1. Articulating a Rights-Based Argument for Land Contract Disclosure
Jesse Coleman and Kaitlin Y. Cordes
World Bank Land and Poverty Conference – March 2017

2. Context Systemic lack of transparency around land investments persists
Lags behind extractives sector
Land contracts* negotiated behind closed doors and rarely disclosed  “black box” nature of land investments
*Land contracts = investor-state contracts for commercial agriculture and forestry projects

3. Why Land Contracts?
Addressing lack of transparency is critical for a range of reasons
Disclosure can:
Enable monitoring of investor and host state compliance with obligations
Provide affected communities with evidence-based leverage to demand accountability
Facilitate negotiation of improved deals
Mitigate risk of instability and conflict
Caveat: transparency is critical throughout the contracting process and investment life cycle

4. Consensus
Guidance calls for transparency generally, and in certain cases land contract disclosure specifically
Examples:
Guiding Principles on LSLBIs in Africa
Guide to Due Diligence of Agribusiness Projects
OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains
New Alliance for Food Security Analytical Framework
See CCSI’s Recommending Transparency in Land-Based Investment: A Summary of Relevant Guidelines and Principles (2016)

5. Legal Weight?
Whether and to what extent best practice recommendations are reflected in existing obligations?
International human rights law
Rights to participation
Right to take part in the conduct of public affairs
Rights to effective participation
Right of access to information

6. Why Human Rights Law? Rights-based arguments can:
Lend legal weight to policy arguments
Inform and shape implementation measures
Reinforce initiatives in different fields
Strengthen advocacy efforts
Support human rights claims

7. Rights-Based Arguments
Agreements between the state and private companies + key source of legal rules
Agreements governing natural resources that directly affect rights to effective participation
Agreements that affect (directly and indirectly) the realization of a range of other human rights
Argument for land contract disclosure = particularly strong, as these agreements tick all three boxes

8. Practical Implications
Host state
Undertake to disclose
Enact and/ or modify domestic requirements
Include contractual provisions on transparency
Home state
Condition outward support
Disclosure requirements
Protect policy space

9. Key Messages
Calls for land contract disclosure can and should be advanced as best practice and as being required for compliance with existing obligations under human rights law
Legal and technical assistance available to support implementation

10. Thank you!