(Ecofin Agency) - On November 15, 2016, was opened in Niamey, Niger, an orientation meeting on the formulation and validation process for a training module for magistrates and for a shepherd-tailored guide regarding court intervention in land conflicts. The meeting was organized by the Association pour Redynamisation de l’Elevage au Niger (AREN) and the Niger National Livestock Farmers Federation (FNEN-DADDO).

The two-day workshop aims at developing a legal-regulatory framework which will enable a better handling of land conflicts involving shepherds.

Presiding the meeting was Mr. Chaïbou Mamane, Director of Cabinet of Justice Minister, who said the seating has been called to respond to an urgent need for the protection of Nigeriens breeders’ activities. A need which is closely related to court procedures in the sector and which triggered the idea for the training of magistrates and lawyers. “Rural law in Niger results from a long process which involved the main actors of the rural environment, knowingly farmers and shepherds,” he said, Sahel reports.    

The website further states: “this meeting aims specifically to define the goals of these two products (the module and the document) of training; to define a implementation roadmap for the formulation of awaited products; to identify actors who should be targeted by the awaited training products and successfully identify and integrate to the procedure all the skills required for its completion. During the meeting the various actors of the land sector will discuss topics such as fundamental right to mobility; right to priority pastoral claim; legal protection of shepherds’ land rights; the exploration of methodological means to develop a training module for magistrates and the public administration, and land legislation, similarly the exploration of methodological means to design a guide for shepherds in the case of pastoral conflicts”.  

Souha Touré