Posts Tagged: land grab

Haitian farmers and civil society peacefully demand social reforms

By Cindy Corell | Mission Co-worker Haiti Haiti operates daily in crisis mode. Eighty percent of Haitians survive on less than $2.40 a day. Inflation puts the price of daily necessities further and further out of reach for the average family. The cost of education, too, is rising, so parents will do without to send… Read more »

Fishing Villages Demand Release of Lands from Military Occupation

Eight years after the end of civil war in Sri Lanka, internally displaced persons continue to struggle to return home By Raajan Francis | Coordinator of Praja Abhilasha, Joining Hands Sri Lanka In 2009, in the final stages of the nearly three-decades civil war between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the militant group Liberation… Read more »

Palm Plantation Invades Ancestral Lands

Land grab in Mbonjo village, Cameroon displaces population and disrespects ancestral burial grounds By Jaff Bamenjo | Coordinator of RELUFA, Joining Hands Cameroon Imagine the graves of your loved ones being taken over by a palm tree plantation for the export of palm oil. The palm trees stand tall, surrounding the graves, and standing on the graves… Read more »

The Continuous Struggle for Land Rights in Sri Lanka

By Herman Kumara | Chairperson of Praja Abhilasha, Joining Hands Sri Lanka   Praja Abhilasha (PA), the Joining Hands network in Sri Lanka, in partnership with its member organization the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO), organized a 3-day land rights workshop in April 2017 to bring together land rights campaigners from across the country to… Read more »

Herakles Farms’ Cameroon Land Grab is Losing its Grip

By Joséphine Maidjane Mbara and Jaff Bamenjo | RELUFA, Joining Hands Cameroon The frequency of large scale land acquisitions for agro-industry projects has been exponentially on the rise in most African countries for the past decade. Land deals are always portrayed by investors and government agencies as necessary to improve economic growth and expand local… Read more »

Haiti’s New President Worries Land-Rights Advocates

By Cindy Corell | Mission Co-worker, Joining Hands Haiti With more than 2 million of its almost 11 million citizens still suffering seven years after a catastrophic earthquake struck in 2010, Haitians living on the island took another harsh blow in October 2016 when Hurricane Matthew hit. The massive storm took lives, destroyed crops, livestock… Read more »

Sand Mining in Sri Lanka Endangers Coral Reefs and Livelihoods

By Herman Kumara | Praja Abhilasha, Joining Hands Sri Lanka The Sri Lankan Government, in partnership with the China Communication Construction Company (CCCC), is moving forward with its plans to build a Port City, a business and tourism district that extends the city of Colombo onto a man-made island. The government promises that the Port… Read more »

Amid disaster, Haitians seek change

Hurricane Matthew Raises the Importance of Working Towards Long-term Social Change in Haiti By Cindy Corell | Mission Co-Worker, Joining Hands Haiti Our brothers and sisters here in Haiti are suffering – again, and as they too often do. The effects of Hurricane Matthew of Oct. 4 were horrendous. Most people in the far southwestern… Read more »

Story of an Unbroken Breeze

“Story of an Unbroken Breeze” is a short documentary filmed by NAFSO, the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement, a member organization of the Joining Hands network in Sri Lanka Praja Abhilasha. The documentary details the violent land grabbing that Panama communities (Panama is located in Ampara district , in the eastern province in Sri Lanka)  endured and their struggle… Read more »