Latest news with #landrights
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘They are pushing us out': how El Salvador turned to gang violence laws to seize land from the poor
In early May, the farming cooperative of El Bosque in Santa Tecla, one of El Salvador's largest cities, received an eviction notice; a new battle in a decades-old fight for land. In response, community members organised a peaceful sit-in near hardline President Nayib Bukele's private residence, hoping to appeal directly for help. Instead, they were confronted by military police. The protest ended in five detentions: four members of the cooperative and its lawyer. The arrests were met by a wave of panic. The cooperative's president, José Ángel Pérez, and Alejandro Henríquez, a lawyer and human rights activist supporting the group, were formally charged with public disorder. Under the government's extended 'state of exception', which suspends certain constitutional protections, their legal status has caused uncertainty among people in El Bosque. 'Our leaders have been detained without cause just for speaking out. That is not a crime,' says Douglas, a cooperative member who prefers not to reveal his surname. 'They took them to send us a message. If we organise, we'll be next.' According to another person who requested anonymity, members of the nearly 300 families being displaced attempted to leave El Bosque to join the protest that day but were stopped at a police checkpoint about 9km (6 miles) from the village. Cars were turned back or the occupants fined $150 (£110), forcing many to continue on foot. The protest outside Bukele's luxury Los Sueños home ended when military police and riot police arrived. 'They hit many of us when we tried to stop them from taking our leaders,' the resident says. El Bosque is not just any piece of land. Like many others in El Salvador, it was granted to landless peasants during the 12-year civil war that started in 1980. Land redistribution was promised as a key step toward peace and social justice, a process that led to the formation of hundreds of rural cooperatives. On the day of the protest, Bukele posted a thread on X accusing the protesters of being manipulated by 'self-proclaimed leftist groups and globalist NGOs', whose real goal, he claimed, is to 'attack the government'. In the same thread, he announced a new tax change that would withhold 30% from all foreign donations to local NGOs, a move likely to affect organisations involved in rural and human rights defence. Originally justified as a tool to counter gang violence in El Salvador, the state of exception has now been extended more than 38 times. Critics argue it is increasingly used in contexts involving environmental or land-related conflict. On 20 May, the legislative assembly passed the foreign agents law, which imposes additional financial and legal requirements on NGOs that receive international funding. 'They turned the right to defend rights and peaceful protest into crimes,' says Ingrid Escobar, director of Socorro Jurídico Humanitario (Humanitarian Legal Aid). 'They have effectively applied the mechanisms of the state of exception, even though this is not a gang-related case. The leaders have been held longer than the law permits.' This concern is supported by the attorney general's charging document, which explicitly states that the charges against Pérez and Henríquez – public disorder and aggressive resistance – fall under the framework of the state of exception, citing national security justifications established by emergency decrees since March 2022. The case of El Bosque resonates beyond Santa Tecla. In a coastal cooperative near the airport megaproject, Elmer Martínez and 35 households face eviction by 20 June. 'My six acres of farmland were taken without compensation. I'm trying to get one last harvest from the land,' he says. 'We never asked for much – just to live where we've always lived.' Although the housing ministry has started building him a new home, Martínez adds, 'I won't stop until every family in my community has their property titles.' According to Ángel Flores, a spokesperson for the rural advocacy group Milpa, at least 45 similar land disputes are under way across the country. 'Megaprojects, extractivism, real estate and tourism developments, and agribusiness are all driving a new wave of dispossession,' Flores says. 'About 11,000 families are in extreme vulnerability.' These families often face legal uncertainty and sudden eviction notices, backed by the presence of police or private security. In the coastal village of Punta Mango, near the newly inaugurated Surf City 2 project, fisher Rosa Romero describes how her community, settled more than three decades ago, has never received formal land titles from the state. 'We've lived here for more than 30 years. But now, with Surf City 2, people have shown up claiming to own this land,' she says, adding that the arrival of tourism-linked businesses has put mounting pressure on local people. 