Mr. Jamal Talab, the Director-General of the Land Research Center (LRC) in Palestine, participated in a workshop on the indicators of land tenure which was held in Rome on the 21st and 22nd of February in 2014.

He represented the Arab Network for Food Sovereignty at the workshop as it is a member of the IPC Working Group on Tenure that is representing  civil society perspective on the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Tenure of Land , Fisheries and Forests. Mr. Jamal presented a proposal on behalf of the LRC and the ANFS to conduct analytical studies for land systems, and the adoption of political positions that are based on international humanitarian law, which condemn and reject any occupation of land and consider any policies related to occupation as illegal.

The paper also included a series of recommendations to maintain and develop the land holdings of smallholders and small-scale farmers, which serves global food security. 

The workshop was organized by a number of institutions (FAO, IFAD, OXFAM, UN Habitat) and was attended by about 40 people representing NGOs, the private sector, and international organizations as well as experts from many countries.