The Question of Land Grab in Africa and the Indigenous Peoples’ Right to Traditional Lands, Territories and Resources

The growing recognition of indigenous peoples' rights must be confronted with the daily practice on the field where we witness that Africa's land is again the object of foreign greed. Massive portions of land are currently been purchased by foreign investors far below market prices and often without the consent of those who live from the land with the aim to turn these lands into lucrative projects where the state will have lost almost all rights. The phenomenon that has been termed 'land grab' has recently started to attract attention worldwide due to its intensification as a result of the global financial, food and the energy crisis. Africa is, however, most affected by it.
In the current context of Africa where controversy still exists as to who can be considered an indigenous people and great areas of land are becoming the object of 'land grabbing' projects, a better understanding and protection of the indigenous peoples' right to their land and resources is becoming a crucial issue for the survival of many of these population groups. This issue has not received sufficient attention in legal doctrine.
The contribution starts with a brief description of the causes leading to the phenomenon of land grab in Africa followed by an overview of the instruments that have been adopted at the international level to protect indigenous peoples' rights. The UNDRIP being presented as constituting 'the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world' and having the ambition to be a comprehensive instrument reflecting the current stand of indigenous rights in international law, the paper continues with a description of some controversial issues in the UNDRIP and relevant for the topic under research. The recent practice at the African regional level is subsequently analyzed to end with some concluding remarks in terms of compatibility of the land grab practices with standards on indigenous rights.