'We're about 300 families, and they're pushing us out. We just want the government to recognise our right to stay.' In El Salvador, environmental assessments are rare, and local people are often excluded from consultations. Legal ambiguity, especially civil war-era unresolved land titles, has become a central point of tension in development projects. The 1980s land redistribution programme aimed to address rural inequality by transferring land to subsistence farmers. But many titles were never recognised by later governments, leaving communities vulnerable to dispossession. Passed just days after the El Bosque arrests, El Salvador's new foreign agents law requires any organisation receiving international funds to register with the interior ministry and pay a 30% tax on such donations. The authorities can impose fines and revoke the legal status of non-compliant organisations. Bukele has presented the measure as a means to enhance transparency and national sovereignty. He also suggested that the revenue generated could help address debts related to the El Bosque land dispute. Critics argue that the law not only fails to specify how the taxed money would be used but could also weaken civil society by restricting legal aid, curtailing public participation and reducing the operational capacity of NGOs and independent media. Bukele has used his platforms to discredit NGOs, accusing them of staging protests and opposing development initiatives and portraying civil society groups as being aligned to foreign interests. Several NGOs are considering shutting down or relocating staff. Legal aid groups warn they may no longer be able to represent communities such as El Bosque. The removal of the communities of El Triunfo, Las Granadillas and Cooperativa El Bosque has been temporarily suspended by the courts without any reason being given for the suspension – but the fear remains. Police are still posted nearby, and local people tread cautiously. The decision to impose pretrial detention for Pérez and Henríquez added to the sense of despair in El Bosque. Milpa's Flores says: 'We are witnessing a national project to redistribute and centralise land under the guise of modernisation and legal order. The legal system is no longer a neutral referee. It's becoming a tool to decide who gets to belong.'
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- The Guardian
Wild camping on Dartmoor is legal, supreme court rules
Wild camping will be allowed on Dartmoor after the supreme court ruled that a multimillionaire landowner was wrong to ban it on his land. Dartmoor was – until the legal action – the only place in England where wild camping without the permission of the landowner was enshrined in law. In Scotland, people have enjoyed this right since 2003. For two years, Alexander Darwall, a multimillionaire hedge fund manager, has been pursuing the matter through the courts against the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA), as he does not want people camping on his land without his permission. Darwall, Dartmoor's sixth largest landowner, bought the 1,619-hectare (4,000-acre) Blachford estate on southern Dartmoor in 2013. He offers pheasant shoots, deerstalking and holiday rentals on his land. He has argued that under the law, he has been unable to remove wild campers from his land and said this has affected his conservation efforts and potentially put his cattle at risk. The DNPA wants to keep the right for wild camping on Dartmoor and has said it is 'absurd' to suggest wild camping causes environmental issues. In a case that has been keenly followed by land rights campaigners – and campers – across the country, Darwall won in the high court in 2023, but then the appeal court ruled that the law did state there was a right to wild camp on Dartmoor. He then brought his case to the supreme court. The case has hinged on what the meaning of 'open-air recreation' is under the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985. Darwall's lawyers have sought a very narrow interpretation of this, arguing that walking and horseback riding are the only activities permitted. In what some termed a bizarre turn of events, lawyers for Darwall told the supreme court last year that picnicking did not count as open-air recreation and was therefore trespass. Experts including the Open Spaces Society warned the court that agreeing with Darwall's interpretation of the law would have wide implications for how people enjoyed Dartmoor, potentially prohibiting activities including bathing, sketching, rock climbing, bird watching and fishing. Since the case was brought, thousands of protesters have flocked to Dartmoor to camp under the stars and argue for their continued right to do so. After the verdict, campaigners have urged the Labour party to revive plans to legalise the right to roam across England. This was promised in opposition but ditched by the party as it wrote its manifesto last year, after pressure from countryside groups. Guy Shrubsole from the Right to Roam campaign said: 'The verdict is a relief – but Dartmoor remains the only place in England and Wales where the public has a right to wild camp, and can lawfully experience the magic of sleeping under the stars. 'And the fact that one wealthy landowner, Alexander Darwall, was able to temporarily remove a right that belonged to everyone demonstrates how England's system of access is utterly broken. 'The Labour government must now pass a new right to roam act to defend and extend the public's rights to access nature in England. Ministers must urgently change the law – not only to protect the right to wild camp on Dartmoor from future challenges, but to expand the public's right of responsible access to the wider countryside.'
