Our Land Our BusinessStop #landrights Fraud!

Stop #landrights Fraud!

Every spring since 1999, the World Bank has organized the “Conference on Land and Poverty,” that brings together corporations, governments and civil society groups. Yet hundreds of civil society organizations denounce the World Bank’s role in global land grabs and its deceitful leadership on land issues. Rather than providing solutions to poverty and promoting shared prosperity, as per the Bank’s mission, the recommendations put forth by the Bank clearly prioritize the interests and agendas of donors and corporate advisors over the well-being of smallholder farmers, pastoralists, and Indigenous Peoples.

The Our Land Our Business campaign has been critical of the World Bank’s Doing Business report and accompanying advisory services. Through these, the Bank uses its financial and political might to force countries to adopt “business-friendly” reforms, which create conditions that make it as easy as possible for agribusiness corporations to get access to developing countries’ land and natural resources.

We therefore call on all stakeholders to reject the Bank’s sham Conference on Land and Poverty and denounce its attempt to influence land governance for the benefits of a few.

A Response to Klaus Deininger’s Blog Post The World Bank’s Land and Poverty Conference: 20 years on

What People Say:

“The World Bank’s approach to land rights in the developing world undermines its very mandate to fight poverty by putting the interests of foreign investors and corporations before those of locals.” – Human Rights Council Ethiopia

“In no country of the world a bank decides about policy issues. International land policies should be discussed and adopted in a more democratic and legitimate setting than a bank controlled by few donors.” – FIAN Belgium

“Platform Aarde Boer Consument onderschrijft dit protest en vindt dat de Wereldbank de belangen van de gewone boeren die in Azië en Sub-Sahara Afrika die 80% van de voedselvoorziening voor hun rekening nemen met voeten treedt. De Wereldbank is geen democratisch bestuurde bank en heeft dus niet het recht om haar grote financiële macht (deels te danken aan onze belastingbijdrages) in te zetten voor het bedrijfsleven in plaats van voor een duurzame toekomst.” – Platform Earth Farmer Consumer, Netherlands.

“Through its investment policy, its Doing Business Ranking and its support to the G8’s New Alliance, the World Bank has rather proved to be a champion of agribusiness corporations than the poor. Their support of large scale agriculture is wreaking havoc in developing countries: eviction of farmers and pastoralists from their land, destruction of local land tenure systems and food cultures, increase of unemployment and alteration of the local ecosystem.” – Africa-Europe Faith and Justice Network.

‘Stop #landrights Fraud’ Media Coverage:

ENGLISH

Truthout – The World Bank, Poverty Creation and the Banality of Evil: http://truthout.org/news/item/29851-the-world-bank-poverty-creation-and-the-banality-of-evil

The Ecologist – The World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty is a Cruel Farce: http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2796500/world_banks_conference_on_land_poverty_is_a_cruel_farce.html

Ghana Web: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=351393

Black Star News: http://www.blackstarnews.com/us-politics/justice/civil-society-denounces-world-banks-sham-conference-on-land-and

ACT NOW!: http://www.actnowpng.org/blog/civil-society-denounces-world-banks-conference-land-poverty

Truthout: http://www.truth-out.org/speakout/item/29699-civil-society-denounces-world-bank-s-conference-on-land-and-poverty

Farmlandgrab.org: http://farmlandgrab.org/24656

Center of Concern: https://www.coc.org/rbw/civil-society-denounces-world-banks-conference-land-and-poverty

OnePakistan: http://pakistan.onepakistan.com.pk/news/city/karachi/358790-civil-society-denounces-world-bank-conference-on-land-poverty.html

Shafaqna: http://pk.shafaqna.com/EN/PK/5147-Civil-society-denounces-World-Bank-Conference-on-Land-Poverty