Humanitarian Guidelines Help Refugees Get Back Land, Property

The UNHCR estimates that there are nearly 44 million refugees and internally displaced people worldwide. Of that number, about 15 million refugees and over six million internally displaced are in sub-Saharan Africa. Each year, tens of thousands of them return home. Helping resettlement is a set of guidelines grounded in humanitarian law used by NGOs and national governments.

January 29, 2012

Their name is long but precise: The UN Principles for Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and IDPs. Relief groups and lawyers know them as the Pinheiro Principles, named for Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the author of a study that assembled the guidelines and a former UN sub-commission special rapporteur on housing and property restitution.

The principles are a consolidation of international human rights law and best practices for resettling those driven off their land. They are included in the UNHCR

Handbook on Voluntary Repatriation

, which provides additional guidance on resettlement and restitution of land and property.

In Africa, there are over 15 million refugees and nearly six million internally displaced people.

They’re endorsed by the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and are used as guidelines by the UNHCR and other groups resettling the displaced.

Rights for refugees and the internally displaced