Transcript the struggle for land rights in post-tsunami and post

THE STRUGGLE FOR LAND RIGHTS
IN POST-TSUNAMI AND POST CONFLICT
ACEH, INDONESIA
Lilianne Fan , Oxfam Aceh-Nias
and
Robin Palmer, Oxfam Great Britain
From Oxford to Aceh
 A fateful encounter at
the Sheldonian
 From Oxford to Aceh
 Seizing the historical
moment & exploiting the
space while it still exists
 Look at land rights in
ALL post-emergency
situations
ACEH TODAY
 Post-disaster and post-conflict context, with huge international
tsunami reconstruction effort and smaller government-led conflict
recovery process underway
 Aceh area worst affected by earthquake and tsunami of 26
December 2006
 167,000 declared dead or missing, 500,000 rendered homeless,
over 252,000 houses destroyed
 Damage estimated at over $4.6 bn. 1000 villages and towns,
14,800 schools, 10,000 km of roads destroyed.
 300,000 plots of land (20% of province) totally or partially
damaged (submerged and salinated). FAO estimates 15%
agricultural land permanently lost.
 Unemployment rose from 6.8 % to 30%. Worst hit were fishing
communities, farmers, small-scale businesses, and labourers.
 Massive disaster led to unprecedented international response,
currently the largest reconstruction effort in the developing world
($8 bn.)
 WB reports that Aceh is currently the 4th poorest province in
Indonesia, even while being the 3rd richest in fiscal resources.
Aceh already deeply scarred by 3 decades of
armed conflict between GoI and Free Aceh
Movement, which saw some 15,000 killed,
hundreds of thousands displaced, thousands
beaten and tortured with impunity, livelihoods
and social services eroded.
Renewed peace talks led to signing of MoU on
15 August 2005, followed by decommissioning
of weapons, troop withdrawal, reintegration of
ex-combatants, the passage of a new
governance legislation, and upcoming local
elections.
LAND RIGHTS IN POST-DISASTER,
POST-CONFLICT CONTEXT
Rights to land hold multiple implications for
both tsunami-affected and conflict-affected
people in Aceh.
Secure access to land directly implicates the
capacity of individuals, households, and
differently positioned members of communities
to begin process of rebuilding their lives and
accumulating assets needed to alleviate
vulnerabilities, risks and poverty.
 Land is a foundation for reconstructing houses and
recovering livelihoods destroyed by war and
disaster, and a potential source of income and
accumulation of financial assets through sale/rent or
as collateral for credit.
 Land can play important role in promoting women’s
economic empowerment, by allowing greater control
over household and communal resources and
capacity to invest in future generations.
 Can contribute to social and economic security of
vulnerable groups, such as widows and orphans.
 Accumulation of natural, physical, and financial
assets forms basis for increasing investment in
human capital, such as education, training.
ACEH BEFORE THE TSUNAMI
 Over past 30 years, Aceh
important to national
economy as result of natural
gas exploitation. GDP rose
faster than most provinces.
However, this period also saw
an massive increase in
poverty.
 Between 1980-2002, poverty
rose by 239%, while poverty
rates throughout the country
fell by 47%.
 Between 1999-2002 alone,
poverty rate doubled to 28.9%.
 In 2002, 48.5% of the
population had no access to
clean water
 38% of the population had no
access to heath facilities
 36.2% of children under the
age of 5 were malnourished
 While Aceh’s contribution to the national economy grew, locals
came to feel excluded from the benefits of growth.
 Negative impacts of development included large-scale natural
resource exploitation by non-Acehnese business elite, emergence
of ethnic tensions caused by transmigration; appropriation of
villagers land and property by State; environmental erosion and
pollution; human rights abuses.
 More than 75% land area carved up into logging and plantation
concessions, owned by state-sponsored conglomerates. Little
involvement of local entrepreneurs, confrontations with local
communities.
 Security forces involved in illegal business logging, marijuana,
mining, and prostitution.
Post-tsunami land issues
 Problem of massive displacement and need for sustainable return.
 Priority to support Government and community-based mechanisms
for establishing land tenure security to allow for return of displaced
populations.
 Substantial loss of personal identity and land documents, including
ID cards, certificates, sales and purchase records, and cadastral
maps.
 Large amount of land submerged or rendered unsafe for return as
result of tsunami, resettlement needed for landless tsunami victims.
 Need to integrated bottom-up community mapping and village
planning processes with top-down land titling, spatial planning,
and land consolidation processes.
 Need for special measures to protect rights of vulnerable groups,
such as widows and orphans.
Post-conflict land and resource issues
 Persistence of conflict-era power relations, institutions, and
programmes (i.e., highly concentrated ownership of productive
land; military land claims over villager’s property; transmigrant
repatriation; etc.) Need for reform of access to and control over
natural resource, not just between Central and Provincial
Government, but more urgently within Aceh.
 Problems in reintegration process, particularly in providing
targetted support for conflict victims, dispersal of compensation
money and continued ambiguity about MoU implementation.
 High unemployment of ex-combatants correlates with rise in to
violent crime.
 Lack of long-term strategy for post-conflict development.
 Lack of legal protection, absence of effective grievance and
accountability mechanisms, loss of confidence in justice sector.
Conclusion
 In post-tsunami and post-conflict Aceh, the
protection of rights and equitable access to land,
property, and resources are preconditions for
sustainable recovery and long-term economic,
political, social, and physical development.
 Need to address historical inequalities that have
perpetuated poverty and work towards model of
development that is inclusive of and beneficial to all.
Thank You!