African Women’s Land Rights Conference 2011

African Women’s Land Rights Conference – 2011

'The Right to land and justice for women in Africa'

Oxfam, ActionAid, and ACORD with support from others are convening the African Women’s Land Rights Conference, to be held from 30 May to 2 June 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The conference will bring together women’s and land rights activists and organisations including farmer associations, pastoralist groups, women survivor groups, lawyers, parliamentarians and academics that are committed to strengthening women’s rights in Africa.

The purpose of the event is to re-energize the struggle for women’s land rights and access to justice and reparation as fundamental human rights and the basis for women’s empowerment, and improved food security and social justice in Africa. Amongst other specific issues the conference will address access to justice and reparations related to conflicts, sexual gender based violence (SGBV) and land.

Land is resurfacing as a contentious issue in the face of increasing global interests in land, water, food, and fuel security. Violence against women continues to undermine women’s rights including land and property rights. More competition for land, as seen in large land grabs, has immediate impacts on women’s land tenure security and food security in a situation where the achievement of women’s land rights remains a challenge in Africa.

Recent initiatives to address land issues in Africa include new land laws and titling projects in a number of countries and the African Union Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa. Many organisations continue to work on practical projects and advocacy to address land issues.

We need to learn from these experiences and understand the new challenges and opportunities for women’s land rights and land use. African women and girls face increasing violence due to conflicts and a culture of violence and patriarchy in many countries. Accessing justice for victims of SGBV has never been easy and needs clear policies and actions to end impunity and protect women.

The conference will therefore focus on sharing new information on the situation of women’s land and food rights as well as access to justice and reparations in order to devise actions to improve these rights. This will be achieved through the sharing of case studies and research and engaging in discussions drawing on the experiences of the wide variety of participants at the event. The programme will cover:

- Learning from recent land reforms and their impact on women
- Agricultural policies, programmes, investments, and appropriate farming models.
- Land grabs, land conflicts, and women’s already fragile rights to land
- Linkages between land rights, SGBV, conflict, and compensation for women
- Women’s right to access justice and reparations
- Women’s land and natural resources rights struggles that can inspire further action
- Climate change and impact on woman farmers and pastoralists
- Field visits to learn about women asserting their rights and challenges still faced
- What needs to be done and developing a plan of action to advance women’s rights

If you are interested to attend; If you are working to advance women’s land rights; If you have a paper or case study that you would like to share at this event; or just want further information please send your details to www.landforafricanwomen.org or call Wilkister Oluoch at +254 20
272 11 72/85/86.

At this time of continued challenges and threat, but also new opportunities, let us join in finding ways to ensure that African women can assert their fundamental rights to land and are able to use this as a basis for achieving food rights. We must ensure that crimes of SGBV and seizures of land do not remain unpunished and women survivors are recognized by judicial systems, protected and compensated.

Send reply form to or get more information from: [email][email protected]
or call Wilkister Oluoch at +254 20 272 11 72/85/86