New Report on Foreign Land Deals and Human Rights

Launch of New Report on Foreign Land Deals and Human Rights (October 28, 2010)
6:30-8:30 PM/ Furman Hall, Room 212
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) and the Institute for International Law and Justice (IILJ) invite you to the launch of a new CHRGJ report on foreign land deals and human rights. The launch will include a panel discussion featuring Olivier De Schutter, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food, and Professor Smita Narula, Faculty Director of CHRGJ and Associate Professor of Clinical Law. Additional discussants will be announced. A reception will follow the event.
If you intend to attend the event, please R.S.V.P. to Kelly Ryan at kelly.ryan@nyu.edu.
About the Report:
The Global South is experiencing a surge in foreign direct investments in agricultural land. Prompted, in part, by the global food crisis, state and private investors are buying and leasing millions of hectares of farmland in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As currently conceived and implemented, however, many large-scale land investments do not service the goal of ensuring equitable and sustainable food security, and may in fact be further jeopardizing the rights of host populations.
In support of the mandate of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food, a new report from the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) presents four case studies that examine the human rights impacts of large-scale land investments in African and South Asian nations. This groundbreaking report—which examines investments in biofuel crops, food crops, timber production, and carbon offsets—provides the research necessary to advance a human rights-based approach to monitoring large-scale agricultural investment in developing countries. The report was prepared by the International Human Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law.