Land Justice for West Africa

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- Seeing the results of the comparative study of processes and land legislation in West African countries;

- Considering the principle of sacredness of land in sub-Sahara;

- Consideration done to the need to reconcile customary endogenous practices and logics of management called modern;

- Considering that land is a strategic domain and priority for sustainable development;

- Noting that West African land laws find it difficult to fully take into account land issues;

- Given that the current socio-economic context is punctuated by the phenomenon of land grabbing;

- In the context of promoting private investment through international, regional and national agricultural investment programs;

- Proven that internal growth strategies for land management lack effectiveness;

- Considering that the trend towards harmonization of land policies is in West Africa is fully matured;

- That ECOWAS is in the process of developing a sub-regional land directive intended to improve land issues in member countries;

- Following the noble aim of improving the living conditions of vulnerable populations;

- So that tensions over sharing land space are better conducted and social peace maintained;

- That the land rights of vulnerable groups are promoted and secured;

1. At the ECOWAS Level,  it is highly recommended and proposed, as a contribution to improve the future directive and the Land Use Policy to:

• Take into account the guidelines of the FAO and the African Union relating to the recovery of agricultural production and securing family farms;
• Develop a judicial approach;
• Encourage states to give more consideration to agricultural land use practices;
• Encourage states to be more transparent in the process of land allocation;
• Effectively involve civil society in the process of land reform and of monitoring the implementation of policies and sub-regional land policy;

1. At National Level

• Promote a comprehensive dual judiciary system based on customary  and statutory law for land tenure;
• Propose a regulatory framework for large scale land based investments;
• Make land information a priority in national land policy;
• Facilitate the access of land for women and youth;
• Provide simple procedures to formalize customary land rights;

These advocacy arguments were developed by Amadou Kanoute in behalf of hbs Nigeria/ West Africa and endorsed by CSOs and ECOWAS in June 2014, in Abuja.