BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS / Šturma, Mozetic (eds)

domination and to establish self-rule ”, to be understood under current international law (also) as “food sovereignty”. 15 Nevertheless, it has to be noted that historically such a right was directed against colonial powers; nowadays land grabbing involves a variety of actors (States, international institutions, and foreign public or private investors) with their complex interactions. 16 Moreover, land grabbing currently involves almost inevitably the own State as one of the main actors. Thus, whereas the historical sovereignty claims to end external domination and establish self-rule was directed against colonial powers, current involvement of the own State in land deals puts such understanding of (the emancipatory dimension of ) sovereignty in question. 2.2 Land grabbing and Human Rights The negative effects of land grabbing are particularly visible when trying to phrase this phenomenon in human rights terms. With the rising private and public-sector interest in the agriculture of developing countries and the following “green rush” it soon became clear that fundamental human rights were at stake. International community, advocacy groups, and a growing body of scholarly writings soon recognized this tension and the need to apply human rights as the normative standards for the evaluation of the processes and consequences of large-scale land deals. 17 Among the notable actions taken were the Report 18 of Olivier de Schutter , the then UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, 19 who stated very clearly in his recommendations that “ Agreements to lease or cede large areas of land should under no circumstance be allowed to trump the human rights obligations of the States concerned. ” 20 In 2012, a global consensus on internationally accepted principles and standards for responsible practices in terms of governance of tenure was reached in the form of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) , which were endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security on 11 May 2012. The Guidelines, which contain principles for States and non-state actors, including business enterprises, can be used by the stakeholders when developing strategies, policies, legislation, programmes, and activities to improve and promote responsible (land-based) agricultural investments. It has to be noted that the “voluntary”, i.e. legally non-binding, nature of the Guidelines does not necessarily mean that States and other stakeholders can deviate from the principles anchored therein. The Guidelines constitute an authoritative interpretation, clarification, and application of human rights obligations in the context of the right to adequate food and connected human rights. 15 Ibid ., pp. 4-5. 16 Ibid ., p. 5. 17 WISBORG, Paul. Human Rights Against Land Grabbing? A Reflection on Norms, Policies, and Power. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics . December 2013, Vol. 26, Issue 6, pp. 1199-1222. 18 De SCHUTTER, Large-scale Land Acquisitions and Leases , op. cit. 4 . 19 The decision to appoint a UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food was made at the fifty-sixth session of the Commission on Human Rights by the resolution 2000/10 of 17 April 2000 with the aim to respond fully to the necessity for an integrated and coordinated approach in the promotion and protection of the right to food. 20 De SCHUTTER, Large-scale Land Acquisitions and Leases , op. cit. 4, p. 13.

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