“Tainted Lands: Land, Corruption, and Human Rights” Project

Today, ICAR, in partnership with Oxfam America and Global Witness, is pleased to release its “Tainted Lands: Land, Corruption, and Human Rights” Project, under the expert leadership of Professor Olivier De Schutter.

The Project will examine the question of “tainted lands”: land that has been obtained by corrupt means by an investor, whether that investor itself has bribed public officials or community leaders in charge of allocating land on behalf of communities, or whether it has not ensured that the land was acquired by the seller through means that are legal and transparent, i.e., untainted by corruption. It will include a discussion of corruption of judicial officials, insofar as such corruption may affect access to remedies for victims of illicit land acquisitions.

More specifically, the Project will aim to identify (i) the conditions under which corruption by the investor itself may have to be treated as a criminal offense under relevant international instruments (adopted within regional organizations or the United Nations); (ii) the scope of the due diligence duty of the investor to inquire about the conditions under which the land that it intends to buy or to lease was acquired by the direct seller, and how such due diligence obligation may be effectively enforced; and (iii) the best practices that would effectively prevent and address corruption in land deals.