Rhodri C. Williams, guest researcher at the Åland Islands Peace Institute was in January 2009 awarded a grant by the Åland Culture Foundation to undertake research on “Collective Rights to Administer Landed Property: From the League of Nations’ Åland Agreement to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.” Mr. Williams’ research will focus on the fact that rules like those on Åland allowing minorities in autonomous regions to restrict the sale of land to outsiders are relatively unusual. The research project will begin by looking at how such a rule was included in the original League of Nations autonomy decision and what models it was based on. Mr. Williams will also examine whether Åland’s experience has been taken into account in the ongoing campaign of many indigenous and tribal groups worldwide to be recognized as having similar rights to exclude outsiders from their traditional lands. Some articles by Williams can be found here.
