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Activity Report 2007/2008
Inadequate slum housing - Accra, Ghana. Photo: Scott Leckie<br />
100 million displaced people throughout the world don’t want<br />
slums, camps or aid drops, they want sustainable solutions.
Activity Report 2007/2008<br />
Director’s Message 2<br />
Mission 5<br />
Methodology 6<br />
Activities 7<br />
Field Work - the Global HLP Rights Expert Registry 7<br />
DS Field work 2007 - 2008 9<br />
HLP Policy Guidance 11<br />
Handbooks, Reports and Publications 12<br />
Global Update 14<br />
www.displacementsolutions.org 14<br />
Advisory Board 16<br />
2009 and Beyond 19<br />
Donor Support 20<br />
Financial & Legal 20
Director’s Message<br />
Welcome to the first of what will become annual reports on the work of<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> (DS). DS is a Geneva-based organisation that<br />
was established under Swiss Law in December 2006 and which is dedicated<br />
to assisting the world’s displaced people to access durable housing, land and<br />
property (HLP) rights solutions. What makes <strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> unique<br />
among organsiations grappling with displacement is our focus on HLP issues<br />
as some of the central ingredients of strategies aimed at preventing and<br />
resolving displacement.<br />
The need to address HLP issues within the specific context of displacement<br />
is increasingly understood by a growing chorus of United Nations agencies,<br />
governments and NGOs. As a result, in recent years special projects to<br />
address HLP issues have been developed by the UN and local actors in<br />
post-conflict and post-disaster settings such as Aceh, Afghanistan, Bosnia-<br />
Herzegovina, Iraq, Kosovo, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and in many others. Ensuring<br />
that similar (and improved) initiatives take place following conflicts, disasters<br />
and in the context of climate change is a key objective of <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
<strong>Solutions</strong>. The organisation was established because it was clear that no<br />
other organisation was taking on these issues in a comprehensive manner.<br />
There was a clear need for a small, flexible and non-partisan organisation<br />
able to respond rapidly and in creative ways to the growing number of<br />
housing, land and property challenges in need of resolution. As a result,<br />
DS was born.<br />
This work is rarely easy or straight-forward, which may explain why many<br />
institutions have historically chosen to overlook it. <strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong><br />
has very consciously chosen to work on some of the most vexing issues in<br />
the world today, and our experience after two years is that the need for such<br />
initiatives has never been greater. Tens of millions of displaced people are<br />
currently unable to return to their original homes due to conflict, severe human<br />
rights abuses and environmental crises and natural disasters. If current trends<br />
continue, future large-scale displacement is inevitable as the world becomes<br />
increasingly urban, ecologically threatened by climate change, and subject<br />
to ongoing threats to peace and security.<br />
We are both pragmatic and realistic, but also full of hope and committed to<br />
a vision that there is a sense of justice that prevails in even the worst situations.<br />
We may be optimistic at heart, but <strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> truly believes that<br />
even the most intractable situations of long-term displacement can be resolved<br />
in a just and sustainable manner. With innovative, rights-based strategies<br />
and enforceable remedial measures, displaced persons everywhere can<br />
be practically assisted to return and reclaim their homes, receive adequate<br />
compensation or be resettled in ways fully consistent with their human rights.<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> aims to provide assistance to develop practical<br />
strategies towards this end.<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> provides a unique global capacity for developing<br />
solutions to displacement-linked HLP problems around the world. <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
<strong>Solutions</strong> provides expert and results-driven advisory services in the following<br />
areas: Climate change-induced forced displacement; UN and regional<br />
peace-building operations; Peace negotiations, peace agreements and<br />
mediation processes; Post-conflict HLP legal sector reform, policy development<br />
and dispute resolution measures; HLP restitution and compensation; and Postdisaster<br />
HLP rights recovery and renewal.<br />
Since the organisation was established just over two years ago, there has<br />
been no shortage of requests for its services. Field deployments and policy<br />
expertise have been provided in some 15 country situations and to some<br />
14 institutions on developing their policy or institutional approaches on HLP<br />
issues. Our work thus far has resulted in a series of detailed restitution plans,<br />
in-depth policy papers, innovative strategy discussions, and field work that has<br />
assisted in pushing displacement issues ever higher onthe political agendas<br />
of many Governments and UN agencies. Our efforts on climate change and<br />
displacement, HLP rights in Burma, IDP return strategies in Timor Leste and HLP<br />
2
policy work for several leading international organisations have been widely<br />
lauded. We hope very much to continue these and additional efforts in the<br />
years to come.<br />
Fundamental to our continued ability to meet the scale of requests we have<br />
faced will be our ability to further secure our financial future and to access<br />
increased donor support. We are deeply appreciative for the generous<br />
support provided thus far by our many donors, and hope that such support<br />
will again be forthcoming to enable DS to continue its unique work. We are<br />
