The right to land plays a key role in the realisation of a plethora of human rights, including the right to food, water, housing, employment, a clean and healthy environment, an adequate standard of living, social status and the power to make decisions. Property rights over land can take many forms, from mere access rights to ownership. Due to a growing world population and various global crises and developments such as agrarian reform, land is becoming scarce. The result is that land prices increase and the poorest sectors of society are deprived of access to land whilst State authorities and foreign investors practise land grabbing to make way for palm oil, animal feed and biofuel plantations, tourist resorts, or as speculative investment. In addition, arable land is not only claimed for residential purposes, but also by industries that in turn pollute the soil and water. Many groups in society, especially in developing States, need access to land for their subsistence. It is these smallholders, landless farmers, rural youths, indigenous peoples and women who often suffer the worst consequences of land reform schemes and land grabbing practices. They are not well protected by the existing forms of land tenure and State authorities often fail to live up to their human rights obligations to respect and protect the land rights of people in all sectors of their society.Legal Aspects of Land Rights is the result of the cooperation of scholars from five Indonesian faculties of law, the Maastricht Centre for Human Rights, and the Maastricht European Transnational Research Institute (METRO), together known as the Land Rights Consortium.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women is a treaty for all girls and women in this world. After 30 years it is still valid and necessary both in developed and in developing States. This image is clearly conveyed by the authors of this book, who represent a wide variety of national and cultural backgrounds, and who have put the implementation of the provisions in the Convention to the test both in modern and in traditional societies. In addition, some chapters pay attention to issues that are not contained in the treaty itself but that greatly impact the realization of women's human rights, such as gender mainstreaming, gender-based violence, and corruption. The strengths and weaknesses, and the future potential of the Convention as well as the work of its monitoring body are critically analyzed and compared to other human rights treaties and organs. It becomes clear that, irrespective of the existing flaws, the Convention is the best option for achieving women's equality. With contributions by Margreet de Boer, Martine Boersma, Marjolein van den Brink, Fons Coomans, Tilly Draaisma, Cees Flinterman, Gerard-Rene de Groot, Sille Jansen, Menno T. Kamminga, Jasper Krommendijk, Pauline Kruiniger, Fleur van Leeuwen, Phyllis Livaha, Zoe Luca, Nishara Mendis, Jule Mulder, Rolanda Oostland, Kate Rose-Sender, Samira Sakhi, Dagmar Schiek, Jennifer Sellin, Laura Visser, Lisa Waddington, Antonia Waltermann, Ingrid Westendorp, Anja Wiesbrock, Marjan Wijers.