The right of refugees and internally displaced persons to return to their homes and places of residence in their country or place of origin following a refugee crisis has evolved significantly as a human rights norm over the past decade. Not only have several commentators and UN human rights bodies stressed the need for international peace-keeping operations to address effectively issues of housing and property rights, the past decade has seen international peace-keeping operations recognize these issues as a central component of peace- building efforts, and as indispensable to the promotion of peace, prosperity and development in post-conflict settings. Legal mechanisms mandated to address property issues and disputes have been established in particular national contexts to assist refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their homes, and there has emerged an explicit right of refugees and IDPs to restoration of their property rights, or compensation where restoration is no longer feasible. This is in stark contrast to the treatment of displaced persons over past centuries, whereby the homes and lands of those displaced, who were not on the side of the victors or those who remained in power, were lost forever. The aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of property restitution in post-conflict Kosovo. It commences with a consideration of the origins and evolution of the right to property restitution for refugees and internally displaced persons. It provides the reader with an outline of the situation in Kosovo prior to the 1999 armed conflict, the developments that led to the international property related intervention, and the subsequent establishment of the HPD/HPCC (the Housing and Property Directorate and its independent quasi judicial body the Housing and Property Claims Commission). The international property-related intervention is considered from a legal, institutional, operational and administrative perspective. It also provides a comprehensive outline of the jurisprudence of the Commission and concludes with an account of the lessons learned from the process over its six years of operations.This is a two volume set.

The robbery and restitution of Jewish property are two inextricably linked social processes. It is not possible to understand the lawsuits and international agreements on the restoration of Jewish property of the late 1990s without examining what was robbed and by whom. In this volume distinguished historians first outline the mechanisms and scope of the European-wide program of plunder and then assess the effectiveness and historical implications of post-war restitution efforts. Everywhere the solution of legal and material problems was intertwined with changing national myths about the war and conflicting interpretations of justice. Even those countries that pursued extensive restitution programs using rigorous legal means were unable to compensate or fully comprehend the scale of Jewish loss. Especially in Eastern Europe, it was not until the collapse of communism that the concept of restoring some Jewish property rights even became a viable option. Integrating the abundance of new research on the material effects of the Holocaust and its aftermath, this comparative perspective examines the developments in Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Belgium, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Claims to land and territory are often a cause of conflict, and land issues present some of the most contentious problems for post-conflict peacebuilding. Among the land-related problems that emerge during and after conflict are the exploitation of land-based resources in the absence of authority, the disintegration of property rights and institutions, the territorial effect of battlefield gains and losses, and population displacement. In the wake of violent conflict, reconstitution of a viable land-rights system is crucial: an effective post-conflict land policy can foster economic recovery, help restore the rule of law, and strengthen political stability. But the reestablishment of land ownership, land use, and access rights for individuals and communities is often complicated and problematic, and poor land policies can lead to renewed tensions. In twenty-one chapters by twenty-five authors, this book considers experiences with, and approaches to, post-conflict land issues in seventeen countries and in varied social and geographic settings. Highlighting key concepts that are important for understanding how to address land rights in the wake of armed conflict, the book provides a theoretical and practical framework for policy makers, researchers, practitioners, and students. Land and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding is part of a global initiative to identify and analyze lessons in post-conflict peacebuilding and natural resource management. The project has generated six edited books of case studies and analyses, with contributions from practitioners, policy makers, and researchers. Other books in the series address high-value resources, water, livelihoods, assessing and restoring resources, and governance.

The Property Rights of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: Beyond Restitution pursues a rigorous examination of the various ways in which the protection of housing and property rights can contribute to durable solutions to displacement.

This book provides detailed analyses of systems that have been established to provide reparations to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the way in which these systems have worked and are working in practice. Many of these systems are described and assessed for the first time in an academic publication. The publication draws upon a groundbreaking Conference organised by the Clemens Nathan Research Centre (CNRC) and REDRESS at the Peace Palace in The Hague, with the support of the Dutch Carnegie Foundation. Both CNRC and REDRESS had become very concerned about the extreme difficulty encountered by most victims of serious international crimes in attempting to access effective and enforceable remedies and reparation for harm suffered. In discussions between the Conference organisers and Judges and officials of the International Criminal Court, it became ever more apparent that there was a great need for frank and open exchanges on the question of effective reparation, between the representatives of victims, of NGOs and IGOs, and other experts. It was clear to all that the many current initiatives of governments and regional and international institutions to afford reparations to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes could benefit greatly by taking into full account the wide and varied practice that had been built up over several decades. In particular, the Hague Conference sought to consider in detail the long experience of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (the Claims Conference) in respect of Holocaust restitution programmes, as well as the practice of truth commissions, arbitral proceedings and a variety of national processes to identify common trends, best practices and lessons. This book thus explores the actions of governments, as well as of national and international courts and commissions in applying, processing, implementing and enforcing a variety of reparations schemes and awards. Crucially, it considers the entire complex of issues from the perspective of the beneficiaries - survivors and their communities - and from the perspective of the policy-makers and implementers tasked with resolving technical and procedural challenges in bringing to fruition adequate, effective and meaningful reparations in the context of mass victimisation.

The right of refugees and internally displaced persons to return to their homes and places of residence in their country or place of origin following a refugee crisis has evolved significantly as a human rights norm over the past decade. Not only have several commentators and UN human rights bodies stressed the need for international peace-keeping operations to address effectively issues of housing and property rights, the past decade has seen international peace-keeping operations recognize these issues as a central component of peace- building efforts, and as indispensable to the promotion of peace, prosperity and development in post-conflict settings. Legal mechanisms mandated to address property issues and disputes have been established in particular national contexts to assist refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their homes, and there has emerged an explicit right of refugees and IDPs to restoration of their property rights, or compensation where restoration is no longer feasible. This is in stark contrast to the treatment of displaced persons over past centuries, whereby the homes and lands of those displaced, who were not on the side of the victors or those who remained in power, were lost forever. The aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of property restitution in post-conflict Kosovo. It commences with a consideration of the origins and evolution of the right to property restitution for refugees and internally displaced persons. It provides the reader with an outline of the situation in Kosovo prior to the 1999 armed conflict, the developments that led to the international property related intervention, and the subsequent establishment of the HPD/HPCC (the Housing and Property Directorate and its independent quasi judicial body the Housing and Property Claims Commission). The international property-related intervention is considered from a legal, institutional, operational and administrative perspective. It also provides a comprehensive outline of the jurisprudence of the Commission and concludes with an account of the lessons learned from the process over its six years of operations. This is a two volume set.