therefore looking forward to continued and increasing support from donors;<br />
not only because no one else is doing what we do, but because <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
<strong>Solutions</strong> really does make a difference.<br />
Thank you again for taking the time to read our first activity report. We look<br />
forward to hearing from you!<br />
Scott Leckie<br />
Founder & Director<br />
DS Director, Scott Leckie during a mission to Karen refugee<br />
camps on the Thai-Burma border. Photo: Kirsten Young<br />
3
Karen refugees, Thai-Burma border. Photo: Scott Leckie<br />
“The creation of <strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> is a very timely initiative. The organisation’s<br />
objective to create a capacity to deploy housing, land and property experts to postconflict<br />
countries should fill a pressing need in many peacekeeping operations…<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> will provide a much needed service for the millions of displaced<br />
persons around the world who wish to reclaim their original homes and properties.<br />
I would encourage any prospective donors to support this initiative strongly.”<br />
– Dennis McNamara (Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue)<br />
4
Mission<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> was established to fill an institutional gap in solving<br />
cases of forced displacement throughout the world. While many organisations<br />
advocate on behalf of the rights of refugees and internally displaced persons,<br />
no other institution today - UN, NGO or otherwise - focuses comprehensively<br />
on the question of displacement through the particular lens of housing, land<br />
and property rights. Our aim is to help governments, intergovernmental bodies<br />
and displaced people themselves to prevent or resolve displacement through<br />
a focus on strengthening housing, land and property rights.<br />
Our primary goal is to empower displaced people and refugees to exercise<br />
their right to return and have restored to them their original homes, lands<br />
and properties. <strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> seeks forcefully to ensure that the<br />
Pinheiro Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Displaced Persons<br />
is implemented in full for all of the world’s displaced people.<br />
We work with people who have been displaced not only by conflict, forced<br />
eviction or other human rights abuses, but also natural disaster, climate change<br />
or other circumstances beyond their control. When return and restitution are<br />
not materially possible, we try to assist in identifying alternative solutions such<br />
as resettlement or compensation.<br />
Above all, we attempt in each case to provide fresh, innovative and practical<br />
perspectives that can result in actually resolving outstanding cases of<br />
displacement. - person by person and community by community.<br />
5
Methodology<br />
Unlike many human rights organisations, <strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> does not focus primarily on advocacy work that places blame on governments responsible for<br />
human rights abuses; there are already enough excellent organisations who are more than capable of exposing violations of basic rights. Rather, DS strives to<br />
take human rights work one-step further by devising practical plans to solve situations where forcibly displaced people have lost their homes. With innovative,<br />
rights-based analysis and institutional design and remedial measures, DS believes that displaced persons everywhere can be practically assisted to return to<br />
and reclaim their homes, receive adequate compensation or be resettled in ways consistent with their human rights.<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> Solution’s methodology has two key elements:<br />
4 The Global Housing Land and Property Rights (HLP) Expert Registry; and<br />
4 Country and Thematic HLP Projects.<br />
The Global HLP Rights Expert Registry<br />
The Global HLP Rights Expert Registry enables the organisation to deploy<br />
more than 100 leading HLP rights experts at short notice to displacement<br />
crises, particularly conflict, post-conflict, post-disaster and settings where<br />
climate change is already causing displacement to help find viable and<br />
creative HLP solutions. Our HLP rights teams work closely with peace and<br />
post-disaster operations to provide the expertise required to ensure that<br />
housing, land and property rights issues are properly addressed. The teams<br />
drawn from the Registry are carefully tailored to fit the particular displacement<br />
and HLP problems in the affected country. As we are able to compose these<br />
teams at very short notice, this considerably improves the response of national<br />
governments and the international community to these crises, and speeds<br />
up the process of identifying long-term solutions. In chronological order,<br />
deployments have thus far taken place to Timor Leste, Somalia, Maldives,<br />
Georgia, Colombia, Peru, Sri Lanka, Thailand/Burma border and Burma. As<br />
of early 2009, planning for future missions is currently underway for Darfur,<br />
DR Congo, Kiribati and Papua New Guinea.<br />
Country and Thematic HLP Projects<br />
DS also carries out country and thematic projects aimed at improving the HLP<br />
restitution and other human rights prospects of refugees and IDPs. Each of these<br />
projects have been very carefully selected to achieve maximum global impact<br />
and to be of the widest possible application. They seek to build on a range<br />
of positive developments concerning HLP rights in post-conflict and disaster<br />
settings in recent years. The projects entail both field-level HLP initiatives, as<br />
well as policy guidance papers, training programmes and documentary films.<br />
All are results-oriented and original in approach and methodology. The key<br />
aim is to build the institutional, normative, and conceptual basis for further<br />
