Permit me to highlight a resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) last week on the issue of ‘Solving property issues of refugees and displaced persons.’ The resolution contains a set of recommendations for member states and is based on human rights law, including the European Convention, but also international norms on housing and property restitution, such as the Guiding Principles on Internally Displaced Persons and the Pinheiro Principles. The recommendations amongst others call for timely and effective property restitution irrespective of the status of political negotiations – thus adopting a clear human rights approach. The background report, prepared by Danish MP Jørgen Poulsen, can be found here. He also refers to my own ‘Post-Conflict Housing Restitution. The European Human Rights Pespective, with a Case Study on Bosnia and Herzegovina’, which elaborates on the links between housing and property restitution and the European Convention.
PACE Addresses Property Issues of Refugees and IDPs
