Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://archive.gijn.org/tag/land-contracts/)
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Finding out who owns land can be tough. While property registration systems exist in almost all countries, the quality and availability of the information vary widely.
বাংলা
Full Property Guide
The lack of transparency about property records gets little media attention. It’s just not sexy enough for most journalists, as several land policy experts have lamented. Specific conflicts over land ownership, between local communities and corporate interests, for example, may make national headlines.
A joint investigation by a historian and a journalist revealed that a number of US universities were beneficiaries from land expropriated from Indigenous communities. The authors, Robert Lee and Tristan Ahtone, reveal what tools helped them uncover the story. They built a geodatabase and traced the money to find out where the land had come from and how much was paid for it.
বাংলা
Full Property Guide
Research into property records has played a major role in uncovering corruption. The following sampling shows the variety and importance of investigative reporting in this area.
We’re back from the wonderful Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Lillehammer with a new roundup of resources for you. Thanks to everyone who came to and shared the presentation I did there with Margot Williams of The Intercept, 100 Best Databases for Internet Research. You can find links to all the resources that Margot and I talked about in this post.
Property records hold a wealth of information. Uncovering who owns land can be critical for reporting on stories ranging from political corruption and environmental crimes to deceitful treatment of indigenous peoples. GIJN has compiled an extensive resource page on property records.
The claims by Indigenous peoples to the land on which they farm, graze animals, hunt and live are often unrecognized, tenuous, and vulnerable. Despite their historic use of the land, they often lack legal security.