Countless homes have been destroyed in decades of conflict in Afghanistan. ©UN-HABITAT Kabul office.

The issue of land is fundamental to the well-being of any society. At the same time, it can be highly contentious, complex and challenging. Patterns of ownership and control of land can have a major bearing on political and economic balances of power in a country, as demonstrated in a number of post-conflict situations today.

Indeed, many of the armed conflicts of the past century have been linked to uncertainty and inequity in, and disputes over, land. All over the world, and in developing countries particularly, addressing land rights is therefore of vital importance.

Those without protected land rights can face lives of insecurity, lack of access to income and to basic services, and suffer related human rights violations. When land becomes concentrated in the hands of a small minority, the conditions are often ripe for instability and potential conflict.

In post-conflict situations, land (and related housing and property) issues are even more urgent and complex. In addition to problems that might have existed previously, further uncertainties, inequities and disputes invariably arise in the course of violent conflict and war. People are displaced. Housing, improvements and property are damaged or destroyed. Land records are lost. Land administration mechanisms are disrupted.

Over the past decade, this has left post-conflict administrations in countries like Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Timor- Leste, Kosovo, Rwanda, South Africa, Tajikistan and others with many urgent land-related challenges to resolve. These included establishing or restoring a basic legal framework and accommodating returnees dispersed by forced removals or conflict. Then there was the need to resolve or pre-empt any land-related disputes, including by determining land occupation, use and ownership rights, as well as boundaries, which once recognized had to be formally registered. The next step was to deal with cases of unlawful occupation. On that basis, and as the necessary institutions and administrative capacity were being built, reconstruction of destroyed homes and improvements could begin.

Dealing with land disputes after a conflict includes the establishment of rights, drafting of laws and formulation of policies. But these can only be effective if adequate institutions and programmes are created and implemented.

These have taken three major forms during the past decade. In Kosovo and South Africa, entirely new institutional arrangements had to be created to deal with housing, land and property issues and disputes. But in Tajikistan, greater reliance was placed upon the role of existing institutions, including the judiciary and political organs. In post-conflict Timor Leste, new institutions dealing with land and property were created, but without the authority to address land and housing matters or to resolve lingering and destabilising residential disputes.

In December 1999, a few months after the violent and destructive withdrawal of Indonesia, the need to deal with uncertainties around land rights was clearly identified by the Timor Leste Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) as one of a list of immediate and urgent reconstruction priorities. In the ensuing months, a Land and Property Unit was established, and an intensive research and consultation process towards the drafting of land, housing and property policy was undertaken. The aim was to regularise uncontested rights and resolve any disputes, in order to provide a stable basis for future development. Yet efforts to implement the proposed mechanisms were frustrated by a lack of political will, as the transitional UN and Timor Leste cabinet saw the issues as too sensitive and too difficult, and decided that any action would be premature.

As a result, uncertainty of land rights has become pervasive and debilitating for the citizenry, government and development agencies alike.

But Timor Leste remains just one of a number of post-conflict situations requiring adequate land policy. The work to be done is invariably complex, time-consuming and expensive. Yet the consequences of failing to deal with these issues comprehensively and at the right time can be severe, as illustrated by recent developments in Zimbabwe.

Therefore, no matter how difficult concerted action might seem in the chaos and confusion following conflict, land questions have to be dealt with as early as possible. Indeed, they should be kept firmly on the table at negotiations for peaceful settlement in situations such as Cyprus, Iraq, Somalia, Sri Lanka and - dare one hope -Israel and Palestine.

Jean du Plessis is Deputy Director of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) in Geneva.

Functioning under United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Pillar II, Civil Administration, the Housing and Property Directorate and Claims Commission (HPD/HPCC) has been designed, developed and implemented by UN-HABITAT to assist in the overall regularisation of the residential property market in Kosovo. The HPD and HPCC are internationally supervised bodies, with exclusive jurisdiction to receive and settle three specific categories of claims involving residential property disputes in Kosovo; discriminatory practices of the former regime, informal transactions on residential property, and property loss through usurpation, or illegal occupation, during the period March 1989 to March, 1999. Additionally, the HPD places vacant or abandoned property under its administration for the placement of families in humanitarian need of housing, as well as providing a resource to UNMIK and other institutions in relation to property law in Kosovo.