Human Rights Based Approach to Women's Land and Property Rights in the Muslim World

Women's land and property rights are often insufficiently understood and difficult to implement, especially in the Muslim world. Despite the absence of a dedicated human rights provision on land, there are new developments, interpretations and strategies at the global and domestic level that are recasting the nature and scope of land rights into a dynamic inter-related set of rights. This training event offers an update on the evolving formulation of human rights in relation to land, by providing practical details on how to develop and implement a Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) to land interventions, as prompted by the NUA and SDGs. A key feature of HRBA is the explicit recognition of rights holders and the corresponding responsibilities of obligations of duty holders, providing rights and remedies. Using comparative case studies of HRBA from various agencies and thematic areas, the Masterclass provides definitions, principles, checklists and action planning for a HRBA in relation to land rights. The area of land rights is evolving, particularly in the context of emerging standards, frameworks and methodologies for example the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the New Urban Agenda (NUA), the Voluntary Guidelines (VGGT), Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF) and the African Union Land Policy Initiative. All these and other frameworks promote HRBA but there are no clear guidelines or capacity development initiatives on HRBA for land related initiatives. This Masterclass provides an update of human rights developments related to land as well as practical strategies to implement them through the Human Rights Based Approach. The training will be delivered using an interactive method and strategy sessions based case studies and questions. The methodology will be comparative, evidence based analysis and planning aimed at developing relevant skills and resources at appropriate level. The training is aimed at practitioners who need the updates and additional skills to negotiate changing mandates as well as challenging contexts in the Muslim world, In particular, participants will be able to develop advanced and nuanced approaches to customary, traditional and Islamic human rights. HRBA strategies are discussed with reference to land governance, gender and inclusion, finance, conflict and displacement.