BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS / Šturma, Mozetic (eds)

a healthy environment, 27 or the right to respect for private and family life. 28 It has also been argued that (agricultural sector) land grabbing raises specific concerns with regard to labour rights and political rights, including rights of freedom of expression, assembly and association. 29 3. Land grabbing and the EU It is no doubt that land grabbing is a global phenomenon. As it was argued already in the introduction, it is an established fact that nowadays even Europe and the European Union itself are exposed to land grabbing. This has been recognized by the EU itself 30 , as well as in scholar writings and studies 31 . Nevertheless, the EU can be considered not only a “victim” of land grabbing, but also its driver and facilitator. 3.1 EU as a driver of land grabbing outside the EU borders The European Union is involved in global land grabbing in two main ways. First, through involvement of EU based corporations and capital in land grabbing outside of the EU 32 , and second, through the shaping of various EU policies, which facilitate or foster large land deals. An example of the latter, which will highlight some of the challenges, is the experience with the trade preferences of the EU (the so-called EU General System of Preferences, including the “Everything But Arms Initiative” [EBA Initiative] 33 ), which were shaped as tools to promote the development of poorer countries. The European Commission may suspend the preferences among others in cases of serious and systematic violations of internationally recognized human rights. 34 Such a case was reported to the European 27 Article 24 ACHPR. 28 Article 8 ECHR. According to the jurisprudence of the ECtHR, a government’s failure to manage the pollution risks related to economic activities, or to provide information about those rights, can lead to a violation of Art. 8 ECHR (see e.g. ECtHR, López Ostra v. Spain , Judgment, 9 December 1994, Application No. 16798/90; Guerra and Others v. Italy , Judgment, 19 February 1998, Application No. 116/1996/735/932). 29 European Union, Addressing the human rights impacts of “land grabbing” , p. 20-22. 30 European Parliament, Extent of Farmland Grabbing in the EU (study), May 2015, available online at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2015/540369/IPOL_STU(2015)540369_ EN.pdf (accessed 2 February 2018). 31 Cf. BORRAS, Saturnino M., FRANCO, Jennifer C. (eds.), Land concentration, land grabbing and people’s struggles in Europe , 2013, Transnational Institute for the European Coordination Via Campesina, available online: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/land-concentration-land-grabbing-and-peoples-struggles-in- europe (accessed 2 February 2018). 32 See especially the study for the European Parliament entitled “Land Grabbing and Human Rights: The Involvement of European Corporate and Financial Entities in Land Grabbing outside the European Union” (European Union, Land Grabbing and Human Rights: The Involvement of European Corporate and Financial Entities in Land Grabbing outside the European Union. 10 May 2016, available online at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/578007/EXPO_STU(2016)578007_ EN.pdf, (accessed 2 February 2018)). 33 This initiative allows duty and quota free imports from the least developed countries, with the only exception of armaments. 34 Article 19 of EU Regulation No. 978 of 2012.

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