action on resolving displacement situations around the world by focusing on<br />
HLP problems. Examples include a project on climate change and lost land<br />
in the Pacific, another involving the development of an HLP blueprint as part<br />
of a future peace plan for Burma, and a project which provides guidance on<br />
how to address HLP issues in peace negotiations.<br />
In addition to the targeted forms of assistance that are provided to specific<br />
groups of refugees and displaced persons through the work of the HLP Expert<br />
Registry and the country and thematic projects, <strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> also<br />
conducts work aimed at promoting greater attention to HLP issues by various<br />
governmental and inter-governmental agencies involved in displacement and<br />
peace-building efforts. The organisation maintains relations with national<br />
governments, members of the judiciary and the legal profession, national<br />
human rights organisations, research institutes, NGOs and others to highlight<br />
the importance of HLP issues in resolving displacement crises. <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
<strong>Solutions</strong> has actively chosen to work on a series of exceptionally challenging<br />
projects, often involving immense political and historical obstacles.<br />
6
Activities<br />
Field Work - the Global HLP Rights<br />
Expert Registry<br />
The DS Global HLP Rights Expert Registry is the only one of its type<br />
in the world. At any given time, DS can use the Registry to call on<br />
many of the world’s leading HLP experts for both long-term and<br />
short-term deployments to the field, to assist in finding workable<br />
ways to end displacement linked to HLP problems. Through its<br />
field deployments in 2007 and 2008, the Registry has already<br />
begun to fill a large gap in national and international responses<br />
to displacement.<br />
The Registry brings together some 110 experts with diverse areas<br />
of expertise. Registry experts represent some 23 nationalities and<br />
speak more than a dozen languages. They have an extensive<br />
range of HLP field experience throughout the world, including in<br />
the following countries/territories: Afghanistan, Albania, Bhutan,<br />
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bougainville (Papua New Guinea), Burma<br />
(Myanmar), Burundi, Cambodia, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican<br />
Republic, DR Congo, Georgia, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Japan,<br />
Kosovo, Latvia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Rwanda,<br />
Serbia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, South Ossetia<br />
(Georgia), Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Timor Leste, Turkey, Uganda<br />
and others.<br />
Access to the Registry is available to national governments, the<br />
UN and other international agencies, national and international<br />
restitution bodies, national Human Rights Institutions, businesses,<br />
academic institutions and civil society organisations.<br />
Areas of expertise currently available from the Registry include:<br />
Climate Change-Induced <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
Providing concrete, practical and rights-based policy options to assist forced<br />
climate migrants to achieve the realisation of their housing, land and property<br />
rights, including through internal relocation and/or international resettlement.<br />
UN (and other) Peace Operations<br />
Working in collaboration with existing peace operations, and assisting UN<br />
agencies and Governments during the design of future peace operations, to<br />
ensure that housing, land and property rights issues are addressed during the<br />
peacebuilding process.<br />
HLP Rights and Peace Negotiation and Mediation Processes<br />
Working closely with peace negotiators to provide advice on how to most<br />
effectively address the numerous (but often ignored) HLP rights challenges<br />
facing countries in conflict and during the post-conflict period.<br />
Post-Conflict HLP Legal Sector Reform and Policy Development<br />
Providing detailed advice on legal sector reform, policy development and<br />
dispute resolution measures in countries undergoing post-conflict reconstruction,<br />
including legislative drafting and rights-based HLP policy planning.<br />
HLP Restitution Programmes, Mechanisms and Institutional<br />
and Legal Frameworks<br />
Designing the legal and institutional frameworks required for the effective<br />
functioning of HLP restitution processes and the exercise of restitution rights of<br />
the displaced.<br />
7
Cadastre, Property Registration Systems and GIS Technology<br />
Assisting local and national public bodies to develop, re-establish, update<br />
and maintain appropriate methods of registering HLP rights in post-conflict<br />
and post-disaster settings.<br />
Post-Disaster HLP Rights Recovery and Renewal<br />
Assisting local governments and the humanitarian community in developing<br />
HLP action plans to facilitate the exercise of HLP rights following disasters and<br />
applying rights-based approaches during the recovery process.<br />
Disaster Planning and Risk Reduction<br />
Identifying rights-based measures within the HLP sector designed to mitigate<br />
the effects of disaster and reduce displacement within such contexts.<br />
Corporate Responsibility and <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
Providing policy advice to large corporations and smaller companies seeking<br />
to reduce or eliminate displacement from their development practices.<br />
Compensation and Reparations<br />
Assisting governments and affected communities and groups to develop just<br />
and satisfactory compensation and reparation programmes designed to<br />
redress the consequences of forced displacement.<br />
National HLP Programming<br />
Assisting local and national organisations and movements to develop<br />
practical, viable and rights-based programming on HLP rights in post-conflict<br />
and post-disaster settings.<br />