Mail & Guardian
20-05-2025
- Mail & Guardian
Court rules against eviction of couple living on rural land in Stellenbosch
The Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of a retired gardener and his wife living in Joostenbergvlakte. Illustration: Lisa Nelson The supreme court of appeal has found that a retired gardener and his wife can continue living on a smallholding in Stellenbosch because their land rights are protected under the The judgment is important for people who live on land in farming areas near cities, where it is sometimes unclear whether the Act applies. The legislation was established in 1997 to protect farm workers whose rights were insecure because of racist laws of the past. The case revolves around a smallholding in Joostenbergvlakte, an agricultural area just outside Stellenbosch. Jacob Pieters and his wife started living there in 1988 when he was employed by the landowner as a gardener. Pieters retired in 2012 but the couple continued living there and are still residing on the property with two grandchildren. Their sole source of income is a But, in 2014, the land was taken over by the owner's son, Peter Stemmet. Four years later, Stemmet started eviction proceedings against the Pieters. The Bellville magistrate's court granted the eviction order, but the Pieters family appealed to the land claims court, arguing that the Extension of Security of Tenure Act applied to them and that they were therefore allowed to stay on the land. Eviction proceedings would have to comply with the Act, they argued. The court ruled against the Pieters, finding that the Act did not apply to this land. It said the landowners had correctly followed the eviction process required by the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from an Unlawful Occupation of Land Act and the Pieters family could therefore be evicted. But the family took the matter to the supreme court of appeal, where a full bench (Acting Judge Leonie Windell, Judge Pieter Meyer, Judge David Unterhalter, Judge Keoagile Matojane and Judge Raylene Keightley) In terms of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act, land situated within or around a 'township' is excluded from its ambit. So the court first had to determine whether the land occupied by the Pieters constituted a township in terms of the law. It was not disputed that the land had never been officially registered or proclaimed as a township in a provincial gazette. Because there is no uniform definition of township in South African law, the court had to consider definitions from several different laws. The court found that 'public space' was a key feature in each of these definitions. If there is public space, defined as 'any open or enclosed area, such as a street or road, depicted on a general plan or diagram, intended for use by the general public and owned by or vested in the municipal council', then the land in question is a township. Taking this approach, the land was in a township. But if the land is designated for agricultural purposes, even though it is a township, the Act may still reply. Here the court stressed that it has an obligation to interpret any law in a manner that promotes the spirit and aims of the Bill of Rights. Because the land in question had been zoned as rural, the court found that it was equal to agricultural land, though the Stemmets argued that the land was earmarked for urban development. The court said that the attempt to distinguish between 'rural' and 'agricultural' was artificial. In the City of Cape Town's development management scheme, the line between rural and agricultural was often blurred and they shared many overlapping characteristics, the court found. The protections of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act are aimed at safeguarding security of tenure, the right not to be unjustly evicted and the right to adequate housing. Because the constitutional court had stressed that the Act was remedial legislation, and its provisions must be interpreted to advance the rights of farm workers who are a vulnerable group, the supreme court of appeal found that a rigid approach could not be sustained. The court also stressed the importance of the fact that the Pieters family had resided on the property for more than three decades with the knowledge and consent of the owners. The supreme court of appeal found that the Extension of Security of Tenure Act applied to the land and the Pieters' right of residence could only be terminated in terms of the Act. The appeal was upheld with costs. This article was first published by
RNZ News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Indigenous West Papuans claim Indonesian government is 'land grabbing'
