Rural land tenure resilience in postwar Syria: implications for restitution and stabilization

• Published in: Land use policy Vol. 108; p. 105535
• Main Author: Unruh, Jon D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Armed conflict; Below the threshold; Conflict; Demographic change; Displaced persons; Expropriation; Housing; Human rights; International conferences; International law; Land rights; Land tenure; Land use; Land warfare; Middle East; Resilience; Restitution; Rule of law; Security; Stabilization; War; Syria; Middle East; Land rights; Stabilization; Conflict; Armed conflict; War; Security; Below the threshold
• ISSN: 0264-8377; 1873-5754
• DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105535

The impending close to the war in Syria brings to the fore the prospect of approximately 13 million forcibly displaced people considering returns to places of origin in the country. However the reattachment of people to their housing, land and property (HLP) faces a daunting set of challenges—the prospect of demographic change, the application of expropriation laws, confiscations and political agendas. Greatly aggravating these challenges is the reality that there will now not be an internationally supervised and financed HLP restitution process applying accepted international conventions of transitional justice, rule of law and human rights as is the norm after wars. Instead, forms of land tenure resilience will become a primary influence in facilitating restitution and strengthening tenure security. With a focus on rural Syria, this article examines three forms of tenurial resilience which are likely to play a large role in the stabilization and recovery of the country, and explores opportunities for supporting these. •Tenurial resilience supports land restitution for war-affected countries.•Syria recovery for housing, land and property rights.•Resilience in land tenure is important to Syria’s stabilization.