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The AfCFTA and land in Africa: towards a surge in land grabbing?
2-Dec-2024 GRAIN
Given that the AfCFTA could lead to a rise in demand for African land from agricultural and other investors, and that climate policies are increasingly looking to land projects to “capture” carbon, the risks for local communities whose livelihoods rely on land will be great.
Invested in whiteness: Zimbabwe, the von Pezold arbitration, and the question of race in international law
7-Mar-2024 SSRN
Using the 2015 arbitral award in von Pezold v. Zimbabwe as its starting point, this piece reflects on the relationship between racial capitalism and international law.
Zim govt pays heavily for seizing timber company’s land
27-Jan-2024 Zimeye
A London court has ordered Zimbabwe to pay US$125 million to two timber firms whose land was seized by the government, rejecting its claim of state immunity in a case that tests the enforcement of international arbitration awards.
Climate justice in trade: Environment, rights and the palm oil dispute between Indonesia and the European Union
29-Sep-2023 IIED
Novel clauses would fall short of confronting the more fundamental questions raised by trade agreements that promote large-scale monoculture at the expense of nature and local farming systems.
Lekki deep sea port promotes AFCFTA gains, but local communities seek environmental protection
12-Jul-2023 Premium Times
The Lekki Deep Sea Port seeks to position Nigeria for the big gains of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), competitive transhipment, and status upgrade, but local communities want a share of this prosperity and protection.
Air Tanzania plane seized in the Netherlands released, returns home
11-Jul-2023 The Citizen
Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) plane that was seized in the Netherlands after a Swedish firm won a $165 million award against Tanzania has been released, says the government.
Zimbabwe continues fight in US courts to block payment of US$277m land reform suit
2-Jun-2023 The Zimbabwe Mail
ZIMBABWE continues its fight in the United States (US) to block enforcement of a US$277 million arbitration award to a German and Swiss family which stems from the country’s controversial land reform programme.
Access (Amway) vs Mexico: San Isidro’s people struggle to get their land back
1-Jan-2023 GRAIN
Air Tanzania plane seized in the Netherlands
7-Dec-2022 The Citizen
Air Tanzania Company Limited plane has been seized in the Netherlands after a Swedish firm won a $165 million award against Tanzania due to revoked land title in the Bagamoyo sugar project.
Indigenous Indonesians want EU support on land rights
24-Nov-2022 Land Portal
As the EU and Indonesia work on a free trade agreement, one tribe is seeking European help to secure its rights. Many Indigenous peoples are at risk of losing their land as economic development increases.
Honduran government repeals ZEDEs law amid warnings of free trade agreement rights and arbitration
2-May-2022 Peace Brigades International Canada
The ZEDEs are free from import and export taxes, but could set up their own internal forms of government, as well as courts, security forces, schools and even social security systems.
AfCFTA: Nasarawa marks 270,000 hectres for commercial agriculture
4-Sep-2021 farmlandgrab.org
The Nasarawa State government has announced that it has marked over 270,000 hectres of land for the purpose of purely commercial agriculture to earn foreign exchange for the state through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
White farmer enlists US federal court in enforcing US$277m arbitral award against Zimbabwe
28-Jul-2021 Bulawayo
Bernhard von Pezold and his family have enlisted the help of a US federal court in Washington DC in enforcing a US$277 million arbitral award against Zimbabwe.
Rethinking investment law from the ground up: extractivism, human rights, and investment treaties
9-Apr-2021 IISD
For many people affected by resource extraction, it is the prevailing legal regime that dis-embeds and disintegrates, because investment treaties can protect ventures that upend their lives with little scope for voice or redress.
Artists and academics in Montréal oppose Canada-Israel free trade agreement in stand for Palestinian rights
9-Jan-2021 BDS Movement
More than 150 artists and academics and over 20 trade unions, cultural organizations, student groups and indigenous collectives in Montréal are calling on the Canadian government to cancel the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement.
Zimbabwe is offering land back to BIPPAs and black farmers. Betrayal or the law? Here are the facts
2-Sep-2020 The Zimbabwe Mail
There are only two types of farmers that can be compensated for both land and improvements on farms. On of them is farmers whose land was protected by Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreements.
Zimbabwe to pay white farmers $3.5 billion over Mugabe land reforms
5-Aug-2020 The East African
Some of the dispossessed farmers were from countries such as Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland whose properties were protected by investment treaties between Harare and the Western countries.
The remarkable life and legacy of indigenous leader Berta Cáceras
22-Jun-2020 Salon
Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres was a strong voice against free trade and fought for the Lenca people’s right to live on their sacred land.
US-Kenya FTA and the rights to land and food
10-May-2020 IATP
The US Trade Representative has announced plans to negotiate a free-trade agreement with Kenya. This would be the first free-trade agreement the US has negotiated with an African nation.
Hungary held liable for expropriating the investment of a British investor and ordered to pay EUR 7 million in compensation for damages
27-Mar-2020 IISD
Magyar and Inicia filed for arbitration against Hungary claiming expropriation of their leasehold rights to the land, following an agricultural sector reform to promote family farms over farming companies.