The Trajectory of a Transnational Right to Land Norm

Abstract

Conflicts about the use and tenure of land are part of human history. Today, vulnerable groups are still threatened by dispossession of their lands. Governance structures that protect both individual and collective land rights are thus necessary. To counter the risks, social movements engaged towards the establishment of a right to land norm. Building on literature on norm emergence, this paper exemplifies the role of activists in the creation process of two transnational regulations of land: The Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention No. 169 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1989 and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in 2012. Both documents emerged in response to increasing global awareness of each specific issue. In the case of ILO 169, rising awareness of social inequality and discrimination of indigenous peoples and in the case of the VGGT the rapidly growing global land market. Social movements played a critical role in creating these instruments. The paper reflects on the importance of timing, engagement, and discourse in creating norms and embedding them in global governance.