Norway has, with support from the other Nordic countries, taken the initiative to establish an international commission to strengthen the user and property rights of the poor. One of its goals is to raise international awareness about this issue. The commission recently held its second meeting.
16/05/2007 :: The Commision for Legal Empowerment and Access for the Poor held its second meeting in New York on 6-7 June. The commission’s mandate was finalised, and a working plan and targets for future progress were put in place. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has welcomed the commission as an important contribution to reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals.
The commission’s secretariat is headed by the Canadian Naresh Singh and has been operational since the autumn of 2005. There are 27 commission members from all parts of the world, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, former High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, former President of Tanzania Benjamin Mkapa, and former Norwegian Minister of International Development Hilde Frafjord Johnson.
Lacking rights
Billions of people, especially in developing countries, have no formal property or user rights and thus no legal protection. This is particularly serious in sectors where formal ownership of property and businesses forms the platform for further economic development. Formalisation is important as it will give people in the informal sector in developing countries rights that many people take for granted. It will also protect them against exploitation and arbitrary treatment. If properly carried out, a formalisation process can be an important tool in the fight against poverty.
The work ahead
The commission will be operational until the end of 2008, and in addition to the actual commission body, there is an advisory council made up of representatives of multilateral organisations, the private sector and civil society. The work ahead will be carried out by five committees consisting of international experts and headed by a commission member. The committees will focus on: 1. Access to legal protection and the rule of law; 2. Property rights; 3. Labour rights; 4. Helping the poor to establish legal businesses; and 5. Providing a synthesis of the committees’ work and creating a road map and tool kit. Women’s right to property, the rights of indigenous peoples and user and collective rights will be recurring themes in all of the committees.
Possible outcomes of the commission’s work were discussed in New York. These included the following two: a Charter for Legal Empowerment drawn up in cooperation with the UN and a high level meeting on the formalisation process in conjunction with the Millennium Development Goal evaluation.
Efforts to make progress on the formalisation agenda are being carried out in connection with several UN agencies and the World Bank, and coordinated with their efforts to fight poverty. Norway is also supporting specific pilot projects aimed at testing models for registering property and at fighting poverty through national reforms.
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs