Evidencing the restitution landscape: Pre-emptive and advance techniques for war-torn land and property rights reacquisition

• Published in: Land use policy Vol. 38; pp. 111 - 122
• Main Author: Unruh, Jon D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Assets; Biological and medical sciences; Conflict; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Dislocation; Evidence; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Housing; Land; Landscape; Location; Membership; Population; Property; Rent; Restitution; Right of property; Rights; War; War; Evidence; Rights; Restitution; Land; Dislocation; Right of property; Landscape; Environmental policy; Land ownership; Advanced technology; Land use
• ISSN: 0264-8377; 1873-5754
• DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2013.10.022

•Refugee and IDP camp registration can include land and property information.•Land and property registration can take place prior to dislocation with specific programmes.•Decrees that freeze all land and property transactions for specific areas during war can thwart land grabs, bad faith, forced and coerced transactions.•Recording customary practices attesting to rights in areas at risk of dislocation can facilitate restitution. The enormity of civilian population dislocation during armed conflicts, and the importance – yet difficulty – of reattaching people to lands and properties subsequent to conflict, presents large challenges for peace-building and recovery. Land and property restitution significantly influences the prospects for social, economic, livelihood, security and political recovery. Both the international legalities concerning housing, land, and property (HLP) restitution, and the logistical ability of the international community to physically return people to locations of origin are robust. However the national HLP tenurial arrangements that are able to legitimately and legally reattach lands and properties to their rightful owners, renters, and occupants, as well as recognize specific rights, reconnect groups to homelands and provide tenure security, continue to be highly problematic. This is particularly the case where no HLP documents existed prior to dislocation. The lack of recognized forms of evidence or proof of ownership, membership, occupancy, or rent is in most cases a primary problem in quickly and effectively restituting HLP assets. Deriving restitution programmes for doing this after a war ends is an expensive and protracted endeavour – with the prolonged nature of the process often creating additional problems. This article describes ten techniques for deriving, protecting and using forms of evidence attesting to HLP claims early in a conflict, as opposed to subsequent to a conflict. In several ways this may result in a certain pre-emptive effect on some forms of dislocation.