Latest Natural Justice E-module: Introduction to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights System

Natural Justice has developed a draft e-learning module introducing the UN Human Rights System to support communities and practitioners in increasing understanding of key international human rights legal frameworks.  This e-learning module supplements existing e-learning modules and the "BCP: A Toolkit for Community Facilitiators".

The module seeks to provide an insight into:

• The United Nations;
• Human rights generally (including the International Bill of Rights and core human rights treaties non-derogable rights and permissible restrictions on rights);
• The implementation and monitoring of human rights standards (including charter-and treaty-based mechanisms); and,
• Key human rights institutions and enforcement mechanisms for Indigenous Peoples.

It is targeted at communities and anyone who is interested in an introduction to the UN human rights system.

The module can be downloaded here.  The document is not final, and any comments can be directed to Holly Shrumm (holly (at) naturaljustice.org) and Harry Jonas (harry (at) naturaljustice.org).

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Protocols for Sustainable Harvesting in Protected Areas Workshop

Gino Cocchiaro and Cath Traynor of Natural Justice, and partners Kruger to Canyons Management Committee and Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association (KTHPA) attended the Protocols for Sustainable Harvesting in Protected Areas Workshop hosted by Wits University Rural Facility on 13th July 2013. The workshop was the first of a series to start a conversation to achieve a common understanding concerning the possibility for traditional healers to access protected areas in order to harvest medicinal plants. A variety of stakeholders including protected area managers - both national, provincial and private, traditional healers, civil society organisations, and academics attended.

Twenty-seven million (72%) South Africans use traditional medicines and the industry has an annual turnover of more than 3.2 billion Rands. Over 2,000 plant species (10%) of the South African flora is utilised in traditional medicines, and many of these species are declining. Gino Cocchiaro presented on biocultural community protocols (BCP), including the BCP of the Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association and Rodney Sibuyi (KTHPA) presented on the history of the Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association and discussed some challenges regarding accessing traditional medicinal plant species and their management. South African National Parks highlighted parks-based protocols for non-commercial harvesting, and park objectives concerning plant harvesting which includes promoting sustainable use, alternatives, reducing illegal harvesting and monitoring. Difficulties managing traditional medicinal harvesting was illustrated by the case of Warburgia salitaris (Pepperbark tree), the bark is a popular traditional medicine. Kruger National Park has two of the largest surviving populations of this endangered tree, and recent increases in commercial harvesting pressures have resulted in collection methods changing form the sustainable harvest of small strips of bark to ringbarking trees which results in their death. Issues raised included defining ‘communities’, identifying benefits, who has rights to them and their equitable sharing, costs of access, unity and consensus among beneficiary groups. Important sustainability issues included determining what is ecologically sustainable, adaptative strategies, and addressing situations where demand is greater than supply. The outputs of the workshop will feed into further workshops which will aim to include a greater diversity of stakeholder groups.

Kukula Traditional Healers Practitioners Management Committee Meeting

Gino Cocchiaro and CathTraynor (Natural Justice) attended the Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association Management Committee Meeting on 15th July in Bushbuckridge, South Africa. During the meeting with the healers, Biocultural Community Protocol was revisited, and current concerns of the group discussed. Key concerns centred around recognition, access to plants, loss of knowledge, and livelihoods issues. Participants summarised the groups main activities since the formation of the Kukula Traditional Healers group which included discussions with government departments, local private nature reserves, training on prior, informed consent, and development of the traditional knowledge commons pool – a platform to share knowledge among themselves. Participants discussed the future workplan and various ideas and activities to address their priority concerns.

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Pillars in Practice: Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Business and Human Rights in Zimbabwe

On 20 June 2013, Stephanie Booker (Natural Justice) attended the "Pillars in Practice: Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Business and Human Rights" in Zimbabwe, held by Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) in partnership with the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) and Social Accountability International (SAI).  

