CONVITE DA HARVARD À PROF. SONIA MORAES

HARVARD LAW SCHOOL

CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS · 02138

February 2, 2009

Sonia Helena Novaes Moraes
Terra, Brazil

Dear Sonia Helena Novaes Moraes,

On behalf of the Harvard Law School and the Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies we
invite you to participate in a conference entitled, “Property Rights for the Poor: Conceptual Challenges,
Pragmatic Responses.” The conference will take place at Harvard University on April 26-27, 2009. It is co-
sponsored by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The conference aims to bring together key
international scholars, policy-makers, and activists to discuss cutting-edge issues around the potential of a
robust right to property to empower the poor. The participants will engage both theoretically and
pragmatically, with an eye toward identifying new policies and action strategies, as well as charting new
theoretical ground. Contributors will be drawn from diverse geographical and professional contexts.

While the international human rights movement has engaged with questions of economic rights alongside
civil and political rights from the early days of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights onwards, it is also
true that no single, agreed formula exists for defining the scope of these rights. This general observation
applies with considerable force to the specific question of property rights. Certainly, the right to property has
been recognized as a foundation for the legal empowerment of the poor. For impoverished people, a core
entitlement to own and use property is basic to securing a decent livelihood and the shelter, food, healthcare,
and human dignity that go with it. Indeed, the right to property is a foundation for the right to life itself. At
the same time, key definitional and strategic questions remain unanswered, with urgent theoretical and
practical implications. Take the central (and seemingly simple) question: is there a right to property for the
poor?

The answer is complex and contested. Some see it as a bundle of rights that are related yet separable. These
include the rights to shelter from the elements, protection against arbitrary or forced eviction, and housing
that affords safety, security, and privacy over the longer term. Others would argue that this bundle is
inadequate and that it must include a right to own and then use one’s property, to the full extent of the law.
But if this is so, how can one define and operationalize a right to property that empowers but does not also
exclude and further impoverish the poor?

These problems introduce yet others. How, for example, does access to property impinge on other key rights
– to gender equality, to food security, to protection from violence? Are these rights complementary or in
opposition to each other? And what strategies exist that can effectively be claimed by poor people? What do
we know about the enforcement of the right to property at the global level, and how (if at all) has
international enforcement fed back into gains in local areas? More concretely, do efforts to grant titles to the
poor for land they use lead men to take land away from their wives, or some poor people to sell or mortgage
newly titled land with the risk of permanent land loss? How can property rights for the poor in rapidly
expanding urban metropolises be delivered realistically and sustainably?

This conference sets itself the ambitious task of forging ahead both intellectually and practically in this
complex area. We envisage an opportunity to explore, in an intellectually open but rigorous manner, some of
the conceptual challenges and some of the strategic options that have been developed to address them, in
both urban and rural settings. The proposed schedule and agenda follow.

Pre-event dinner: Sunday, April 26, 2009 hosted by the Swiss Consul

Invitation Only Experts Conference: Monday, April 27, 2009
The conference will be organized in two roundtables with short presentations to maximize the time for group
discussion.

Morning session:
I. A Right to Property for the Poor: Conceptual Challenges:
How can we define conceptual strategies for implementing a right to property that consistently works to
further, rather than impede, the empowerment of the poor?

Afternoon session:
II. Innovations on the Ground:
What creative innovations exist in advancing the legal empowerment of the urban poor by promoting their
interrelated human rights claims to shelter, housing, property, and a decent livelihood?

Public Event: Monday, April 27, 2009
An open forum on the relationship between protecting the right to property and empowering the poor. A
keynote will be followed by a public discussion. Local students working to prevent the eviction of tenants
from foreclosed properties will be present.

Results and follow-up
The conference is intended as an expert meeting, to create an opportunity for scholarly discussion,
information exchange and identification of future research projects, policy collaborations, and activist
interventions. It is hoped that participants will produce discussion papers of approximately ten pages that can
be posted on the conference website and read prior to the event to enhance discussion. Contributors will be
invited to expand their papers after the conference to form the basis of an edited volume or a journal issue.

In order to facilitate your participation, we are able to offer economy class round trip airfare and
accommodation for up to three nights, as needed. For questions or to confirm your participation, please
contact program coordinator, Lauren Herman at lauren_herman@harvard.edu or 617.384.5011. We very
much hope you can join us and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Lucie White
Louis A. Horvitz Professor of Law
Harvard Law School

Jacqueline Bhabha
Jeremiah Smith Jnr Lecturer, Harvard Law School
and Director of the Harvard University Committee
on Human Rights Studies