[Asian Human Rights Commission]

Dakar Appeal against the land grab
Sign the appeal online at http://www.petitiononline.com/dakar/petition.html

Undoubtedly, land grabbing was one of the main axes of mobilization during the last World Social Forum (WSF) in Dakar. Various social movements, faith-based groups, environmental, development and human rights organizations organized a series of events revolving around this issue.

One of the most relevant was jointly convened by the West African Network of Peasants and Agricultural Producers (ROPPA) and La Via Campesina at the FIARA agricultural fair, focusing particularly on strategies for action. Peasant leaders from different countries highlighted the importance of awareness raising and alerting not only their constituencies but the society at large about the serious impacts of land grabbing, due to the threat that this development poses to all. They called for joint actions at all levels and in different fields, including information, research, media outreach and bringing the cases to court.

Following the suggestion by French NGOs to build on the joint positioning on land grabbing developed by CSO during the last session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in Rome in October 2010, La Via Campesina and ROPPA, with the support of FIAN International, Friends of the Earth International, CCFD – Terre Solidaire, Peuples Solidaires and AGTER took leadership to facilitate an assembly of convergence of all groups interested in launching in Dakar a strong appeal against land grabbing.

Participants in the assembly of convergence adopted this appeal and stressed that it should serve as a vehicle to forge broad alliances at the local, national and international levels and pave the way for large mobilizations to support all the communities and peoples’ organizations that are defending themselves against land grabbing on the ground.

The appeal calls for an immediate stop to land grabbing and the restitution of the lands that have been taken away from local communities. Moreover, it makes several demands of national governments and international organizations.

We invite all organizations and persons interested in working along the lines of the appeal to endorse it. To sign on on-line, please see below. The appeal will be open for the endorsement until March 31.

Sign the online appeal at http://www.petitiononline.com/dakar/petition.html

See the Report about the CFS discussions in October 2010 at http://www.fian.org/resources/documents/others/forerunning-new-international-decision-making-on-land-issues-2013-a-report-on-the-cfs-land-discussions-rome-october-8-16-2010

Download the Appeal in pdf format at http://www.fian.org/news/press-releases/dakar-appeal-against-the-land-grab/pdf
For more details, please contact:

Wilma Strothenke
Coordinator Communication
FIAN International Secretariat
Willy-Brandt-Platz 5/ D-69115 Heidelberg Germany
Tel +49(0)6221 65300 56/ Fax +49(0)6221 830545
Postal Address: PO Box 102243/ D-69012 Heidelberg Germany
E-mail: strothenke@fian.org / www.fian.org

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.