Housing, Land and Property in Conflict and Displacement Settings (original) (raw)

War-Induced Displacement: Hard Choices in Land Governance

Land

Civil war and violence often force large numbers of people to leave their lands. Multiple waves of displacement and (partial) return generate complex overlapping claims that are not easily solved. As people return to their regions of origin—sometimes after decades—they tend to find their land occupied by other settlers, some of whom hold legal entitlements. In the places of arrival, displaced people affect other people’s access as they seek to turn their temporary entitlements into more definite claims. The overlapping claims related to displacement pose serious dilemmas to land governance, which existing land laws and land governance institutions are not well-equipped to deal with. This paper outlines the main challenges for land governance as a first step to move the debate forward. The paper summarises the key challenges around three tensions: first, between short term conflict resolution and structural solutions; second, between state and customary/community-based governance; an...

Land administration in post-conflict areas : a key land and conflict issue

2010

SUMMARY Access to land and related resources is nearly always an issue during and shortly after a major conflict. Sometimes difficulty with access to land and related resources is one of the causes of the conflict, in other cases it is more a side-effect of the conflict. There is a growing recognition of the importance of addressing land issues early and effectively at all stages of the humanitarian response to a post-conflict situation. Some of the land-related challenges that arise in post-conflict situations include: loss or destruction of property, secondary occupation, landlessness, insecure use or mobility rights and lack of clarity regarding ownership or use rights. Failure to address these issues can create significant obstacles to humanitarian interventions and early recovery responses and, if unaddressed, may contribute to renewed violence. If land issues are to be recognized, put on the agenda and addressed from first response to a post-conflict situation into early recov...

Peacekeeping and Housing Land and Property (HLP) Rights in the Great Lakes Region of Africa

A variety of recent studies have revealed complex relationships between control over land (and land-based resources) and conflict. Combatants involved in conflict within states – by far the most significant kind of conflict today – often claim that unequal access to land is one of the causes of violence. During conflict, land access is affected not just for belligerents, but for entire communities, who become targets of violence due to the ‘ethnicization’ of conflict. And in post-conflict situations, the land and shelter needs of returning internally displaced populations (IDPs) and refugees must be carefully managed in order to avoid dangerous disputes and further violence. The types of interventions in the housing, land and property rights (HLP) sector which are necessary and feasible change as the country emerges from conflict towards a more stable period of reconstruction. This chapter will look specifically at Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (former ‘Zaire’) and Rwanda. The three case-study countries are at different stages of post-conflict recovery, and a brief overview of recent events in the region follows.

Protected Rather Than Protracted: Strengthening Displaced Persons in Peace Processes

2015

Conflict situations do not pass directly into post-conflict situations, but undergo a transition without clear-cut boundaries. Consequently, the Main Findings PROTECTED RATHER THAN PROTRACTED 6 \ \ WORKING PAPER 3 \ 2015 can be included in the various stages of peace processes to make a difference. The oscillation of DPs between the statuses of IDP, refugee, returnee, or displaced returnee, has not been addressed sufficiently. Consequently, more research in this area is needed. A clarification of the link between return and peace in general could yield significant insights for practices that help end PFD. Conflict and displacement can change gender roles Women who flee without their husbands may resume more responsibilities and diversify their activities in their host communities. This might have a positive impact on the economic situation, personal freedom, and social independence of women while men may have difficulties to live up to their social role as breadwinners. This change in gender relations as well as age, i.e. the specific needs and resiliencies of elderly persons and children, both decisive factors that define the vulnerability of individuals in PFD, have to be taken into account as not to challenge the success and sustainability of reintegration.

Land, Property and the Challenge of Return for Iraq's Displaced

The crisis of displacement in Iraq has created an array of challenges related to land and property that must be addressed if return is to be sustainable. This report analyzes the nature of these land and property issues and the measures thus far taken by the Iraqi government to address them. It concludes with recommendations on how these policies can be improved and broadened to have a more durable impact. The report draws on the extensive efforts of both the United States Institute of Peace and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to assist the Iraqi government in the design of displacement-related land and property policies, including a July 2008 conference in Amman sponsored by the Institute and the World Bank and a November 2008 conference in Baghdad sponsored by the Institute, IOM, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Conflict and post-conflict contexts in relation to land, other resources and land administration

http://mmm-gi.blogspot.mk/p/nrno5-vitiyear-2015.html, 2015

Conflict and land are tied in a complex relation. This relation has various characteristics before, during the armed conflict, and in post-conflict contexts. Land and other resources are many times seen as factors for eruption of violent conflicts, in some circumstances influence the duration and give specific characteristics to the conflict. Land issues play a particular role in the post-conflict contexts. Land was identified as a critical gap in international response capacities and the awareness about the vital importance of addressing the housing, land and property issues within the context of post-conflict state building has increased. This paper, based on literature review, explores the conflicts and post-conflict contexts in relation to land, other resources and land administration. At the end, this paper acknowledges the importance of land and its administration in post-conflict contexts as one of the essential elements in the process of post-conflict state building. Key words: Conflict, post-conflict contexts, land, natural resources, land administration, post-conflict land administration.

Beyond Conflict and Space: Conflict-Induced Forced Displacement and Communal Land Conflict

2014

The purpose of this paper is to understand the ramifications of forced displacement where political violence is present. Conflict and displacement often go hand in hand, however the impact of forced displacement on local communities and its implications have yet to be fully understood. This study concentrates on a single case study from the Philippines, where insurgency violence induces forced displacement and compels re-location and re-settlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), which then further induces communal conflict pertaining to land-acquisitions and land-tenure between the locals and re-settled IDPs. The study finds firstly, how ethnic-oriented groups are clustered in space based on its ethnic history and its place of origin of its identity, and secondly, how the presence of ethnic-oriented social networks play as a determinant factor in the decision making process of where to re-locate and re-settle. In the case of the Muslim Autonomous area of the Philippines, the re-settling of IDPs contributes to the outbreak of communal conflicts pertaining to land tenure and land ownership between the new settlers and the local community.

Land Rights and Peacebuilding: Challenges and Responses for the International Community

Rectifying land rights in war-torn settings are among the most daunting challenges of peacebuilding. War-torn land tenure situations are unique settings in their combination of a weakened and chaotic formal (statutory) system, vigorous but very fluid informal tenure activity, along with the presence of political demands regarding land, and international actors that have a large interest and influence in the success of any improvement or recovery. While this combination carries risks, it also represents real opportunity for practical and policy reform in the formal and customary land tenure sectors of countries recovering from armed conflict. In this regard the statutory tenure reorganization and reform efforts supported by the UN need to assess how the development of informal tenure institutions, problems, and processes are proceeding 'on the ground,' so as to draw legitimacy from these processes into reformulating national tenure structure, policy, law, and enforcement; the...