Regularizing Property Rights in Kosovo & Elsewhere

Throughout most of human history, refugees and others displaced during war or violent conflicts stood little or no chance of ever returning to or re-inhabiting their original homes.
Drawing on his experience with the United Nations and more specifically, as a research fellow with the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) in Geneva, Dr. Hassine analyzed the impact of COHRE as a non-State actor for the international protection of housing, land & property (HLP) rights, on the example of the United Nations’ Housing & Property Directorate/Claims Commission (HPD/CC) in Kosovo and on the institution’s conceptualization, establishment and the subsequent mandate implementation. This publication constitutes a comprehensive compendium of HLP restitution efforts and an important account in terms of HLP law and practice and as such, the future settlement of conflict- and/or climate change-induced claims. COHRE’s initial proposal for a claims settlement procedure in Kosovo as well as other concrete and detailed proposals for claims commissions and tribunals for East Timor, Georgia and Iraq are annexed.