Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons: Implementing the Pinheiro Principles in the Middle East and North Africa

The realization of the right to housing and property restitution for refugees and internally displaced persons is key to creating durable peace and for the realization of related human rights. Since the approval of the Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons in 2005, the Middle East and North Africa region has benefited from several promising practices, but it also has encountered many challenges to the realization of these rights.

The 2007 Handbook on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons − Implementing the “Pinheiro Principles” has proven to be a valuable tool for practitioners worldwide in their work to secure a principled and informed resolution of housing and property restitution issues. This adaptation of the 2007 Handbook specifically for the Middle East and North Africa is intended to further the practical work taking place on the ground in the region by providing practical examples from the region and beyond of promising practices related to restitution.

While the examples herein are far from perfect and the changing situation in the countries and territories where they have been implemented continue to affect their sustainability, each one of them bears a unique value in terms of its contribution to further the aspirations set out in the Principles. The legal obligation of States − and the commitment of the international community at large − to ensure that refugees and internally displaced persons have restored to them housing, land or property that they were arbitrarily or unlawfully deprived remains. This Handbook is a tool to apply to this end.

The practical measures to support refugees and displaced persons to attain a durable solution that have been implemented by the partners and practitioners whose work has informed this Handbook is testimony to the commitment of the international community to fulfil their rights to restitution. I am thrilled to see this work taken forward is allowing the Principles to live on and serve the very people for which they were created.