A three-person DS team has just completed a research mission to Nepal to examine the legal and policy responses to the 2015 earthquakes that struck the country, causing thousands of deaths and injuries, as well as massive destruction and damage to almost one million homes. DS worked closely with the DFID-supported Durable Solutions Project (http://www.durablesolutionsnepal.org) coordinated by the Czech NGO People in Need to explore what was done right in response to the quakes, and what might be improved in the future. A detailed report and recommendations will be issued in early 2019, and a film produced by Jon Staley of Youthworx Media outlining the key HLP issues arising in the context of the reconstruction will also be released at the same time. Check back in January for the report and latest DS film. ...

Land in south-eastern Myanmar is a critical resource for the mainly rural population which is in need of greater safeguards within the formal, informal and customary systems of land administration. Customary law continues to operate at the village level, largely unchanged since pre-colonial times. While exhibiting many of the positive elements commonly attributed to such systems throughout the developing world, customary laws in relation to the resolution of land disputes are not always effective and equitable, and do not always display qualities which are consistent with rule of law standards. Deficiencies in transparency, accountability and equality have the potential to undermine the ability of marginalised sections of the population to access justice and obtain fair outcomes. Decades of military rule have exacerbated the structural inequalities experienced by Mon, Kayin and other ethnicities in their interactions with government authorities and the parallel administrations of Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs). This means that in addition to the large amounts of land-grabbing experienced by the population across Mon State, the avenues of resolving such grievances remain inaccessible to most poor rural populations, due to a combination of fear of authorities, language barriers, lack of knowledge regarding land law and dispute resolution mechanisms beyond the…...

With support from MyJustice, the European Union and the British Council, DS and NRC have released their latest report designed to improvement the HLP performance in Myanmar. The report, Improving Access to Justice Through Community Based Dispute Resolution (CBDR) for Housing, Land and Property Disputes in Myanmar: Housing, Land and Property Rights Legal Awareness Information Material, outlines a range of frequently asked questions concerning HLP rights in the country, and how local level, community-based dispute resolutions measures might be accessed to promote HLP justice. The full report in English can be downloaded here: HLP FAQ - Improving Access to Justice The full report in Burmese can be downloaded here: HLP_FAQ-MM-Final23Jan2019_sml-150opt  ...

DS Turns 10! 28 December 2016 DS marks its tenth anniversary after its founding in Geneva on the same day in 2006. DS Director and Founder Scott Leckie reflects on the activities and victories of the past ten years, and what to expect from DS in the years to come. Dear Friends, It's hard to believe that DS has now been active for ten busy and eventful years involving an extraordinary team of dedicated HLP experts from around the world. From developing the Peninsula Principles, spearheading efforts to obtain land for climate displaced people, IDP return designs in Timor Leste, Somalia, Colombia, Bhutan and many more, carrying on-site investigations in Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Panama, Kiribati, Bangladesh and many other climate change hotspots, to HLP rights analysis and restitution design work in Myanmar, the publication of several books, inaugurating the world’s first law school courses on climate displacement, and scores of DS reports, producing films, building homes for climate displaced families in Chittagong, and so much more, this dramatic decade has been an exhilarating one. On this tenth anniversary of DS, I would like to thank all of our supporters for making this journey so productive and even sometimes victorious. Special…...