Notes to Broadcasters on land

    | April 9, 2012

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    The international farmers’ organization La Via Campesina has marked April 17 as the International Day of Peasant Struggle. The day aims to raise awareness of the rights of small-scale farmers around the world. A principle right is the right to land. The day calls farmers and their supporters to unite, raise awareness about land issues and “land grabs” and support the agricultural production model based on family farming and food sovereignty.

    For more information about the International Day of Peasant Struggle, visit: http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1212:call-for-april-17-international-day-of-peasant-struggl&catid=26:17-april-day-of-peasants-struggle&Itemid=33

    We will mark the day and support farmers and their rights to land by bringing you three full stories and more extensive notes on land issues next week. This week, as an introduction to the topic, we offer some news stories related to this week’s three short items, plus a few general resources on land issues.

    News stories related to the Mozambique story:

    Mozambique: Vale Promises to Solve Resettlement Problems http://allafrica.com/stories/201201200153.html

    Coal versus Communities in Mozambique: Exposing poor practices by VALE and Rio Tinto http://www.osisa.org/open-policy/economic-justice/mozambique/coal-versus-communities-mozambique-exposing-poor-practices-v

    Foreign mining companies accused of disrupting lives of villagers in central Mozambique

    http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/68907–foreign-mining-companies-accused-of-disrupting-lives-of-villagers-in-central-mozambique

    The real facts about Vale (the company’s response to the situation) http://www.valeesclarece.com.br/deslocamento-forcado-de-pessoas-em-mocambique/?lang=en

    Here’s a report related to the Kenyan story:

    Double Standards: Women’s Property Rights Violations in Kenya. A report from the UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR) http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3f4f59583.html

    Also, check out the resources on these three websites:

    Land for African Women: www.landforafricanwomen.org

    The African Women and Child Feature Service’s Land Rights Project: http://www.awcfs.org/new/projects/land-rights-project

    Women’s Inheritance Now: http://winafrica.org/

    Here is a resource related to the Malawi story:

    Victory for women in Malawi: http://winafrica.org/2011/11/victory-for-women-in-malawi/

    Stay tuned for next week, when we’ll go into much more depth on land issues, and offer some programming suggestions.