Solidarity statement in support of communities and ILC Africa members in special circumstances. ILC Africa stands in unwavering solidarity with our members and communities who continue to face land injustices and other human rights violations due to forced evictions and land/natural resource-related conflicts in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Kenya. Across Africa, large-scale land acquisitions continue to pose significant challenges, particularly for millions of rural communities who live on and depend on land for their livelihood.

While these land deals are promoted as opportunities for agricultural investment, biodiversity conservation through fortress conservation, and economic growth, they frequently lead to displacement, loss of livelihoods, and social conflicts. This is particularly concerning because many affected communities lack formal land titles, making them vulnerable to dispossession without adequate, fair, and just compensation.

Additionally, weak governance and unclear land tenure systems exacerbate tensions, as foreign investors and governments prioritize commercial interests over the rights of communities. In some cases, these acquisitions have fueled protests and unrest, highlighting the urgent need for transparent policies that protect land rights and ensure equitable development.

Since June 2022, the Maasai communities in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area have faced ongoing uncertainty and fear of displacement from their ancestral lands, as commercial tourism investments threaten their ancestral homes. Repeated instances of violent forced evictions have intensified their plight. Although we acknowledge the steps taken by the Government of Tanzania to facilitate dialogue through the establishment of two presidential commissions tasked with examining the underlying causes of the land crisis in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Loliondo, we underscore the importance and need for genuine and inclusive engagements with stakeholders that will result in human rights centred solutions in the interest of the thousands of affected communities.

Similarly, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Rwandan Army’s military occupation of Eastern DRC in early 2025, through the proxy of M23, has thrust local communities, including ILC’s member Union Pour L’emancipation De La Femme Autochtone (UEFA) and the communities they work with, into a state of turmoil and instability. Despite mounting international pressure and emerging diplomatic efforts, Rwanda’s persistent actions appear to be driven by a longstanding interest in exploiting the region’s rare minerals, vast agricultural lands, and securing strategic transport corridors to establish a dominant logistics position in East Africa.

The ongoing conflict in the DRC has inflicted widespread devastation on communities across several regions particularly in South and North Kivu provinces, Mwenga and Shabunda regions, Bitale and Kalonge, Idjwi, Bunyakiri, Bukanga-Lonzo and Maï-Ndombe province among others. This conflict has unleashed a deepening humanitarian crisis marked by widespread displacement, violence, and economic collapse. Communities are grappling with mass exodus, destruction of homes and farmland, and pervasive human rights abuses—including rape, extortion, kidnappings, and murders. Civilian infrastructure has been repurposed or blocked, access to basic services has crumbled, and families are enduring hunger, illness, and extreme overcrowding. Women and children are particularly vulnerable, facing targeted violence and loss of livelihoods. The war, driven by foreign interest in minerals, land, and strategic routes, is tearing apart the social fabric and plunging already fragile populations into greater instability.

In Kenya, the Ogiek people’s fight for justice took a critical turn during a compliance hearing at the AfricanCourt on Human and Peoples’ Rights, reaffirming their rightful ownership of ancestral lands in the Mau Forest and ordering reparations. However, despite past rulings in 2017 and 2022, the Kenyan
government’s continued delays led to renewed suffering. Most devastatingly, in November 2023, over 700 Ogiek were forcibly evicted from Narok County, with homes, schools, and property burned—despite clear court orders forbidding such actions. The community faced severe losses and emotional turmoil, underscoring persistent violations of their rights.Delays in implementation continue to harm lives and disrupt livelihoods, while the ongoing disregard for collective land rights weakens the broader framework
of Indigenous Peoples protections across Africa.

In the face of these multiple adversities, the struggle of these communities is not just for their own survival but also for the preservation of ecosystems and the rights of future generations.

We call on the respective governments, relevant authorities and private actors responsible for the persistent land and natural resource related conflicts and forced evictions to:

• Immediately and unconditionally ceasefire by all armed actors to halt the violence and protect civilians including land and environmental defenders.
• Facilitate and create an enabling environment for an inclusive and genuine dialogue with the affected stakeholders that will result in human rights centered solutions to the long standing land and natural resource related forced evictions and conflicts.
• End all forms of forced evictions including those justified by conservation goals or carbon-credit projects, and respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, including women and youth.
• Respect and enforce court orders from both national and international judicial bodies.Secure the legal recognition of the communal land rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local
  Communities and deliver just through reparations for historical land injustices.
• Protect land and environmental defenders from violence and persecution and hold perpetrators accountable for human rights violations.
• Support sustainable and people centered conservation models that prioritize the well-being of local communities.

We call on International and Development Partners to:

• Support the international advocacy and lobbying efforts of the communities: by amplifying calls for justice and accountability. Coordinated lobbying can help maintain pressure on the Government to uphold commitments to fair land policies and prevent forced displacements.

We call on the civil society to take urgent action:

• Strengthen the social movement by fostering unity and resilience across all affected areas. This includes mobilizing communities to stand together in opposition to any government directives that threaten land security. A unified stance will enhance the community’s capacity to resist external pressure.
• In the case of the Maasai of Ngorongoro Conservation Area, we invite the CSOs and other relevant non-state actors to support the on-going Ministerial and Presidential (Through the two Commissions of Inquiry into the land question and the relocation process). Engagement with key government ministries, such as the Ministry of Land, Livestock, Natural Resources, and Tourism, and the Ministry of Local Government. The objective is to ensure these institutions fully understand the root causes of the ongoing crises and are influenced to support just and sustainable solutions.

