Events

This page includes information on upcoming seminars, panel discussions, conferences and other events related to land rights, natural resources, and conflict.

Donor-Funded Agricultural Reform and Local Grievances in Rural Rwanda: Growing Conflict?
 
By Chris Huggins
 
Many observers have identified land scarcity and rural poverty as contributing factors to the Rwandan genocide, and potential sources of future instability and conflict in Rwanda. While Rwanda’s economic growth has been impressive, inequality is steadily increasing, and the benefits of investment have been felt largely in Kigali. In the countryside, the ‘business-as-usual’ scenario is one of an impending agricultural crisis.
The Government of Rwanda appears to have recognised these dangers, and has embarked on an ambitious program of land and agricultural reforms based on the concept of the ‘Green revolution for Africa’. Donors, including DFID, USAID, and CIDA have invested heavily in the land tenure and agriculture sectors. However, fieldwork in Rwanda suggests that the reforms themselves pose grave risks to the stability of the country, due to both the nature of the ultimate policy goals, and the repressive ways in which they are likely to be implemented.
This presentation critically examines the dominant view of post-genocide Rwanda as a success story, and asks whether land and agricultural reforms are building peace and prosperity, or contributing to local grievances and potential conflict.
Chris Huggins is a specialist on the relationships between land rights, violent conflict, and post-conflict development, particularly in Africa. He was Rwanda Researcher for Human Rights Watch (2005-2007) and co-editor (with Jenny Clover) of "From the Ground Up: Land Rights, Conflict and Peace in Sub-Saharan Africa" (Nairobi: ACTS Press/Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2005). This  presentation is based on a paper published in Peace Review, Vol 21, No 3 (Fall 2009).
 
When: Wednesday, August 26th 2009 from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m
Where: CANADEM Conference Room
               10th Floor, 1 Nicholas Street, Ottawa
 
Please RSVP to Silke Reichrath at prevention@peacebuild.ca by August 24th.
 

On  26th November 2009, Chris will be speaking at McGill University as part of the Geography Department's Geospectives series. His presentation is titled "Land Tenure and Violent Conflict in Kenya: Past, Present, and Future".  This presentation will discuss the continuing importance of historical land injustices, as well as the opportunities for change, including through the soon-to-be-established Truth, Justice & Reconciliation Commission and the Land Policy, which was endorsed by cabinet in mid-2009.

The seminar will be held in Burnside Hall, Room 426, McGill University, Montreal.

In April 2009, Chris participated in the following event, organised by Carleton University, as a panellist on the "land rights" panel. For a summary of my presentation, see my blog. Other presentations are available on Carleton's Institute of African Studies website.

"Meaning through Translation: Human Rights in Africa"

Friday, April 3 9:30-5:00 p,
Room 2017 Dunton Tower
Carleton University, Ottawa

What is it?
This one-day workshop at Carleton University explores how human rights concepts move from one context to another in Africa. Focusing on land, women, and children’s rights, the workshop will examine the issues that arise as human rights concepts and frameworks are adapted from formal legal articulations and applied in different institutional and local contexts. At a time when human rights are embraced by donors and international organizations as the touchstone for aid, development and reconstruction in Africa, this workshop explores the possibilities and problems that arise with the deployment of human rights.
The objective of this workshop is to bring together academics, NGOs, government and other policy practitioners to begin a discussion about the issues, questions, debates arising from the ways in which human rights are deployed and translated in different sites (political, institutional, economic, communal, familial) in Africa.  This discussion, we hope, will deepen understanding of the multiple issues arising from the use of human rights by various actors in Africa and also generate directions for future research and policy agendas.

Who are the organizers?
This workshop is an initiative of African Studies Committee at Carleton University. The organizers are drawn from various departments across the University – anthropology/sociology, Law, Political Science, Human Rights, English, History – all of whom are interested in the question of how human rights in Africa are translated across different contexts.

For more information on African Studies at Carleton University, see: http://www.carleton.ca/africanstudies/