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.

Land and property rights in Iraq are an important component of recovery, particularly subsequent to the ISIS conflict. The return of 3.3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to the ISIS conflict are encountering claimants who were dislocated from 

previous wars and expropriations. This results in numerous land conflicts that if not dealt with will contribute to the country’s instability. Of primary importance in this regard is an ongoing discussion in government and the international community which 

These messages were developed based on the field experience in fragile and crisis affected contexts of UN-Habitat and the partners of the Global Land Tool Network and the HLP Area of Responsibility of the Global Protection Cluster. They are a quick reference on how to empower women and protect their housing, land and property rights in fragile and crisis affected contexts and why this is an essential element to sustain peace and stability.

This working paper investigates the livelihoods, trajectories, networks and self-generated opportunities of vulnerable migrants in refugee-like situations in Dar es Salaam. Its main purpose is to arrive at a deeper understanding of protracted displacement through a ‘figurational approach’, which stresses the networks and the interdependencies of urban refugees in Dar es Salaam, across Tanzania, and across national borders.

The ongoing use of landscape-based conflict commodities — diamonds and other minerals, timber, wildlife, etc. — to finance wars continues to evolve. The success with which such commodities can be transacted to support militaries, militias and insurgencies has led belligerents to innovate with additional commodities. Housing, land and property (HLP) rights within war zones have belatedly joined the list of conflict commodities that are subject to transaction, and to such an extent as to warrant significant concern.

Este informe examina los progresos que han realizado las autoridades para aplicar los elementos de restitución de tierras de la Ley 1448 con el fin de garantizar el derecho de los reclamantes de tierras a un recurso efectivo. Su objetivo es situar el actual proceso de restitución de tierras en el contexto de los intentos previos de los gobiernos colombianos de resolver los problemas asociados a la desigual distribución de la tierra y a la pobreza rural.

La cuestión de la tierra ha ocupado la atención del país de manera recurrente porque sigue sin ser resuelta y ahora regresa asociada al proceso de paz con las FARC y al cumplimiento de los acuerdos que buscan hacer una reforma rural integral. Esa circunstancia histórica hace más importante hacer un balance sobre lo que sabemos y lo que ignoramos de la compleja trama de procesos sociales, económicos, políticos y culturales que vinculan la cuestión agraria con la violencia.

Este texto busca recoger los resultados de un estudio, con modesto alcance, realizado en torno a la relación de las mujeres rurales con la tierra, en un contexto de conflicto armado, en el municipio de Buga, Valle, Colombia, en la última década.

On 27 September 2020, Azerbaijan went to war with Armenia on a scale not seen since the ceasefire of 1994. The conflict ended in another cease- fire on 10 November 2020, however, in addition to the theatre of war, the conflict has been prosecuted and continues to be fought post-ceasefire, through claims to cultural heritage which are employed in international organisations to substantiate the legitimacy of territorial claims.

In the five years following its historic 2016 peace accord, Colombia has seen a surge of forest razing and land clearance amid continuing unrest in the countryside. The rate of tree loss, which greatly lowers the country’s chances of meeting its zerodeforestation goal by 2030, is tied to conflict and violence. These ties are complex. Deforestation began to rise soon after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which had operated mostly from rural areas, declared a ceasefire in December 2014. It then gathered steam after the 2016 accord was signed.

The precipitous escalation of the security crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) risks reigniting interstate conflict in the Great Lakes region. The myriad actors and interests involved, however, often defy easy analysis. To help clarify what is driving the worsening security situation, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies compiled this explainer drawing on the insights of multiple exper

Can historical and political circumstances change the meaning of such a solid and immutable phenomenon as a country’s geographical location? We mean, of course, “change” in terms of a country’s favourable or unfavourable place in the international economic and political system that surrounds it. Georgia is a small country of 69,700 square kilometres; it is located in the middle of the northern hemisphere, on the edge of moderate and subtropical climatic belts. In terms of its physicalgeographical situation, Georgia is favourably located.