Indigenous Papuans in Merauke district protest to protect their customary lands. Crosses have been used as a protest symbol since 2010 when the Indonesian government launched the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate project. Photo: Wensi Fatubun West Papuans in Merauke claim the Indonesian government is stealing land to build its global "food barn" and feed its population of 280 million. Indonesia denies this and says all transactions are lawful. President Prabowo Subianto's administration wants Indonesia to be able to feed its population without imports as early as 2028, with the greater goal of exporting food. To get there, Indonesia plans to convert millions of hectares into farmland. Wensi Fatubun, from Merauke in Indonesian-occupied Papua close to Papua New Guinea's border, said forests where he grew up are being cleared. "[The] Indonesian government took the land for the [food] security project, it was not consulted or consented by Indigenous Papuan," Fatubun said. Prabowo's goal is a continuation of his predecessors. In 2020, President Joko Widodo announced the establishment of a national food estate project which aimed at opening up new areas of farmland outside Java Island. It is similar to the failed Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate, spearheaded by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2010. About 1.3 million hectares were set aside in Merauke for it: half for food crops, 30 percent sugar cane, and 20 percent for palm. A report from the United States Department of Agriculture said it encountered resistance from locals and legal challenges. "Approximately 90 percent of the targeted areas were forest, which provided a source of livelihood for many locals. Accordingly, the development plans became a flashpoint for local activists concerned about environmental and biodiversity impacts," the report said. Probowo's government has the more ambitious goal of opening up three million hectares of agricultural land in Merauke - two million for rice and one million for sugarcane. Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono said President Prabowo had elevated the "so-called food security issue". "[The President] wants Merauke in West Papua to be the so called national food barn. This deforestation land grabbing is much more deeper in Merauke than in the past." Harsono said conflict had escalated in West Papua and is now on par with some of the most violent periods in the past 60 years, but he was not sure if it is connected to the President's focus on food security. BenarNews reported that about 2000 troops were deployed late last year in Merauke to provide security at a two-million-hectare food plantation. A Papuan man (right) in traditional clothing and face painted with the banned Morning Star flag stands next to a policeman during a demonstration demanding a referendum on independence in Yogyakarta on 1 December 2023. Photo: AFP / Devi Rahman Rosa Moiwend, from Merauke, said the soldiers work alongside farmers. "They are expected to teach local farmers how to use mechanical agriculture equipment," Moiwend said. "But as West Papuan people, the presence of the military in the middle of the community, watching communities activities, people's movement when they travel from one place to another, actually creates fear among the people in Merauke." Like Harsono and Fatubun, Moiwend said "land grabs" are happening. However, she said it still involves a land broker, which creates a facade of a fair procedure. "Indigenous Merauke, indigenous Marind people like myself and my people, we do not sell land because land belongs to the community. It is communal land." However, a spokesperson for Indonesia's Embassy in Wellington said all processes and steps involving land sales had been lawful "always respecting the inclinations of local tribes". "Its development always involving local authorities, especially chief tribes for the consent of their ulayat (traditional land)," they said. "There is no land grab without consent, and the government also working on the biodiversity conservation and forestry production to create space harmonisation model with Conservation International, Medco Group, and couple of other independent organisations." Catherine Delahunty says New Zealand and Australia are failing the citizens of West Papua. Photo: Johnny Blades / VNP West Papua Action Aotearoa spokesperson Catherine Delahunty said the region is part of the lungs of the Pacific, which is now being destroyed. "The plan has been around for a long time but it seems to have escalated under Prabowo," Delahunty said. "They are stripping those lands and stripping those communities who live there from their traditional foods such as the sago palm to turn the whole of Merauke into sugar cane, rice and palm plantations. "The effects have been massive and they're just getting worse." She said New Zealand and Australia - the two most powerful governments in the South Pacific - are failing in its obligations to the citizens of West Papua. "You could almost justify, because it's a long way away from other parts of the world, that Europe and the northern hemisphere don't really understand West Papua but there's no excuse for us. "These people are in our region but they're not white people. I think there's a huge element of racism towards Papuans and towards Pacific nations who aren't perceived as important in the western worldview." She said there was willingness to trade and New Zealand did not want to rock the boat, with Indonesia as a regional powerhouse. That coupled with a media blackout makes it easy for Indonesia to act with impunity, Delahunty said.
