ABSTRACT

This chapter explains the political economy context of land acquisitions in Merauke, Indonesia, in which the concerns of injustice and inequality will be addressed. The negotiation of the right to food in the Merauke case presented in this chapter illustrates the transnational legal processes in Merauke. The internationally declared human right to food has increasingly been advocated to address one of the most crucial global phenomenon of the twenty-first century: agricultural modernization. It is written in order to critically assess the invocation of the right to food ideals and norms in the transnational legal process to address injustice and inequality resulting from agricultural modernization projects, such as the one implemented by the government of Indonesia in Merauke Papua. The case discussed in this chapter reflects the complexity of the global legal space at the local arenas and the contemporary challenges in realizing human rights in global food and land governance.