Ten Years of Action It is hard to believe that DS has now been active for ten busy and eventful years. This has been quite a ride for our (intentionally) small and flexible organisation, and one involving an wonderful team of dedicated HLP experts from around the world working in a range of displacement hotspots. From developing the Peninsula Principles, to spearheading global efforts to obtain land for climate displaced people, developing IDP return designs in Timor Leste, Somalia, Colombia, Bhutan and many more, carrying on-site investigations in Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Panama, Kiribati, Bangladesh and other climate change-affected areas, to conducting HLP rights analysis and restitution design work in Myanmar, advising the UN on HLP issues in Syria, publishing several books, inaugurating the world’s first law school courses on climate displacement, and writing DS reports, producing films, building homes for climate displaced families in Chittagong, and so much more, this first DS decade has been an exhilarating one. Since our founding on 28 December 2006, DS has worked in some 35 countries to assist in finding rights-based solutions to forced displacement in all of its forms. Besides our legal experts, we have had the honour of working with villagers, community…...

DS has just published a major 184-page legal report on the land grabbing in Myanmar and how these processes constitute internationally wrongful acts. The report includes a 21-step legal roadmap to end land grabbing once and for in Myanmar, a nation that is one of the worst in the world in  Although the general power of States to compulsorily acquire, expropriate or otherwise confiscate or 'grab' land, homes and properties is legislatively recognised in virtually all national legal systems, to be lawful these processes generally carry with them five fundamental pre-conditions. Namely, when housing, land or property rights are revoked or limited through these processes, this can only be carried out when the taking concerned is:             1) subject to law and due process;             2) subject to the general principles of international law;             3) in the interest of society and not for the benefit of another private party;             4) proportionate, reasonable and subject to a fair balance test between the cost and the aim sought; and             5) subject to the provision of just and satisfactory compensation. In all countries, the act of compulsorily acquiring land is highly regulated and something which rights-respecting governments are often reluctant…...

From 13-15 March 2019, DS and our partners at NRC led and conducted two training workshops entitled ‘Understanding Restitution’ in Myanmar. The first, led by DS, was review of DS materials developed addressing HLP rights in Myanmar, and orientation for NRC ICLA staff from its field offices. The second, a more in-depth and strategic 2 day-workshop for key partners; namely the Karen National Union and Karen Development Committee as well as other NRC staff. It focused on the key elements required for building knowledge, and planning and developing institutional capacity to address restitution of housing land and property for individuals and families that have been forcibly displaced throughout Myanmar. Attended by 40 senior representatives of all three organizations, the workshop prepared the participants with a basic understanding of the mechanisms for restitution, and the building blocks for a future when restitution can assist internally displaced families and provide some form of closure for refugees to enjoy their full rights to housing, land and property in Myanmar.  ...

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. ...