"Pillars in Practice" is an 18-month initiative to advance the UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights.  The Project's objective is to "establish the trianing capacity of local civil society partners to sustainably promote and assist companies, governments, trade unions and other non-government organisations in the implementation of the Guiding Principles, to operationalise the "Protest, Respect and Remedy" Framework.

Joined by more than 75 participants from Zimbabwean businesses, government agencies, civil society organisations and communities, the multi-stakeholder forum was an opportunity for participants to be introduced to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and for participants to discuss the major issues affecting human rights with respect to mining.  Participants made concrete recommendations for government and business and suggested steps forward for stakeholders in the implementation of the Guiding Principles.  You can read the recommendations here.

More information can be found on the "Pillars in Practice" facebook page, or the Danish Institute for Human Rights webpage here.

Photo: Courtesy of "Pillars in Practice" facebook page.

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The Right to Responsibility - Our Latest Book for Peer Review

We’re pleased to announce that Natural Justice and the United Nations University – Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) have just released a new book for peer review, entitled: The Right to Responsibility: Resisting and Engaging Development, Conservation, and the Law in Asia. This edited volume explores how Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ resilience to external factors is often undermined by laws, institutional arrangements, and judicial systems. It also examines how particular peoples and communities are striving to overcome such structural barriers to self-determination by resisting unwanted developments and engaging proactively with a range of actors at multiple scales.

It is edited by Natural Justice’s Holly Jonas and Harry Jonas and UNU-IAS’s Suneetha M. Subramanian, and comprised of the following three parts:

Part I: Context and Theoretical Development

• Chapter 1: Between Development Conservation and the Law – by Harry Jonas and Holly Jonas
• Chapter 2: Will the Flamingos Return to the Fishing Shelters? Engaging with Diverse Biocultural Realities – by Kanchi Kohli

Part II: Community Experiences

• Chapter 3: The Role of Traditional Knowledge and Customary Arrangements in Conservation: Trans-boundary Landscape Approaches in the Kailash Sacred Landscape of China, India and Nepal – by Krishna Prasad Oli, Luorong Zhandui, Ranbeer S. Rawal, Ram Prasad Chaudhary, Shi Peili, and Robert Zomer
• Chapter 4: Defending and Strengthening Sharwa (Sherpa) Rights and ICCAs in Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park, Nepal – by Stan Stevens
• Chapter 5: A National Park, River-dependent Sonahas and a Biocultural Space in Peril – by Sudeep Jana
• Chapter 6: Empowering Rights-holders and Facilitating Duty-bearers to Secure Farmers’ Rights in Nepal – by Bikash Paudel and Sajal Sthapit
• Chapter 7: Livestock Keepers’ Rights in South Asia – by Ilse Köhler-Rollefson
• Chapter 8: Forest Rights and Conservation in India – by Tushar Dash and Ashish Kothari
• Chapter 9: Local Forest Governance, FPIC and REDD+ in Indonesia: A Case Study from Aceh, Sumatra – by Patrick Anderson and Marcus Colchester
• Chapter 10: Asserting the Right to Safeguard Biocultural Heritage and Customary Lands in Ulu Papar, Sabah, Malaysia – by Justine Vaz and Agnes Lee Agama

Part III: Analysis and Looking Ahead – by Harry Jonas and Holly Jonas

• Chapter 11: Reforming Rights to Support Responsibilities 
• Chapter 12: Recommendations 
• Chapter 13: Legal Empowerment for Landscapes

The book is available for download in full, in three parts, and by chapter at: http://naturaljustice.org/library/our-publications/books-volumes/the-right-to-responsibility. Please contact the editors at holly (at) naturaljustice (dot) org with any comments or feedback by 1 September.

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EMRIP Side Event on the Relationship between ICCAs and Access to Justice

At the Sixth Meeting of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) a side event was hosted on 11 July by Natural Justice, the ICCA Consortium and the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC) to discuss the relationship between access to justice and Indigenous peoples’ and community conserved territories and areas (ICCAs).

Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend (ICCA Consortium) opened the expert panel with an introduction to the concept of ICCAs and stories of diverse ICCAs around the world. Two local examples from the Indigenous Pygmy peoples from North Kivu (Joseph Itongwa, PIDP-Kivu) and from the Ogiek peoples (Daniel Mpoiok Kobei, Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program) from Kenya followed. Marie Wilke (Natural Justice), Nigel Crawhall (IPACC Secretariat) and Kanyinke Sena (Chairperson, UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues) concluded the panel with presentations and statements on the legal perspective and the opportunities provided by the legal recognition of ICCAs as a means of environmental conservation.

The panel and the audience concluded that the concept of ICCAs provides a great opportunity for Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ self-determination as it enables them to emphasise the benefit of their customary practices to society at large in the form of conservation, rather than simply arguing from their position as rights-bearers. Recognition of ICCAs in turn would also achieve recognition of land titles, collective rights and legal standing for customary institutions.

More information about EMRIP 6, including the draft study on access to justice, is available here. Submissions by Natural Justice to the study on access to justice are available here.

The full event report is available here.

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Natural Justice Meets with Khoi & San Communities in the Eastern Cape

Lesle Jansen and Steph Booker of Natural Justice attended a three day meeting of the Khoi & San communities in the Eastern Cape from 28 to 30 June 2013.  Set in Graaff-Reinet, the heart of the Karoo, representatives of the Khoi-San communities met to discuss issues of land claims in terms of the Restitution of land rights Act 22 of 1994 and possible impacts of fracking by Shell and other international companies in their traditionally owned and utilized territories.  Supported by Treasure the Karoo Action Group, Mr Jonathan Deal and Pastor Barry Wuganaale (of the Ogoni Peoples from Nigeria) shared their views on the likely impacts of fracking on the environment (such as impacts on water sources), on the community (such as a lack of meaningful employment), and the very threats to the Khoi & San as Indigenous Peoples of South Africa.

Stephanie presented on the relevant international law and the likely impacts of fracking on the rights of the community, as well as potential methods that the community can use to identify, mobilise, strategise and advocate for their rights.  Lesle provided background to the current Amendment to the Restitution of Land Rights Act of 1994 and how this is likely to impact upon the community.

At the conclusion of the meeting the participants generated a number of resolutions through which to move forward on each of the issues.

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Advanced Seminar on the Implementation and Promotion of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the Namibia context

Lesle Jansen and Stephanie Booker of Natural Justice presented in Windhoek, Namibia on the topics of indigenous peoples and the environment; post-2015 UN development agenda as well as a situational analysis on extractives industries in Southern Africa. The presentations formed part of a four-day Advanced Seminar on the Implementation and Promotion of Indigenous Peoples Rights in the Namibia context. It was hosted by the University of Namibia in partnership with Open Society Foundation in Southern Africa (OSISA) and the International Labor Organization (ILO). 

The seminar was hosted from 01 – 04 July 2013 with about 30 participants from different sectors ranging from University of Namibia staff and students; civil society; media and government officials. The objectives to the seminar were:

• To build local knowledge of human rights and the rights of Indigenous Peoples and how this applies to indigenous peoples in Namibia
• To look at the International Human Rights Framework and the obligations of the Namibian Government to respect, protect and fulfil human rights and the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• To achieve a greater awareness, understanding and implementation of relevant policy guidance on indigenous issues, particularly related to effective engagement of indigenous peoples and recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights in development processes
• To explore the use of human rights indicators to establish/ ensure accountability for the implementation of IPs rights in Namibia.

The theme to the seminar was: The concept of indigenous peoples and legal instruments protecting them. It covered the topics, amongst others (i) Understanding the concept of Indigenous Peoples under international law: A human Rights Approach; (ii) International Norms and Standards relevant to IPs: ILO Convention No 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; (iii) Legal instruments and monitoring mechanisms on indigenous peoples’ rights in the African human and (iv) The recognition of indigenous peoples in Namibia.

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