Women’s Housing, Land and Property Rights Issues<br />
Developing equitable policy and legal recommendations designed to ensure<br />
equal treatment of women in the HLP sector, including in the area of inheritance<br />
and succession rights.<br />
Land Administration<br />
Providing advice, assistance and best practice examples of land administration<br />
in countries emerging from crisis.<br />
Customary Law Governing Housing, Land and Property Issues<br />
Offering insights and comparative experiences in the application of customary<br />
law in post-conflict and post-disaster recovery settings and the often strained<br />
relationship between these systems and formal legislation and practice.<br />
HLP Rights Research and Analysis<br />
Providing in-depth research and analysis on a wide range of displacement<br />
issues.<br />
HLP Rights Training<br />
Providing user-friendly, individually-tailored practical training on a broad<br />
cross-section of displacement issues for UN agencies, governmental officials,<br />
NGOs and civil society organisations.<br />
Media<br />
Preparing accessible and creative documentary films and feature stories on<br />
displacement cases and possible solutions designed to raise awareness of the<br />
complexities and reality of displacement.<br />
“It is my firm belief that <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
<strong>Solutions</strong> fills a major gap in the efforts of the<br />
international community who seek the means<br />
and methods for coping and recovering<br />
from either human-made or natural crisis.”<br />
– Dan Lewis (Chief, Disaster, Post-Conflict and<br />
Safety Section, UN Habitat Programme)<br />
8
DS Field work 2007 - 2008<br />
Field work by Registry members was carried out in and concerning a<br />
number of countries during 2007 and 2008, including Australia, Burma,<br />
Colombia, Georgia, Maldives, Nepal, Papua New Guinea (Bougainville),<br />
Peru, Serbia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Thai-Burma border and Timor-Leste:<br />
Georgians displaced by the conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the<br />
early 1990s. In the following year, UN-Habitat then requested DS to assist in<br />
the development of a post-conflict HLP restitution plan to take into account the<br />
impact of renewed fighting in the summer of 2008.<br />
Australia<br />
In December 2008, DS hosted two international workshops on displacement<br />
and climate change. The workshops, with participants from some of the<br />
most heavily climate change-affected nations – including Tuvalu, Kiribati,<br />
Maldives and Papua New Guinea – identified a range of policy measures<br />
that would support the housing, land and property rights of forced climate<br />
migrants. A series of follow-up activities are currently underway.<br />
Burma<br />
Throughout 2008, DS worked with local partners to lay the groundwork<br />
to develop proposals designed to eventually reform the law in Burma as<br />
it relates to HLP rights issues and to build capacity for enforcing these<br />
rights for citizens of the country. This initial groundwork took the form of<br />
a comprehensive compilation of all existing HLP law currently in force in<br />
Burma today – some 57 Burmese laws.<br />
Maldives<br />
In March 2008, DS gave a series of speeches and training sessions on<br />
human rights and climate change in the Maldives. This mission was followedup<br />
in May 2008, when a member of the HLP Expert Registry was deployed<br />
to the Maldives at the request of the National Human Rights Commission to<br />
assist in the preparation of an in-depth Housing Assessment in the country.<br />
The recommendations of the Housing Assessment were some of the first policy<br />
documents implemented by the new Maldivian Government.<br />
Nepal<br />
In October 2008, DS was requested by the International Commission of<br />
Jurists to draw up an extensive joint project to assist the new government in<br />
Nepal in developing rights-based land-reform measures to help tackle rural<br />
landlessness which is one of the most vexing problems confronting the country.<br />
The project will be implemented in 2009.<br />
Colombia<br />
In July 2008, DS was requested by the government of Colombia and<br />
partners to assist in designing a blueprint for a restitution programme for<br />
some 3 million IDPs in the country. Members of the HLP registry have<br />
made several field visits to the country to work on refining the blueprint<br />
and legislation pending before the Colombian Congress, including to coordinate<br />
a workshop in Bogota in October 2008 to finalise the plan.<br />
Georgia<br />
In 2007, at the request of UNHCR, DS provided a list of several of the<br />
world’s leading HLP experts and jurists as possible candidates to work<br />
as judges on the recently approved Georgian Restitution Commission. The<br />
Commission was set up to adjudicate HLP claims by South Ossetians and<br />
Papua New Guinea (Bougainville)<br />
In December 2008, DS hosted a closed meeting on the planned resettlement<br />
of 6,000 islanders from the Carteret and other atolls in Papua New Guinea<br />
to Bougainville due to climate change. The meeting brought together<br />
representatives of the communities to be resettled, the Government of<br />
Bougainville and two large landowners on Bougainville to explore how to<br />
best to ensure that this group of forced climate migrants be given adequate<br />
possibilities of land use and livelihood. Intensive follow-up activities are<br />
ongoing, including planned work with the world’s first advocacy organisation<br />
for forced climate migrants, Tulele Peisa.<br />
9
Peru<br />
In July 2008, DS deployed an HLP expert to Pisco, Peru to examine HLP<br />
challenges that emerged in the aftermath of the 2007 earthquake that<br />
devastated the area. This mission was carried out in connection with the HLP<br />
Scoping Study prepared by DS for the International Federation of the Red<br />
Cross and Red Crescent.<br />
Somalia<br />
In June 2008, DS sent a mission to Somalia at the request of UN Habitat and<br />
