(pradd) – liberia - Land Tenure and Property Rights Portal

GOL is presently exercising its authority to condemn and expropriate property as “eminent domain” withoutmuch constraint. Both internationally and in democratic national jurisdictions, the act of regulatory takings(expropriation) is considered a serious violation of private property rights that needs to be exercised withconstraint, and then only when it serves a legitimate public purpose. The World Bank recognizes“development displacement” as a serious cause of internal displacement, which disrupts social and ethnicstructures and influences specifically indigenous people’s way of life and cultural cohesion. Many negativesocio-economic consequences are ascribed to development displacement.It is appropriate to create objective standards to evaluate competing land use claims, specifically forexpropriation or eminent domain cases. Some of the standards that are applied in South Africa, which has asimilar mineral rights regime and progressive land reform program, include the following:• Are there two (or more) parties with competing private interests or are the competing interestsbetween an individual and the government, or between an individual and a company?• What is the current land use?• What is the proposed land use?• Would the proposed use be to serve the public interest, including the nation’s commitment todevelopment or land reform?• How did the current owner or occupier obtain the land?• What is the market value of the property, and to what extent would the proposed land use impact thevalue?• What is the extent of direct government investment and subsidy in the property?This is not a finite category of questions, and the judiciary, legislature, and Land Commission need todetermine how best to find an equilibrium between private and public interests, and what the perimeters of“public interest” are.10 PRADD LIBERIA: A REVIEW OF THE LEGAL, REGULATORY AND POLICY FRAMEWORKGOVERNING ARTISANAL DIAMOND MINING IN LIBERIA