Land issues, particularly its access, ownership
and use, are often central to understanding the dynamics of conflict and
post-conflict settings, particularly in contexts of large scale displacement.
The issues affect both the choice to return and the prospects for recovery,
yet an understanding of these issues is minimal amongst the humanitarian
community.
There are, however, signs of increasing
awareness of the importance of land issues in humanitarian crises. In 2005,
the Humanitarian Response Review identified land and property as a major
gap in the humanitarian response system, and the Inter-Agency Standing
Committee (IASC) subsequently launched various initiatives aimed at improving
preparedness and contingency planning around land issues. Guidelines are
also being developed by UN-Habitat for the Cluster Working Group on Early
Recovery.
This HPG Policy Brief seeks to inform
and build upon these various initiatives. Humanitarian action is understood
here in its broader form, extending beyond mere relief to include advocacy,
protection and attention to livelihoods and early recovery.
The key messages of this policy brief
are:
- Land issues are often an underlying cause or casualty of conflict, especially
in protracted crises, and are thus central to understanding how complex
emergencies function, and how humanitarian agencies should respond.
- Land and property disputes tend to increase in the post-conflict period,
particularly in the context of large-scale returns of displaced populations.
If these issues are overlooked, they are likely to threaten the fragile
stability of post-conflict transitions.
- Humanitarian agencies have avoided land-related issues, believing them
to be too complex, politically sensitive and outside their mandate. Where
agencies have engaged, their efforts have been narrowly focused on restitution
for the displaced in a return process.
- Engagement needs to be much broader and more nuanced, based on an understanding of the wider dynamics of land-related conflict. Humanitarian organisations can respond to land-related issues in conflict and post-conflict transitions in many ways, including research and monitoring, advocacy, legal aid and oversight.