Housing Land & Property Challenges in Gaza & Syria
The UN’s displacement camps and other temporary accommodations are starting to empty as people journey back to their brutalised homes in Gaza. there are also 115,000 Syrians who have already returned home from Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon (UNCR 2025) with many more preparing to make the journey.
The Housing Land and Property (HLP) processes in Gaza and Syria are going to be tested. These people returning from other countries, the people who stayed and the others who were internally displaced are going to need a culturally and socially articulate response with transparent processes geared to protect, support and acknowledge those affected by conflict, oppression and displacement.
As an HLP specialist, it has been obvious in other states reeling from upheaval, that any complacent or prosaic protection of HLP rights amplifies resentment and helps rekindle the burning embers of conflict, and persecution, ultimately damaging any peace-building process.
To get HLP practice right, the NGO community, humanitarian actors, government and community leaders have to learn from Iraq, thereby maximising the potential of the humanitarian response in Gaza and Syria and putting conflict-affected and displaced people at the centre of their region's recovery and reconstruction.
The HLP processes in Iraq faced psychological and practical challenges, these two basic corresponding and entangled categories informed a fragile and distressing context of transition and recovery.
From a psychological perspective, there will be many challenges encountered whilst helping the IDP, Stayees and Returnee people regain trust and engage in any HLP mechanism. It is a sensitive process to encourage local ownership of HLP rights and develop communication methods to educate fragile individuals within communities suffering from post-conflict and/or displacement trauma. HLP challenges are complicated by the muddle of misinformation amongst the destruction of one's sense of place and identity, social disorientation, resentment and all the other public readjustments required after such ruthlessness and loss.
From a pragmatic perspective, there will be frustration as time is needed to make HLP safe, in other words, measures must be taken to deal with unexploded ordnance, from bullets to aircraft bombs. Once the sites are safe, the retrieval, identification and burial of the bodies left in rubble and on the streets (read) will begin.
Despite the mapping of damaged infrastructure will have priority, the mapping and assessment of destroyed and damaged HLP will have to start ASAP. There will be units on the ground addressing the loss of services, power, health and safety, the HLP team will require regular clear communication and progress reports. There will be a chronic lack of official documentation, there will be overcrowding of urban areas, and there will be emergency processes to help improve poor or strained services where displaced people gather for temporary residence. The team will have to be flexible and swift in responses.
There will be many HLP stakeholders with different approaches, there has to be collaboration between NGOs offering HLP assistance and an effort to consolidate HLP processes and policy.
Some returnees will be refused passage or access to the property, and some people will find a secondary occupation or have their ownership (Title Deeds) disputed. Many people will be unsettled and have a feeling of Insecurity caused by fear that troops will return. There will be opportunism, scapegoating, illegal sales of property or land grabs, people will return to different land and property institutions. Some will find illegal construction of additional property on their land.
There will be HLP-related trauma (For example, the torture imprisonment and execution in civic or private property) of property that Israel or the Asad regime repurposed. There will be land and property used for burial sites etc. It is important to remember that everyone will suffer from HLP anxieties related to conflict, ownership, persecution, oppression and displacement.
There will be primary and secondary everyday challenges informed not only by conditions, context and displacement stages but also location, social status and accommodation (whether the people return to an intact residence, makeshift camps within destroyed buildings or renting/sharing accommodation in urban or rural areas).
Some everyday challenges will be based around finding or receiving information concerning the condition and ownership of property. There will be requirements to secure and repair property, to source building materials, tools, fuel and coms. There will be issues of accessibility and stability of property. There will be vulnerable households that require special assistance and protection. There will be forced evictions, strained social cohesion, rental and legal issues to address.
HLP Policy and Law Enforcement
“Pinheiro Principles, Principle 2 - All refugees and IDPs have the right to have restored to them any HLP of which they were unlawfully deprived; or to be compensated when restitution is factually impossible”. UNHCR[1]
2.1 All refugees and displaced persons have the right to have restored to them any housing, land and/or property of which they were arbitrarily or unlawfully deprived, or to be compensated for any housing, land and/ or property that is factually impossible to restore as determined by an independent, impartial tribunal.
The majority of local people suffering from housing land and property issues in Iraq were unaware of their HLP rights. A general feeling was that any laws did not apply to them and that they would never be honoured by the incoming government. Communities were unsure where or to whom, they would speak, with regards to their HLP rights. They were also under the impression that this would come at a financial cost and that they would run the risk of angering the authorities (national and local) in their requests for HLP assistance.
HLP Education
Developing an educational mechanism with which to address HLP issues in post-conflict communities such as Iraq was essential. This educational process will struggle without governmental collaboration, NGO commitment and international validation in Gaza and Syria.
Like any process it's only as good as the staff team that delivers it – therefore it is important to build an excellent HLP team to communicate and guide the population through HLP policy and disputes, local and international staff working together as educators, with empathy and patience, who can adapt and communicate complex material punctuated by unfamiliar vocabulary to all members of the population, regardless of educational or cultural background.
All staff recruited to support communities in their HLP-related issues, should initially participate in a structured HLP course, (4 stage programme of education, discourse and ownership).
Basic LTA
HLP familiarization
HLP assistance programme
LTA and communication.
Before the HLP course starts in earnest, it would be prudent to consider a basic learning, teaching and assessment workshop (LTA), a plug-in course, positioned before and after they are taught the HLP familiarization and assistance course content.
