8 October 2015
Bern Conference Issues Global Call to Action on Indigenous and Local Land Rights
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Participants attending the 2015 International Conference on Community Land and Resource Rights: Scaling Up Efforts and Action, issued a ‘Global Call to Action' aimed at mobilizing a broad network of champions to advance land rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities by 2020.

berncoference2 October 2015: Participants attending the 2015 International Conference on Community Land and Resource Rights: Scaling Up Efforts and Action, issued a ‘Global Call to Action’ aimed at mobilizing a broad network of champions to advance land rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities by 2020.

Co-organized by the ILC, Rights and Resource Initiative (RRI), Oxfam and Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation from 30 September to 1 October 2015 in Bern, Switzerland, the meeting brought together hundreds of indigenous and community leaders, representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) and the private sector, government officials and researchers.

The discussions highlighted the widespread incidence of human rights violations against indigenous peoples, “perpetrated by governments and private-sector actors as they grab resources and lands” as a key barrier to ending conflicts over land and dealing with climate change. Highlighting lessons from countries that have made progress in securing the tenure rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including Cameroon, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Liberia and Peru, presenters noted that some of the success factors are: the presence of strong and representative Indigenous Peoples’ organizations; legal frameworks acknowledging community and Indigenous Peoples’ rights and tenure that “provided a foothold for bringing forward the community rights agenda;” continuous investment in community capacity and the support of governments and international alliances for the effective devolution of rights to communities; and building alliances between CSOs and traditional authorities, enabling an effective “back-door” approach to lawmakers.

On the way forward, participants noted the need to, inter alia: endorse and take part in the Global Call for Action; encourage donors and governments to support the struggle for community tenure; develop flexible and innovative financial instruments at the community level; leverage communication technology and social media to highlight the issues of Indigenous Peoples and local communities; “Learn the language” of decision-makers in government and corporations as a way of better communicating the potential for win–wins; “work with leading, sympathetic corporates to put the land rights agenda into other spaces,” build trust, and scale up supply-chain influence; and demonstrate the potential of the land rights agenda to address other pressing issues, such as employment and poverty. [Conference Report: Day 1] [Conference Report: Day 2] [Conference Website][Conference Blog: Dispossessed: New Study Shows Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities—1.5 Billion Worldwide—Lack Legal Rights to Almost Three Quarters of Their Land]

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