IASC Weekly meeting: Addressing Land Issues
Geneva
Getting to Room S.4. The Room S.4 is on the third Floor in the S Building. Enter the Palais des Nations through Door S2 and turn left. Follow the hall until you reach Escalier 3. Take this staircase to the 3rd Floor. Room S.4 is on your right side. Please see the map of the Palais attached. Please note that the meeting takes place in room S.4 and not Room IV.
Meeting Documents
1. Lessons Learned: Addressing Land Issues after Natural Disasters or Armed Conflict
Mr. Szilard Fricska, Senior Humanitarian Coordinator, UN-HABITAT, will brief on common land issues that arise in the context of natural disasters and armed conflicts. He will provided examples from recent crises to illustrate both the challenges as well as some lessons learned. UN-HABITAT chairs the Housing, Land and Property Area of Responsibility within the Protection Cluster.
Background
Unaddressed land issues contribute to the increased negative impact of both natural disasters and violent conflict. Poor land-use increases vulnerability to natural disasters, as demonstrated in New Orleans, Port-au-Prince and the Horn of Africa. Land’s critical importance to livelihoods, investment, group identity and the distribution of power make it a potent factor in the outbreak or continuation of conflict and to the success or failure of post-conflict peace-building. Land issues directly affect many aspects of humanitarian action. Land is needed for emergency shelter or camps, for livelihoods and food security, for temporary roads and other critical infrastructure. Land mines and unexploded ordnances (UXOs) limit available land for any use. Lack of clarity regarding land rights can delay humanitarian response, can undermine the effectiveness of assistance, can contribute to or exacerbate conflicts and can even place humanitarian staff at risk. Humanitarians are increasingly aware of the need to understand how land issues will affect their interventions and the affect of their interventions on land issues. The challenge is to ensure that humanitarian action contributes to long-term solutions that address core vulnerabilities and root causes of crises. Early engagement of national and international land expertise is a critical input to humanitarian action.
2. AOB