After a brief introduction to educational tools, pitfalls, techniques and methods, the HLP tam begin their familiarization stage. They are taught the definition of HLP, the nature of HLP (from an international, national and local perspective) and the role of HLP within the post-conflict peacebuilding processes.
After the team has taken ownership of the subject’s meaning and its social, economic and political implications, the HLP assistance stage of the programme starts. This stage should begin by explaining the basic rights the population have concerning post-conflict housing, property and land issues, the nuances of land registration (Tapo), tenure, security tenure, secondary occupation etc, and apply them to international, national, and local law, legislation and governance.
As the team become more comfortable with the notion of HLP as a point of reference, they are well-positioned to start examining the links between HLP, conflict and displacement, and to develop an awareness of HLP as a cause of displacement, a means of encouraging displacement, and the HLP consequence of displacement, (i.e. the loss of shelter and livelihood and the risk of disputes in places of origin and refuge).
There is a lot of information to absorb. It is important to vary the content delivery and provide plenty of breaks and opportunities to ask questions.
The next step is to unpack the HLP programme and present them as core challenges. The core challenges would be:
HLP Support and access to information
FHOH and HLP Rights
Rural HLP Issues
Urban HLP Issues
HLP Disputes
Methods of dispute resolution models, methods and approaches (tribal/ land courts/ land committees
HLP Paperwork (Lack of documentation through loss, confiscation, destruction or a lack of original documentation in the first place)
Communication of HLP process and practice
HLP programme administrative structure and protocol
The education of HLP-aware staff is a critical aspect of providing an equitable and sustainable humanitarian response and will ultimately protect, support and strengthen the security and resilience of those affected by conflict. Poor or confused support of HLP rights exacerbates the negative impacts of war, especially affecting the most vulnerable groups of the population. By addressing the key concerns with the support of the human rights community, humanitarian actors with municipal sponsorship can maximise the potential of peacebuilding initiatives and put conflict-affected people at the centre of their recovery and reconstruction.
Some NGOs already have a comprehensive and robust system of HLP education[2] and support in place. The most notable of which is the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)[3]. The NRC has an internationally proven strategy to educate its staff and in turn, will provide a useful reference for people in Gaza and Syria.
Despite the detailed content and teaching strategy developed by the NRC, which is supported by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)[4] and ICLA[5]. There was a problem of retention and ownership of the information received. The information must be relevant and current to the situation, accessible to those with varying levels of education and the information must be easily reiterated within the community or officially, out-with the initial HLP contact points.
Therefore, the information that informs local or mobile HLP information points ought to be supported by complementary or primary sources of HLP reaffirmation such as an e-learning programme, chatbot app, radio station, free-phone service, social media representation, a game or information cards.
E-learning programmes are a well-established affordable educational support tool. However, it does require a certain level of computer literacy and access to the internet and power. Another option would be the use of Chatbot apps. The Chatbot app is software developed for mobile phones, tablets, PCs and school classroom monitors. The software conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods. Such apps are often designed to convincingly simulate how a human would behave as a conversational partner, thereby passing the ‘Turing test’. Chatbots are typically used in dialogue systems for various practical purposes including customer service or information acquisition. Chatbot apps are a dynamic and flexible tool (a contemporary facility understood by the younger generation, the generation that has growing involvement and personal interest in their family’s HLP issues), which could be programmed to simulate a variety of HLP interactions in the IDP’s native dialect.
Locally narrated information was successfully used in Afghanistan in the past. Radio ‘New Home, New Life’ is broadcast three times a week at prime time for fifteen minutes. It addresses a wide range of social, economic, political and humanitarian problems, including conflict resolution, health, hygiene, the oppression of women and the dangers of unexploded landmines. The radio programme had become an integral part of the local peacebuilding culture in Afghanistan and could be adapted to a different context, engaging HLP issues and broadening a general cross-generational awareness of HLP issues in GAZA and Syria.
Creating a cross-generational awareness of HLP issues is a useful way of establishing a cultural consciousness concerning HLP rights and practice. The ‘Hazagora’ game was a game designed to raise awareness by encouraging interaction and discussion between the different generations of a family who share a household. The game helped establish a mindfulness regarding geohazards and disaster risk reduction. The game is supported by short films that explain the characteristics and dangers of the various geo-hazards. The game originated in Belgium designed by Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium and has been adapted by NGOs for application in Sri Lanka and is connected to research in the ‘digital humanitarian response’ by Patrick Meier.
Although digital responses to humanitarian emergencies are the future to some degree, there is no replacement for the laminated A5 or wallet-size information cards.
Easily assessable, requires no electricity and can be copied by hand or machine, the humble multi-card tool is cost-efficient, and is quickly developed and distributed. The cards can provide information about HLP phone lines, HLP unit locations, summarised legal information and even a degree of government authentication.
An HLP educational programme can be delivered in many ways. An important mechanism would be local mobile units that can be designed to offer clear, trustworthy information which is easily absorbed and well-supported. The units can operate nimbly, in other words, without the risk of individual case entanglement but offering HLP subject-specific guidance with the confidence that what is delivered, is endorsed, relevant, sympathetic and impactful.
[1] http://www.unhcr.org/uk/protection/idps/50f94d849/principles-housing-property-restitution-refugees-displaced-persons-pinheiro.html
[2] The Global Protection Cluster
[3] NRC Training Manual on Housing, Land and Property
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