UNHCR. In a country plagued by conflict, lack of governance, HLP abuses<br />
and massive displacement, the DS expert was tasked with developing an<br />
approach to the many HLP problems which contribute to ongoing displacement<br />
and provide an obstacle to IDP and refugee return.<br />
HLP Rights in Somalia<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong>’ report Housing, Land and Property Rights in<br />
South Central Somalia: Preliminary Assessment and Proposed Strategies<br />
for Expanded Approaches elaborated a series of proposals to assist<br />
in resolving HLP disputes in the difficult environment of Somalia.<br />
The report – commissioned by the UN – identified some of the key<br />
HLP issues prevalent in Somalia. These included: illegal confiscation<br />
and allocation of land; tenure insecurity in rural areas; tenure insecurity<br />
in urban areas; widespread use of forged ownership documentation;<br />
lack of protection from forced eviction for IDPs occupying public<br />
buildings; the need to resolve restitution claims in a fair and equitable<br />
manner; overlapping statutory and other systems dealing with land<br />
governance; and structural HLP rights vulnerabilities of women.<br />
Sri Lanka<br />
In July 2008, in conjunction with a project supported by the International<br />
Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, DS sent an HLP<br />
and post-disaster expert to analyse HLP issues that have remained unresolved<br />
since the December 2004 Tsunami.<br />
Timor-Leste<br />
In July and September 2007, at the request of the UN country team, DS<br />
fielded an HLP expert team to Timor-Leste, where some 10% of the entire<br />
population had been displaced. The DS team joined up with a team from<br />
UN-Habitat to conduct a review of HLP issues which form a key cause of the<br />
country’s ongoing displacement crisis.<br />
In 2009, field work is planned in Burma, Darfur, Democratic Republic of the<br />
Congo, Kiribati, Nepal, Papua New Guinea (including Bougainville and the<br />
Carteret Islands) and the Thai-Burma border.<br />
HLP Rights in Timor Leste<br />
Excerpt from Housing Timor – An IDP-Plus Approach to Resolving<br />
the <strong>Displacement</strong> Crisis in Timor Leste “…Following a three-month<br />
process of investigation, including over 100 meetings focusing on<br />
the challenge of resolving the IDP question, the joint <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
<strong>Solutions</strong> and UN-Habitat Mission has developed eight specific<br />
recommendations which it believes will best assist in resolving the<br />
IDP crisis in Timor Leste in the most rapid, reasonable and equitable<br />
manner possible under present circumstances, consistent with Timor<br />
Leste’s human rights obligations. These are:<br />
Recommendation 1:<br />
Generate Bi-partisan Political Support for Solving the IDP Crisis<br />
Recommendation 2:<br />
Establish the Housing Timor Office<br />
Recommendation 3:<br />
Expand and Clarify <strong>Solutions</strong> for IDPs<br />
Recommendation 4:<br />
Develop Mass Public Information Campaigns<br />
Recommendation 5:<br />
Augment the Human Rights Agenda<br />
Recommendation 6:<br />
Resolve Outstanding Land and Property Issues<br />
Recommendation 7:<br />
Begin Consideration of a National Integrated Housing Programme<br />
Recommendation 8:<br />
Introduce Enabling Measures to Support Housing Development<br />
10
HLP Policy Guidance<br />
Work on HLP policy issues during 2007-2008 included a scoping study on<br />
HLP rights issues for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent<br />
Societies, preparation of a Handbook on HLP Rights and Peace Negotiations<br />
and ever expanding efforts in support of forced climate migrants. In addition,<br />
DS organised and hosted a number of high-level workshops on country and<br />
thematic issues in Bogota, Canberra and New York:<br />
HLP Scoping Study for the International Federation of Red Cross<br />
and Red Crescent Societies<br />
In 2008, the Shelter Programme of the International Federation of Red Cross<br />
and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) requested DS to assist in the development<br />
of a comprehensive scoping study on HLP issues in countries where it carries<br />
out shelter sector activities in the immediate aftermath of large-scale natural<br />
disasters. This project between DS and the IFRC will build the foundations for<br />
improved policy responses when the next disasters strike.<br />
HLP Rights and Peace Negotiations<br />
In June 2008, DS and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) jointly<br />
convened an expert workshop in New York on the intersection between<br />
peace and HLP rights. The meeting brought together some twenty leading<br />
figures in both the HLP and peace mediation fields to review how to expand<br />
attention to HLP concerns during peace processes. A Handbook for Peace<br />
Negotiators on these issues was prepared and will be published jointly by<br />
USIP and DS in 2009.<br />
UN Security Council Debate on HLP Issues<br />
In late 2007, <strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> played an advisory role in the<br />
preparation of the report of the UN Secretary-General on the protection of<br />
civilians in armed conflict (S/2007/643). In response to that report, the UN<br />
Security Council held an historic debate on HLP rights issues during its 5871st<br />
session on 20 November 2007. Paragraphs 52-59 entitled ‘A more effective<br />
response to housing, land and property issues’ represent one of the first times<br />
the Security Council or the UN Secretary-General has specifically addressed<br />
HLP issues within the context of conflict. A key recommendation of the report<br />
was that “…56. The Council has long recognized the importance of safe and<br />
unimpeded return for refugees and internally displaced persons … However,<br />
for the reasons cited above, such recognition of the right to return must be<br />
applied by the Council with more systematic regularity. It must, moreover, be<br />
