Today, the Equal Rights Trust and Transparency International launch our latest investigation into the links between discrimination and corruption. This Beautiful Land: Corruption, Discrimination and Land Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa explores – for the first time – the dynamics of discriminatory corruption in land governance.

Across the globe, corruption denies people access to the land and resources they rely upon for their survival. At the same time, discrimination, direct and indirect, on grounds ranging from disability to ethnicity and from gender to religion, acts to deny land rights to the most marginalised. There is extensive evidence that corruption and discrimination impede the equal enjoyment of land rights. To date, however, the relationship between these phenomena has been underexplored. This report seeks to fill that gap

This is the latest outcome of an ongoing collaboration between the Equal Rights Trust and Transparency International to identify, document and understand the links between discrimination and corruption, which began in 2020. In 2021, we published Defying Exclusion: Stories and insights on the links between discrimination and corruption a report which identified the different ways in which discrimination and corruption fuel one another and defined “discriminatory corruption” for the first time.

This Beautiful Land examines the dynamics of discriminatory corruption in the land sector. Presenting evidence and case studies from seven countries – Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – it explores how discrimination and corruption exacerbate one another and fuel land inequalities. From persons with disabilities in Zambia, dispossessed of their land by corrupt actors, to the young people in Zimbabwe who sit on housing waitlists, denied generational rights of access to land due to corruption, the report finds that corruption is felt hardest by communities exposed to discrimination. Building upon our previous research in this area, This Beautiful Land finds that corruption and discrimination fuel each other in five different ways:

• Discrimination results in greater exposure to corruption
• Certain acts of corruption are directly discriminatory
• The impacts of corruption are felt disproportionately by groups exposed to discrimination
• Both discrimination and corruption result in the denial of justice
• Corruption impedes the effectiveness of measures designed to advance equality

In the context of the global land crises of climate change, environmental degradation, food insecurity, unemployment and conflict continue to mount, it is essential that the intersections between corruption and discrimination are acknowledged and addressed. The report calls on governments, international bodies and civil society organisations to recognise the links between discrimination and corruption and to take targeted and effective measures to tackle them. Policymakers should ensure that the rights of communities whose land is under threat are respected, protected and fulfilled. This requires a wide set of measures, including the adoption of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation and anti-corruption safeguards covering all aspects of land governance.