On 7 and 14 June, the Law and Development Research Group (University of Antwerp Law Faculty) co-organized two online workshops on community participation in development activities with the National University of Lesotho (UNDP Human Rights Chair) and the University of Pretoria (Centre for Human Rights). The focus was on the situation of local communities affected by diamond mining and dam-building activities in the Lesotho Highlands. The workshops brought together researchers from the three partner institutions with representatives of community-based organisations, civil society, the legal community and international development agencies.
Participation issues relating to the dam-building and mining activities were framed and discussed in terms of various overlapping legal regimes and concepts. From the Law & Development Research Group, Prof. Koen De Feyter presented a session examining the relevant bilateral treaty, Prof. Thalia Kruger addressed the issue of human rights obligations of corporations, and Dr Deborah Casalin outlined the legal regime on internal displacement. Sessions were also presented on the right to development (Prof. Carol Ngang, National University of Lesotho), judicial activism (Adv. Mamello Makau, National University of Lesotho); and human rights aspects of trade and investment (Dr Tinyiko Ngobeni, University of Pretoria).
These workshops follow up on Prof. Koen De Feyter’s 2023 mission to Lesotho as a member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development (see the resulting thematic study). The insights from these workshops will inform the ongoing elaboration of (socio-)legal research projects relating to community participation in development activities in the Lesotho Highlands, in the context of the Law & Development Research Group’s recent cooperation agreement with the National University of Lesotho and long-standing partnership with the University of Pretoria Centre for Human Rights.