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The role of law in the reduction of rural poverty

Towards leveraging legal frameworks

Year of publication 2020

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 56 p.

Author Chirwa, M.C.; Vidar, M.; Yeshanew, S.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Book (series)

ISBN 978-92-5-132258-1

Series title FAO Legal Papers

Series number No. 105

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Considering the importance of legal frameworks in laying down governance and accountability frameworks, clarifying the responsibilities of relevant public and private entities and defining the long term and budgetary commitment of states, the capacity of countries to adopt and enforce laws in pertinent areas is crucial to reducing rural poverty. Countries have signed up to international and regional instruments that are of relevance to rural poverty and have adopted policies and legislation in these areas. However, a number of normative, institutional and operational challenges exist in different countries. These include regulatory gaps in some areas such as social security for agricultural workers; the existence of laws that sustain discriminatory practices, for example, in relation to inheritance of property; and inconsistencies in norms and institutional mandates in the area of natural resource governance. Even with relatively good laws, their practical implementation may be wanting due to limitations of capacity to implement them. These problems would require a range of measures on the part of state and non‐state actors, including the adoption or revision of laws as well as awareness‐raising and legal empowerment. This legal paper explores the significance of legislative frameworks to poverty reduction efforts, with a particular focus on human rights. It highlights sectoral areas for legislative intervention and identifies normative, procedural and institutional challenges that states encounter while implementing poverty reduction programmes. It further refers to examples from state practice and provides recommendations on how relevant actors can make use of legislation to address rural poverty.

Last updated 30/06/2021

Cite this content as:

Chirwa, M.C., Vidar, M. and Yeshanew, S. 2020. The role of law in the reduction of rural poverty: Towards leveraging legal frameworks. FAO Legal Papers No. 105. Rome, FAO.

https://doi.org/10.4060/ca8013en

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