represent the vast majority of the paragraphs in the VGGT. It does not show any linkages for the few paragraphs that describe what “States may” do.

Concerning Part 4 of the VGGT, notably the section on markets, the focus of the mapping has been placed on "safeguard" aspects that could be connected to human rights obligations. Moreover, as noted by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its draft general comment on land and economic, social and cultural rights, commodification of property rights can be a source of exclusion and increase insecurity of tenure. Therefore, States should adopt laws and policies to guarantee that titling programmes are not implemented solely to support the sale of land and the commodification of land tenure. Since the consideration of land as a mere commodity is foreign to the understanding of land enshrined in certain international human rights standards, such as those concerning indigenous peoples' rights, such instruments are included in the mapping concerning part 4 only to the extent that they refer to agrarian reforms and other measures to facilitate or restore access to land and natural resources.

Finally, States’ obligation to take steps, to the maximum of their available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights is relevant to the VGGT. However, the human rights norms enshrining this obligation, such as article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, are not included in the mapping. The choice has been made to refer directly to the economic, social and cultural rights in question. In some cases, the obligation under article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is recalled in the explanatory notes, such in the case of the paragraphs addressing the issue of corruption.

What is the Human Rights 4 Land Monitoring tool?

Why a human rights-based approach to monitoring?

This can help bridge land rights and human rights monitoring, provide a stronger basis for advocacy and legal claims by rights-holder groups and their organisations, inform stakeholder and state reporting to human rights mechanisms, and produce information that can be used by States in implementing legal reforms and developing inclusive policies and programming to reach their sustainable development commitments and corresponding human rights obligations.

Why a human rights-based approach to monitoring?

The indicator framework and data collection tools aim to complement and add value to existing land governance monitoring initiatives by more explicitly linking land governance to the human rights obligations of States. This can help bridge land rights and human rights monitoring, provide a stronger basis for advocacy and legal claims by rights-holder groups and their organizations, inform stakeholder and state reporting to human rights mechanisms, and produce information that can be used by States in implementing legal reforms and developing inclusive policies and programming to improve responsible land governance, and to reach their sustainable development commitments and corresponding human rights obligations.

The tools have been developed based on the understanding that access to land and natural resources is a prerequisite for the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights for billions of people around the world. At the same time, the competition for access to and control over land and natural resources has been growing intensely over the past decades because of intensive exploitation, including through mining, industrial farming, large scale infrastructure development and urbanization.

People who are poor and marginalized, including indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities, refugees, small-holder farmers, small-scale fishers, pastoralists, hunter-gatherers, and slum dwellers are disproportionately affected by and at risk of being dispossessed of their land, property and natural resources, as they often do not enjoy security of tenure and have fewer opportunities to effectively claim their legitimate tenure rights in the often unequal power relations with local and national authorities, elites and corporations.

The tools have been developed in collaboration between TMG Research, the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Malawi Human Rights Commission with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and technical input from an expert reference group.

Methodology

The indicator framework has been developed using the OHCHR methodology for identifying human rights indicators. Hence, it encompasses structural, process and outcome indicators, to enable an assessment of (a) international commitments, domestic legislation and administrative regulations and institutions; (b) efforts undertaken to make rights effective through, for example, institutional arrangements, budgetary allocations and projects and programmes; (c) the actual result of such efforts, for example, in terms of tenure security for disadvantaged groups or individuals. Importantly, the indicator framework draws on existing indicators and data collection efforts and complements these from a human rights perspective.

Steps in the process:

Draw out human rights aspects of the VGGT

First, the VGGT were analysed paragraph by paragraph to identify the key human rights aspect (referred to as “attributes” in the OHCHR guidance). The key human rights aspects (for example “consultation with rights-holders in the process of recognizing or allocating tenure rights”) were identified to reflect the content of each VGGT paragraph as separate, measurable components.

The human rights aspects were then grouped into clusters, which are also used to structure the questionnaires:

Protection of legitimate tenure rights
Responsible governance of tenure
Protection against dispossession, land grabbing
Recognition and protection of multiple functions of land, fisheries and forests
Access to information, consultation and participation
Access to justice and reparations, right to remedy
Prevention of corruption
Promotion of responsible investments
Protection of human rights defenders
Taxation and valuation
International cooperation

Map existing indicators against the human rights aspects

Then, a review of existing indicators was carried out to test the availability of structural, process and outcome indicators. Existing indicators were mapped against the human rights aspects of the VGGT.

Indicators were draw from the following existing indicator frameworks:

FAO Legal Assessment Tool (FAO LAT)
FAO Census of Agriculture
FAO Gender and Land Rights Database
FAO Rural Livelihoods Information System
Global Corruption Barometer
Global Land Governance Index (LANDex)
Indigenous Navigator indicator framework
Land matrix large scale land acquisitions
OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index
Prindex
RRI forest tenure
SDG indicators (selected)
VGGT expropriation, compensation, resettlement indicators
World Bank LGAF Scorecard

Propose indicators based on criteria

Specific indicators (existing and new) were then proposed based on the following criteria.

Broad coverage – the indicator framework should cover all clusters (see clusters above)
Balance between broad coverage but keeping it simple and manageable (not detailed in all areas)
As a preference, use indicators where data sources are available
Use existing indicators in line with human rights standards where available and use SDG indicators where feasible
Focus on marginalized groups with the highest risk of violations
Focus on topics which represent the most fundamental building blocks for ensuring land rights for vulnerable and marginalised groups
Focus on areas where human rights standards and guidance from human rights bodies can provide the most guidance on realising land and resource rights
Prospects for use of data, collaboration with custodians on data collection
Consider the ability of NHRIs and other legitimate data providers to collect data on specific areas and specific indicators
Integrate disaggregation of data

Need to correlate with real life experience

Develop questionnaires and guidance

Finally, the questionnaires were developed with consideration as to who would be able to collect and provide the data. Most of the structural indicators can be found in the national questionnaire and lend themselves to an assessment of laws, policies and procedures. The outcome indicators can mainly be found in the local questionnaire where rights-holders can self-report on how they experience the results of policy implementation or lack thereof and their enjoyment of rights. Process indicators can be found in both the national and the local questionnaire.

The guidance for data collectors is built into the questionnaires and introduces key concepts and points to specific guidance from the human rights system. It also points to the VGGT human rights linkages which can be explored in full here [insert link to HR and Land Navigator].

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