Does AIDS threaten the right to land?

Does AIDS threaten the right to land?

Published Feb 2005

Authors

Michael Aliber, Cherryl Walker, Mumbi Machera, false et al.

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Focus themes

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Does AIDS threaten the right to land?

There are between 500 and 700 AIDS-related deaths in Kenya every day. Beyond this tragedy, the HIV/AIDS epidemic creates problems in many aspects of social and economic life. One such problem is decreased security of land tenure. There are dramatic accounts of AIDS widows and orphans being chased from their land and many more that tell of an increased sense of tenure insecurity due to HIV/AIDS. Is this the whole story of the relationship between HIV/AIDS and land rights?

Research sponsored by the Department forInternational Development (UK) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of theUnited Nations examines the relationship between HIV/AIDS and land rights inthree Kenyan districts. The problem is not straightforward, because there aremany issues which have an impact on security of tenure apart from HIV/AIDS.These include gender relations, growing pressure for land and a lack ofoff-farm economic opportunities. These issues overlap with HIV/AIDS to decreasethe land tenure security of particular groups.

The research shows that:

  • Therewas no evidence of ‘distress sales’ of land due to HIV/AIDS in any of the threesites. There was some evidence of widows having their land ‘grabbed’ by thefamily of deceased husbands, but there was not always a link to HIV/AIDS inthese cases.
  • Therelationship between HIV/AIDS and tenure insecurity is very different acrossthe three sites. It depends partly on cultural responses to HIV/AIDS. Wheresocial stigma and shame related to the disease was most severe, the impact ontenure insecurity was greatest.
  • Thepoorer people are, the more likely it is that HIV/AIDS will increase insecurityof land tenure.

HIV/AIDS does increase the vulnerability ofcertain groups to loss of tenure. However, the link between HIV/AIDS and landtenure insecurity is not always there and is not the most frequent situation.This contradicts a widely held view that tenure loss due to HIV/AIDS iswidespread. At present, Kenya’s land policy context is changing, due to anongoing-process of constitutional review. However, the government has expressedthe intention to create a national land policy. This will ensure tenuresecurity. Considering this, the research recommends that:

  • Theconstitutional review should consider clarifying laws concerning land rental.Many AIDS-affected households currently cannot farm their land because they donot have enough labour. They are also unlikely to rent out their land, becauseof their fear of losing their land rights.
  • Weaknessesin current legislation make it difficult for those without money or who havelow literacy levels to formalise their land holdings. There are many areas ofthe current land registration system that could be revised to facilitateformalisation of tenure rights even within the existing legal framework.
  • Lowlevels of awareness concerning land policy and HIV/AIDS need to be addressed.One solution could be a communications policy to create public awareness ofpolicies, rights and procedures.

There is good reason to be concerned about theimpact of HIV/AIDS on land rights and access for vulnerable groups. However, itis important to consider that many households, irrespective of their particularexposure to HIV/AIDS, experience land tenure insecurity. Death in the familyusually causes tenure insecurity and, in the words of several respondents inKenya, “AIDS is just another way of dying.”

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