Foreword - Andrew Clapham

Preface

Acknowledgements

List of International Instruments and National Legislation

List of Cases

Part I Introduction

Chapter 1. A Basic Reminder to States: Housing, Land and Property Rights are the Rights of Everyone, Everywhere

Part II Residential Justice

Chapter 2. A World Restitution Agency

Chapter 3. Treating Land Grabbing as an Internationally Wrongful Act

Part III Conflict Zones

Chapter 4. Housing, Land and Property Rights and Landmine Clearance

Chapter 5. Housing, Land and Property Rights Issues and Peace Agreements

Part IV Climate Change

Chapter 6. Coastal Governments and Climate Change

Chapter 7. Three Ways to Prevent and Resolve Climate Displacement

Part V Conclusions

Chapter 8. Where to Next for HLP Rights?

Selected Resources

Index

Scott Leckie has worked in the housing, land and property (HLP) rights field since the 1980s, carrying HLP and human rights efforts in more than 80 countries. He has published more than 20 books and 250 articles and reports on these themes and has worked for more than 20 UN and other international agencies in various capacities. He currently directs two NGOs he founded in 2006. Displacement Solutions works to prevent and resolve climate displacement across the world, and Oneness World works to explore viable legal pathways towards world citizenship and a unified global polity. He has also taught the world's first law school course on climate change and human rights since 2009 and continues to regularly offer this course at Monash Law School in Melbourne, Australia.

This book explores various contemporary aspects of the growing field of housing, land and property (HLP) rights. HLP rights have undergone a major transformation in recent decades, but much remains to be done to bring their promise to the billions of people who have yet to access them. This work presents several innovative ways by which the entire field of HLP rights can be strengthened in support of those to whom they are promised by human rights laws. It outlines the author's suggestions for creating a new World Restitution Agency, expanding our understanding of the term 'internationally wrongful act' to HLP crimes, the links between mine action and HLP rights in post-conflict societies and the need to include HLP issues in peace agreements. The book concludes with several chapters that outline suggestions for better addressing climate displacement, including the need for national climate land banks, the role of the courts and how to redistribute global wealth towards rehousing the millions set to be displaced from their homes and lands due to the effects of climate change. The volume will be essential reading for academics, researchers and policymakers working in the areas of international human rights law, housing, land and property issues, humanitarian issues and climate change.