Embargoed until 09:00 (Geneva, CET) on Tuesday 15th November Contact: Sara Blackwell, sara@icar.ngo, +1.202.758.8209
New report examines how corruption is fuelling widespread land grabbing and human rights abuses A new report launched today takes the most comprehensive look to date at how corruption is fuelling the global land grabbing crisis, which has seen millions of people displaced from their homes and farmland. Tainted Lands, authored by Professor Olivier De Schutter, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, and leading human rights organizations Global Witness and the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR), calls on companies and governments to ensure that land deals are transparent, are corruption-free, and protect the rights of local communities. ”As demand for food, fuel, and commodities increases pressure on land, companies are all too often striking deals with corrupt State officials without the consent of the people who live on it,” said Professor De Schutter. ”The last decade has seen an upsurge in land grabs for industries like mining, logging, agribusiness, and infrastructure projects, with local communities rarely consulted or compensated.” At worst, these land seizures are fatal. According to Global Witness data, in 2015, an average of more than three people each week were killed defending their land against theft and the ruinous impacts of industry – the deadliest year on record. Corruption enables land grabbing in a number of ways. It can be simply transactional – when State officials accept bribes from a company to gain access to land, for example. It can also be institutionalised – when decision-making in State bodies such as the police, judiciary, or executive is skewed so that business or political elites can ignore national laws to seize land without facing the consequences. “What this report makes clear is that any efforts to end land grabbing must also tackle corruption, as the two tend to co-exist and are mutually reinforcing,” said Josie Cohen, Senior Land Campaigner with Global Witness. “Disturbingly, what we’re seeing is that investors seeking large-scale land acquisitions appear to be targeting countries that suffer high levels of corruption. Meanwhile, corruption is distorting the outcomes of government and aid programmes designed to help communities gain security over their lands, resulting in millions of land grab victims across the world.”