Large Scale Land Acquisition and Human Rights at Crossroads: A Quest for Right Based Approach to the land administration in Ethiopia

Abstract

Large scale land investment, dubbed ‘land grabbing’, is a headache for local community and indigenous peoples in Africa, and so more in Ethiopia. This article explored human right impacts of large-scale land investment in Ethiopia and pinpointed a key forward. It confirmed that large scale land investment in the country undermined substantive rights of the local and indigenous peoples, including land right, right to food, right to development, right to culture, labor rights, environmental right, and right to self-determination as well as their procedural right to public participation, prior informed consent, access to information and justice recognized under international instruments and FDRE constitution. The study advocates for human right based approach to large scale land investment governance that respects and integrates the aforementioned substantive and procedural rights of local and indigenous peoples. This also involves government’s duty to put in place effective human right impact assessment, efficient monitoring, evaluation, and dispute resolution mechanism, and empowering local community and other stake holders to safeguard the rights of affected communities. That way, we can mobilize the large-scale land investment for sustainable development without compromising rights of local and indigenous peoples.