June 2013: At a two-day conference convened in Monrovia, Liberia, from 20-21 May 2013, the Liberian Land Commission presented a draft land rights policy to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

At the conference, President Sirleaf welcomed the policy’s clarity on categorizing public, government, customary and private lands and the associated right and responsibilities. She also stressed that the Land Policy addresses past inequalities and provides a vision for the land sector. The policy includes new provisions for customary land, which will require extensive education for rural communities across the country. Furthermore, the implementation of the law will require the repeal and revision of some existing laws and restructuring of some institutions. The conference assembled over 750 delegates from national and local constituencies under the theme, ‘Know Your Land Rights.’

The development of the policy has been part of the five year mandate of the Land Commission, which was established in 2009. The work of the Land Commission has been supported by UN-HABITAT, USAID, the World Bank, UN-Habitat, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. [UN-Habitat Press Release] [Rights and Resources Initiative News]