Introduction 1
Protracted displacements and the quest for durable solutions 2
Durable solutions and the protection of housing and property rights 3
1 The development of the right to return to one's home of origin 9
Traditional limits of the right of return at international law 11
Enunciation of the right to return to one's home of origin 14
Instruments ending conflicts 15
International and regional case law 16
United Nations 'soft law' developments 21
Customary international law 29
Adwcacy 32
Conclusion 33
2 Modern experiences with post-conflict restitution and return 43
Israel/Palestine 48
Cyprus 51
Cambodia 54
Mozambique 55
Tajikistan 57
Rwanda 58
Guatemala 60
Bosnia-Herzegovina 61
Domestic property rights legislation 62
An internationalized commission 63
Restitution and return 64
Kosovo 65
Timor-Leste 69
Afghanistan 71
Iraq 73
Georgia/South Ossetia 75
Legislative frameworks on IDPs 76
Use of the courts to regain pre-conflict property 78
Law on Restitution 78
Conclusion 82
3 Restitution and return 'home' 98
Return as the preferred durable solution 100
Establishing the restitution/return nexus 103
The success of restitution and the failure of return 104
Return and the meaning of 'home' 108
Nuancing understandings of return and home 109
Balancing practical considerations and dreams of home 110
Deconstructing the house as home 115
De facto durable solutions following restitution 118
Sale/exchange of restituted property 118
Transnational uses of restituted property 121
Conclusion: re-establishing the restitution/return nexus? 123
4 Local integration and the regularization of collective centre space 135
Local integration as acceptable durable solution 136
Host community as home 136
Policy implications for local integration (and resettlement) 138
Housing and property rights and local integration 139
Shelter arrangements for RDPs during displacement 140
Protecting housing and property rights in the host community 142
Regularizing rights in collective centre space 145
Collective centre as home 146
Recognizing property rights in the collective centre 147
The (in)sufficiency ofinformal ownership 151
The use of non-ownership tenures 153
Conclusion 157
5 Compensation and regularizing secondary occupation 167
Shifting homes, changing 'social fabric' and the secondary occupier 168
Lessons from the 'ordinary' law of property 173
The legal meaning of 'home' 173
Adverse possession/squatters' rights 176
Expropriation 182
Restitution in transitional states 186
Restitution in Eastern Europe/former Soviet Union 186
Restitution in South Africa 189
Determining adequate compensation 192
Conclusion 194
Conclusion 206
Bibliography 211
In dex 251