accompanied by increased attention to its practical implementation, including<br />
the need for a more comprehensive, systematic and consistent United Nationswide<br />
approach to housing, land and property issues in both conflict and<br />
post-conflict settings.”<br />
HLP Rights in Post-Conflict Situations: Course Materials<br />
In April 2008, DS experts designed a post-graduate level academic course<br />
on HLP Rights in Post-Conflict Situations which explores legal, political and<br />
practical issues on these themes. The ten-hour course is designed to be taught<br />
in various university law schools and international law academies and used<br />
in training sessions for UN and Government officials.<br />
Climate Change and <strong>Displacement</strong> in the Pacific<br />
In December 2008, DS and UNHCR jointly convened a workshop on<br />
displacement, human rights and climate change in the Pacific. While there are<br />
many meetings on climate change, few are devoted to displacement-related<br />
aspects of this increasingly pressing problem. The workshop was attended<br />
by representatives of some of the hardest hit small islands and atolls in the<br />
region, including Papua New Guinea, Maldives, Tuvalu and Kiribati, as well<br />
as regional powers such as Australia and New Zealand with a view to<br />
developing remedies for current and future displacement.<br />
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UN-Habitat Symposium for the 2007 World Habitat Day<br />
In October 2007, at the invitation of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign<br />
Affairs, the DS Director gave one of the keynote speeches at the global<br />
launch of 2007 World Habitat Day in the Hague, to an audience of over<br />
300 HLP experts and invited guests from around the world.<br />
Amnesty International’s Dignity Campaign<br />
In July 2007, as part of Amnesty International’s “Dignity Campaign” and<br />
related campaign on slums and human rights, the DS Director was invited to<br />
speak at AI’s London headquarters, as well as its’ Swedish section, on how<br />
AI can best address economic, social and cultural rights, including HLP rights.<br />
DS is also assisting AI in the preparation of a book developing the Dignity<br />
Campaign and in developing the Amnesty International policy on slums and<br />
human rights.<br />
Working in Partnership with the United Nations<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> works closely with various UN agencies<br />
involved in post-conflict and post-disaster efforts, including UNHCR,<br />
DPKO, OCHA, OHCHR and UN-Habitat in its capacity as the<br />
UN focal point for housing, land and property issues under the<br />
Protection Cluster of the UN’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee<br />
(IASC) Cluster system.<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> provides human resources, practical expertise<br />
and years of experience on how HLP issues can best be addressed.<br />
By working in close partnership and collaboration with UN agencies<br />
and local and national Governments, <strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> seeks<br />
to raise the profile of HLP issues in post-conflict and post-disaster<br />
settings, and assist in long-term recovery and development trajectories<br />
built upon an integrated and multi-sectoral operational platform.<br />
Handbooks, Reports and Publications<br />
DS has produced or otherwise assisted in a wide range of publications during<br />
2007 and 2008. These include:<br />
Handbook on Housing and Property Restitution Rights for Refugees and IDPs<br />
In 2007, Upon the request of several UN agencies, DS prepared a Handbook<br />
on the Implementation of the UN Principles on Housing and Property<br />
Restitution Rights for Refugees and Displaced Persons. This Handbook, with<br />
an initial print run of 10,000 copies, has been distributed widely throughout<br />
UN humanitarian agencies and civil society groups. The Handbook was a<br />
joint publication of OCHA, UNHCR, OHCHR, FAO and the Norwegian<br />
Refugee Council.<br />
Handbook on Peace Mediation and HLP rights<br />
In 2008, DS and the US Institute for Peace jointly prepared a Handbook on<br />
Peace Mediation and HLP Rights, outlining tips for peace mediators to deal<br />
better with HLP challenges in peacebuilding exercises.<br />
Handbook on Land Administration and Post-Conflict<br />
In 2007, DS assisted in the preparation of a landmark publication by the<br />
Post-Conflict and Safety Section of UN-Habitat outlining the precise land<br />
administration issues arising in post-conflict settings, entitled Land Administration<br />
and Conflict. The publication provides detailed and practical information for<br />
workers in the field on how best to address these complex issues in the<br />
context of the emergency and reconstruction phases following the end of wars<br />
and violence.<br />
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Natural Disaster Handbook<br />
In 2008, the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) and<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> jointly published a Natural Disaster Handbook<br />
designed to assist policy-makers and field practitioners in consistently applying<br />
the human rights law normative framework in difficult situations following<br />
disasters. The Handbook contains several chapters, including one on HLP<br />
rights. Each chapter is accompanied by a Law Matrix which outlines the<br />
precise legal norms and principles arising with each post-disaster issue.<br />
Book on UN Peace Operations and HLP Rights<br />
In 2008, a book edited by the DS Director - UN Peace Operations and<br />
Housing, Land and Property Rights: A Comparative Survey and Proposals for<br />
Reform - was published by Cambridge University Press. The book reviews<br />
UN and other peace operation experiences in grappling with HLP rights in<br />
some 12 countries, and provides a series of detailed recommendations to the<br />
UN and States as to how to improve the growing involvement of the UN in<br />
