Chapter in Megan Bradley, Editor, “Forced Migration, Reconciliation, and Justice”
Windsor Law Faculty Author: Anneke Smit
In this chapter, Smit considers the success of housing, land, and property (HLP) restitution in contributing to reconciliation processes in post-conflict spaces characterized by displacement. HLP restitution has been viewed in recent decades as a critical tool of post-conflict transitional justice, and one with the potential to benefit refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), groups who other forms of transitional justice have often excluded. It is inherently reparative in nature in that it seeks to right past wrongs. Yet unlike some other forms of reparative transitional justice, property issue remedies are also highly practical because secure property rights may provide shelter, security, and the possibility of making one’s living.