Four billion population excluded from legal system - Minister Moragoda

Dulshani Gunawardena

Speaking on his experiences as a past member of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, Justice and Law Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda stated that more than four billion of the world population were living far within the grasp of the legal system.

These people possess no birth certification or other identification document, no legal property and have no access to the development projects and the resultant benefits.

Speaking at a conference on Registration of title to property organized by the Alumni Association of International Development Law Organization (IDLO), Moragoda said ensuring property rights was one of the most important methods of incorporating this sizable population into the legal system.

With just around 30 percent of Sri Lanka’s population possessing a title to property, there is yet much to do in stabilising the land registration system in Sri Lanka, the Minister said.

Moragoda emphasised that though contributing more than 60 percent of the economy in developing countries, women amounted to less than 10 percent of land title holders.

Stating that the relevance of property ownership goes much beyond a display of economic prowess, he commended the excellent work being carried out to build a more stable process of land registration in Sri Lanka.