these matters within future peace operations.<br />
Restitution Law Volume<br />
In 2007, Cambridge University Press published a law book prepared by the<br />
DS Director - Housing, Land and Property Restitution Rights for Refugees and<br />
Displaced Persons: Laws, Cases and Materials - which provides an overview<br />
of some 240 international standards, laws and case law addressing the right<br />
to housing, land and property restitution.<br />
Burma HLP Legal Code Book<br />
In 2008, DS commenced work on a book which analyses and compiles, for<br />
the first time, the complete legal code of Burma as it relates to the full spectrum<br />
of HLP rights. The book is designed to provide a comprehensive overview<br />
of the current HLP normative framework in Burma with a view to expanding<br />
understanding of these issues and how they might best be reformed. The book<br />
will be available in late-2009.<br />
HLP Textbook<br />
In 2008, DS began work on a comprehensive textbook on housing, land<br />
and property rights and situations of conflict. The 15 chapter volume will<br />
explore all of the major HLP issues that arise within the context of conflict and<br />
provide an in-depth overview of how these issues have or have not been<br />
addressed to date.<br />
Special Edition of FMR on Climate Change and <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
In 2008, DS assisted the editors of Forced Migration Review in developing<br />
the climate change edition of this leading displacement journal, published in<br />
September 2008.<br />
Security of Tenure as a Human Right<br />
In 2008, the DS director published an academic article entitled ‘Transforming<br />
Security of Tenure into an Enforceable Housing Right’ in the edited volume<br />
Freedom from Poverty, published by UNESCO and Oxford University Press.<br />
ODI Volume on Land, Conflict and Humanitarian Action<br />
In 2008, the DS Director prepared a chapter for an upcoming book to be<br />
published by the Overseas Development Institute in 2009 which explores<br />
the institutional gap in addressing HLP issues in humanitarian action and<br />
the international response to conflict. The article proposes possible ways of<br />
developing policy and institutional responses to HLP issues arising in future<br />
humanitarian undertakings.<br />
Media<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> received media attention and provided interviews to a<br />
range of media outlets in 2007 and 2008, including: BBC, Financial Times,<br />
Australia Network, ABC Australia, Hindustan Times, Deutsche Welle, Ghetto<br />
Radio and others.<br />
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Global Update<br />
With a view to keeping donors and the broader international displacement network fully<br />
appraised of the work of <strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong>, DS publishes a bi-annual newsletter -<br />
Global Update - that is released each January and July.<br />
www.displacementsolutions.org<br />
The <strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> website can be found at www.displacementsolutions.org.<br />
This easy to navigate site provides information on DS’s mission, activities and Advisory<br />
Board. There is also a section on DS’s Global HLP Rights Expert Registry that outlines<br />
the areas of expertise covered by the Registry and how to go about accessing the<br />
Registry’s expert consultants. The new site will also soon provide a reference library<br />
of displacement and restitution-related materials from around the globe, which will be<br />
expanded over time.<br />
Ursula Rakova of Tulele Peisa describing the relocation of Carteret<br />
Islanders to Bougainville at the DS hosted Bougainville Resettlement<br />
Initiative workshop, Dec 2008. Photo: Lailey Wallace<br />
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When HLP rights are ignored, people call places like this<br />
home, Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Scott Leckie<br />
All refugees and displaced persons have the right to have restored to them any<br />
housing, land and/or property of which they were arbitrarily or unlawfully deprived,<br />
or to be compensated for any housing, land and/or property that is factually<br />
impossible to restore as determined by an independent, impartial tribunal.<br />
– Principle 2 of the UN Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons (“Pinheiro Principles”) (2005)<br />
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Advisory Board<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> is honoured to be assisted by a prestigious Advisory Board consisting of Twelve leading experts on<br />
human rights and displacement. Current Advisory Board members are:<br />
Theo van Boven (Maastricht, Netherlands)<br />
Fmr. Director of the UN Centre on Human Rights and<br />
Fmr. UN Special Rapporteur on Torture<br />
Reed Brody (Brussels, Belgium)<br />
Legal Counsel and Spokesperson, Human Rights Watch<br />
Andrew Clapham (Geneva, Switzerland)<br />
Director of the Geneva Academy on Human Rights and<br />
Humanitarian Law<br />
Dennis McNamara (Geneva, Switzerland)<br />
Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Fmr. Head of International<br />
Protection (UNHCR) and Fmr. UN Special Advisor on Internal<br />
<strong>Displacement</strong> to the Emergency Relief Coordinator<br />
Paal Nesse (Oslo, Norway)<br />
Advisor, Norwegian Refugee Council<br />
Roger Normand (Bangkok, Thailand)<br />
Asia-Pacific Director, International Commission of Jurists<br />
Anne Gallagher (Canberra, Australia)<br />
Technical Director, Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons Project<br />
and Head of Operations, Equity International<br />
Walter Kälin (Berne, Switzerland)<br />
Representative to the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights<br />
of Internally Displaced Persons<br />
Irene Khan (London, England)<br />
Secretary-General, Amnesty International<br />
Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro (Sao Paulo, Brazil)<br />
Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General on Violence Against<br />
