Landmines and Land Rights in Conflict Affected Contexts
Publisher: GICHD
Date: 2010
Topics: Dispute Resolution/Mediation, Humanitarian Assistance, Land, Weapons, Waste, and Pollution
Countries: Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka
This policy brief describes the important linkages between land rights and landmines in conflict-affected contexts. Its purpose is to deepen awareness within the broader mine action and development communities about these linkages, and provide guidance on how to effectively mainstream land rights issues into mine action operations.
Land rights in conflict-affected situations are a topic of increasing concern for the humanitarian and development community. The recovery of households, communities and countries following war depend to a large degree on re-establishing clear rights over land resources which are the basis of livelihoods.
The land rights situation becomes particularly critical in mine-affected countries, where land access can be denied for years or decades. Mine action organisations (i.e. National Mine Action Authorities, National Mine Action Centres, mine/ERW operators and mine action donors) typically avoid land rights issues in their activities, due to considerations of neutrality, mandate, complexity, awareness and political sensitivity. However the decision to survey and clear (or not) particular areas inevitably involves land rights issues.