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Squatting activist shares staggering 'Aboriginal Australia' justification for his antics - as he publishes DIY guide of how to take over someone else's house
A controversial squatter's rights activist has sparked fresh uproar after he published a DIY guide for his followers on how to detect whether a house is fit for squatting. Jordan van den Lamb, 29, collects addresses for abandoned or empty homes and provides them to Australians in need of emergency housing. In a recent TikTok video posted under his moniker Purplepingers, he shared what to look out for in identifying an empty home - from checking the fuse box and gas meter to researching online real estate listings. While the video received mostly positive reactions, a number of viewers were furious at the idea of having to justify their right to homeownership. In an interview with Daily Mail Australia, Mr van den Lamb claimed property owners had a responsibility to make productive use of their land. Where it was clearly demonstrated they had failed to do so by leaving it empty or abandoned - usually for at least two years - he claimed it was justified for a squatter to move in. He said the idea is embedded in Australia's cultural history. 'It's how we colonised the country. It was like: "this land was owned by no one", which is obviously flawed right. And therefore, the land rights were granted to colonial squatters,' he said. 'The song Waltzing Matilda is literally about that... read the lyrics, it's about a squatter evicting a swagman from their property.' Each state and territory in Australia has its own version of adverse possession laws allowing squatters to claim ownership over land they've openly and continuously possessed for a defined period of time. In most jurisdictions, possession must be held for 12 to 15 years. For his part, Mr van den Lamb believes this is excessively long. 'Twelve to 15 years is a ridiculous amount of time for a house to be empty, especially noting these houses are empty for much longer periods prior to them being squatted [in],' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'If someone's living in a house you've literally not bothered to check on for like two years.... You have a responsibility to use it productively'. Mr van den Lamb draws justification for encouraging Aussies to take ownership of empty homes in part from the vacant residential land tax in Victoria, which requires homeowners to pay a tax on properties left unoccupied for one year. He claimed many residents were committing fraud by failing to pay the tax, while others took advantage of the enforcement limitations. 'The data used to enforce [residential land taxes] is predominantly water usage. We've seen people go around every couple of months and just turn the taps on for a day and then leave the house empty,' he said. Mr van den Lamb has consistently warned his followers against breaking into the properties he assigns them, claiming it was unnecessary. 'I've been doing this for a while and, most of the time, they just have either an open back door or an open window,' he said. 'I've never encouraged anyone to break in to a property and I still would never encourage that. That's not what this is about. 'This is about the thousands of empty properties that we have around this country and the far fewer people who don't have roofs over their head every night.' Mr van den Lamb said it was his understanding that trespassing required forced entry to a property, for example, breaking a window or kicking down a door. But legal experts told Daily Mail Australia otherwise. Andre Ong, principal at Sharrock Pitman lawyers, said Mr van den Lamb had 'misconstrued' the criminal and tortious elements of trespassing. 'In a civil society, you are supposed to respect other people's property rights. What is relevant is that you were there without consent or other lawful entitlement to be there,' he said. Special counsel in commercial litigation at Attwood Marshall Lawyers Jade Carlson agreed, adding the legal question is whether Mr van den Lamb himself could be held liable for any trespasses he may help to facilitate. Ms Carlson said only the registered owner could raise a trespassing claim, meaning if a home were truly abandoned the likelihood of legal action would be 'remote'. She added, however, the program raises 'inherent risks' that could raise 'significant' legal consequences. Mr Ong said a court may look beyond the activist's insistence against forcing entry to a property to any reasonably foreseeable misconduct arising from the trespass. Asked by Daily Mail Australia whether he feared any legal repercussions, Mr van den Lamb said: 'Not particularly, no. People are dying. Me having a fight with a cop isn't gonna change much. 'At the end of the day, I'm a young white man who's tertiary educated in this country, so I'm going to be fine compared to someone who's not from my demographic and is sleeping rough on the street.'