Children, Fmr. UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma and<br />
Fmr. UN Special Rapporteur on Housing and Property Restitution<br />
Farouk Tebbal (Algiers, Algeria)<br />
Fmr. Shelter Branch Chief (UN Habitat Programme) and<br />
Fmr. National Minister of Housing for the Government of Algeria<br />
Dan Lewis (Nairobi, Kenya)<br />
Chief, Post-Conflict and Safety Section, UN-Habitat<br />
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Finding and planning land for resettlement,<br />
Athi River, Kenya. Photo: UN Habitat<br />
“Although there is a growing awareness of the perils of<br />
climate change, its likely impact on human displacement<br />
and mobility has received too little attention.”<br />
– António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees<br />
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“<strong>Displacement</strong> is the most significant humanitarian challenge that we face…<br />
marked by suffering, deprivation and a daily fight for survival”.<br />
-- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon (Nov 2007)<br />
Demolished home, Hatfield Farm informal settlement<br />
outside of Harare, Zimbabwe. Photo: Unknown<br />
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2009 and Beyond<br />
In 2009 and beyond, DS plans to build on activities already undertaken in<br />
support of its mandate, with an emphasis on climate change and displacement,<br />
disability and displacement, HLP capacity building in Burma and HLP Training.<br />
In addition, DS will strive to expand the Global HLP Rights Expert Registry:<br />
Climate Change and <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
While there are many organisations devoted to addressing climate change,<br />
few focus on displacement-related aspects of the problem. For this reason, DS<br />
sees an enormous gap in the international approach to this increasingly urgent<br />
issue. As a result, DS plans to develop a Climate Change and <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
Unit which will focus on housing, land and property rights issues affecting<br />
forced climate migrants. The initial focus of the Unit will be on Papua New<br />
Guinea, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Vanuatu, the Maldives and other countries that are<br />
already experiencing climate change-induced displacement. This work will<br />
require an annual budget of US$ 850,000.<br />
Disability and <strong>Displacement</strong><br />
There are only very few organisations which are dedicated to addressing the<br />
needs of disabled displaced persons. Given the particularly acute nature of<br />
the problems confronting this group, DS believes extensive awareness raising<br />
is necessary to improve the international and national responses to their plight.<br />
DS will carry out a range of initiatives in support of the rights of disabled<br />
displaced persons. Among others, a documentary film will be produced by<br />
DS and Disabled People International (DPI) on <strong>Displacement</strong> and Disability.<br />
The film will focus on disabled refugees/IDPs from Sudan, Burma and Iraq.<br />
This work will require a budget of US$ 350,000.<br />
Karen refugee camp, Thai-Burma border. Photo: Scott Leckie<br />
HLP Capacity Building in Burma<br />
DS seeks to carry out a two-year project on HLP Capacity Building and<br />
Legislative Drafting in Burma, together with several partners, to assist in raising<br />
the profile of HLP rights issues within movement for a democratic Burma,<br />
through assistance in preparing draft HLP legislative blueprints. This work will<br />
require a budget of US$ 325,000.<br />
Expanding the Global HLP Rights Expert Registry<br />
In 2009, DS will seek to expand the Global HLP Expert Registry to 150<br />
experts, with enhanced management and coordination by DS. This work will<br />
require a budget of US$ 350,000.<br />
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Donor Support<br />
Financial & Legal<br />
DS has received financial contributions from governments, UN<br />
agencies, private foundations and private individuals. In 2007 and<br />
2008 donor support was provided by:<br />
DS is committed to financial transparency and accountability to all its<br />
stakeholders. The organisation abides by generally accepted accounting<br />
practices and conforms to applicable laws and regulations.<br />
Governments<br />
Germany<br />
Luxembourg<br />
Netherlands<br />
Sweden<br />
Switzerland<br />
Accounts are audited by Berdat & Cie SA in Geneva, Switzerland on an annual<br />
basis. DS is registered as a non-profit association in Geneva, Switzerland,<br />
and overseen by a Board of Directors which meets twice annually.<br />
United Nations<br />
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)<br />
UN Development Programme (UNDP)<br />
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)<br />
UN Habitat Programme<br />
Other Institutions<br />
BodyShop Foundation<br />
Human Rights Commission of the Maldives<br />
International Federation of the Red Cross and Crescent Societies<br />
MIDAS Programme<br />
Pictet Bank<br />
US Institute for Peace<br />
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DS Director Scott Leckie and Ursula Rakova of Tulele Peisa, the world's first<br />
grassroots organisation dedicated to finding housing, land and property<br />
solutions for forced climate migrants. Photo: Kirsten Young<br />
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<strong>Displacement</strong> <strong>Solutions</strong> provides rights-based and innovative<br />
strategies on restoring the housing, land and property rights of<br />
the world’s growing displaced population.<br />
Rue des Cordiers 14,<br />
Geneva 1207, Switzerland<br />
Telephone +61.400.388.345<br />
Email info@displacementsolutions.org<br />
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www.displacementsolutions.org<br />
Cover:<br />
One of many longer term ‘temporary’ solutions for internally displaced<br />
persons in North Kivu, DR Congo (MONUC Camp). Photo: Florian Bruyas