ILC Africa remains steadfast in its commitment to advocating for justice and fair land governance across the continent, standing with communities in their fight for dignity, land security, and human rights.

Source: International Land Coalition-ILC

We, the members of the International Land Coalition Africa, while reaffirming our support to the Global Land Forum 2025 Declaration, issue this urgent call to action, united in our conviction that secure land rights are a foundation for transformative agrarian reform, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems, climate justice, and the dismantling of extractive, exclusionary models of development.

Across Africa and the world, land is not a commodity, land is life. It shapes identity, culture, food, energy, shelter, and survival. Yet, land is increasingly contested, commodified, and concentrated, fueling inequality, marginalization, and conflict. Climate change and biodiversity collapse deepen these injustices, disproportionately affecting Indigenous Peoples (namely hunter gatherers, forest dwellers, pastoralists… in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples-UNDRIP) and Local Communities, smallholder farmers, victims of colonialism, youth, and women, those least responsible for this crisis.

The livelihoods of these communities are at risk due to disruption of their food and livelihood systems. Secure tenure rights are essential for inclusive governance, ecological stewardship, and equitable access to land and natural resources. They empower communities to invest in sustainable agriculture, participate in democratic land governance processes, safeguard biodiversity, and pursue climate adaptation and mitigation rooted in justice.

The urgency for inclusive land governance has never been greater. Resource scarcity, land and water conflicts, and the impacts of climate change are colliding with flawed governance systems and unchecked extractive development. These dynamics act as threat multipliers, undermining peace, increasing displacement, and accelerating environmental degradation.

Yet, hope endures. Across continents, communities are organizing to reclaim their rights, restore degraded ecosystems, transform food systems, and chart pathways away from fossil fuel dependency and exploitative land use. What they need now is bold political will, transformative policies, and genuine partnerships rooted in justice and solidarity.

From commitment to bold action.

We reaffirm our collective commitment to advance secure land tenure for all as a lever for inclusive land governance, food sovereignty, ecological restoration, sustainable land use, energy justice, and conflict prevention. Secure tenure fosters stability and a sense of belonging, enabling communities to sustainably steward their land, defend biodiversity, and engage meaningfully in shaping their futures.

We call on all actors to act urgently, courageously, and in alignment with the aspirations of communities who are at the forefront of land and climate justice.

1. Governments and policymakers: lead on land governance and transformative just systems

• Champion equitable land redistribution that uplifts smallholder farmers, women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, and pastoralist communities.
• Decolonize land laws and governance systems to reflect the rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as Local Communities Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities knowledge systems, and their lived realities.
• Recognize and legally protect customary and collective tenure systems as safeguards against conflict, displacement, and ecological breakdown.
• Strengthen protection of land and environmental defenders from violence, criminalization, and impunity.
• Ensure that land-based investments are rooted in fair policies and laws, transparent governance, uphold tenure arrangements and land rights, improved livelihoods and take into account the FPIC principles.
• Urgently solve land-related court backlogs, enforce land related court decisions and invest in alternative dispute resolution and alternative justice systems grounded in community norms.
• Align national land governance with regional and global frameworks (such as the Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU), the AU Framework Policy on pastoralism, the Voluntary Guidelines on land governance, etc.) to advance land justice and climate action.

2. Civil society movements: drive people-centred transformation

• Mobilize land policies rooted in human rights, agroecology, and the self-determination of rural communities.
• Elevate the leadership of women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and pastoral communities in land and climate governance.
• Promote family farming and community-based food systems as anchors of agri-food transformation and biodiversity protection.
• Empower youth through education, organizing, and innovation in land justice and regenerative economies.
• Strengthen grassroots movements and connect them with regional and global platforms for solidarity, learning, and advocacy.
• Embark on advocacy actions to protect and defend their land, natural resources and territorial rights
• Connect struggles and actions of solidarity
• Lobby other actors support to advance their land and territorial rights.

3. Private sector: invest in land, people, and the planet, ethically and transparently

• Commit to responsible investment practices anchored in free, prior, and informed consent.
• Reject all forms of land grabbing, forced evictions, and extractive development.
• Collaborate with communities to advance regenerative agriculture, landscape restoration, and fair, inclusive value chains.
• Ensure transparency, accountability, and equity across land-based business operations and supply chains.
• Transition away from extractive energy models toward just, locally rooted renewable solutions.

4. International organizations and donors: support long-term, justice-oriented transformation.

• Foster inclusive, multi-stakeholder processes to co-create pathways for sustainable land governance and transformative just food systems, agrarian reform, food system resilience, and just energy transition.
• Provide sustained financial, technical, and political support for land and tenure reform led by communities and civil society.
• Center local knowledge and voices in international land, food, and climate dialogues.
• Protect and amplify land and environmental defenders and ensure accountability for violations.

5. Individuals: stay informed, engaged and in solidarity.

• Learn about the intersections of land justice, climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable food systems.
• Stand in solidarity with communities defending land, ecosystems, and livelihoods.
• Use your voice, networks, and platforms to challenge land injustices and advocate for just transitions.

Together for a just future

The journey toward land governance and transformative just food systems and a just response to the climate and biodiversity crises, begins with people, those who live on and from the land. Let us listen to their voices, uphold their land rights, and act in solidarity to ensure land is governed for dignity, sustainability, and peace.

This is our moment to act boldly. Land cannot wait. Communities cannot wait. The planet cannot wait.

Source: International Land Coalition-ILC