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 for International Development (UK) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations examines the relationship between HIV/AIDS and land rights in three Kenyan districts. The problem is not straightforward, because there are many issues which have an impact on security of tenure apart from HIV/AIDS. These include gender relations, growing pressure for land and a lack of off-farm economic opportunities. These issues overlap with HIV/AIDS to decrease the land tenure security of particular groups.

The research shows that:

• There was no evidence of ‘distress sales’ of land due to HIV/AIDS in any of the three sites. There was some evidence of widows having their land ‘grabbed’ by the family of deceased husbands, but there was not always a link to HIV/AIDS in these cases.
• The relationship between HIV/AIDS and tenure insecurity is very different across the three sites. It depends partly on cultural responses to HIV/AIDS. Where social stigma and shame related to the disease was most severe, the impact on tenure insecurity was greatest.
• The poorer people are, the more likely it is that HIV/AIDS will increase insecurity of land tenure.

HIV/AIDS does increase the vulnerability of certain groups to loss of tenure. However, the link between HIV/AIDS and land tenure 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 is widespread. At present, Kenya’s land policy context is changing, due to an ongoing-process of constitutional review. However, the government has expressed the intention to create a national land policy. This will ensure tenure security. Considering this, the research recommends that:

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

There is good reason to be concerned about the impact of HIV/AIDS on land rights and access for vulnerable groups. However, it is important to consider that many households, irrespective of their particular exposure to HIV/AIDS, experience land tenure insecurity. Death in the family usually causes tenure insecurity and, in the words of several respondents in Kenya, “AIDS is just another way of dying.”

Source(s):
‘The impact of HIV/AIDS on land rights: case studies from Kenya’, FAO Monograph complied by the Integrated Rural and Regional Development Research Programme, Human Sciences Research Council and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Full document.

Funded by: Department for International Development, UK and the Food and Agriculture Organization

id21 Research Highlight: 15 February 2005

Further Information:
Michael Aliber

Tel: +27 12 302 2730
Fax: +27 12 302 2701
Contact the contributor: maliber@hsrc.ac.za

Department for International Development, UK

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa

Other related links:
'Land rights in Africa: protecting the interests of vulnerable groups'

'Africa’s changing landscape: new policies to resolve conflicts over land'

'Bringing agricultural extension into action against HIV/AIDS in Africa'

'Understanding the linkages between HIV/AIDS and agriculture'

'HIV/AIDS in rural areas - a new set of challenges'

HIV/AIDS and Agriculture - FAO factsheet