Less than half of the world's national Constitutions enshrine the legal right to adequate housing, despite the widespread recognition of this right within countless international and regional human rights instruments.[1]With a view to expanding constitutional recognition of this cornerstone right, Displacement Solutions has developed a model constitutional article on the right to adequate housing which we hope will assist constitutional drafters to insert this vital right into every future constitution throughout the world, beginning, we hope, with the Constitution current being drafted in the Republic of Chile. If you would like to be in touch, please contact us at: info@displacementsolutions.org. Model Constitutional Article on the Right to Adequate Housing   Section 1. The Right to Adequate Housing 1(1). Every woman, man and child has the right to dignified and adequate housing which is accessible, affordable, habitable, secure, safe, healthy, culturally adequate and in an appropriate location. 1(2). This right includes the right to equality of treatment and equal protection of the law, within an environment free from any form of racial or other discrimination. 1(3). This right constitutes a duty of solidarity for the nation as a whole. Any person or family unable to meet their housing requirements has…...

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…...

In a world where every culture, every legal system, every religion, every set of moral principles views stealing as wrong, a crime and something for which people should be punished, there is a lot of stealing taking place. Very often it is not just small possessions or money that is stolen, but people's homes, lands and properties, the very cornerstones of their lives and livelihoods. However, in terms of remedies  or restitution for stolen housing, land and property (HLP), the de facto reality in most of the world is not all that different to cases involving the murder of another human being whereby if one murders one other person they will likely go to prison for life no matter where the crime took place. If they happen to murder 10,000, 25,000 or even 100,000 people in a war or through the practices associated with dictators desperate to maintain power, however, they will be far more likely than not to live out their days in control over their population or in the unlikely event their reign comes to an end or they are otherwise overthrown, they will spend the rest of their days in exile, protected as a former head of state…...

DS and YPSA are delighted to announce the launch of Phase 3 of our One House, One Family at a time project in Bangladesh where we raise funds and build permanent homes for some of this country's most vulnerable climate displaced families.  If you have you ever wanted to do something directly about climate change, now you can. During the first two phases of OHOF we built nine (9) high quality, safe houses providing permanent, lifelong housing solutions for more than 50 people who through no fault of their own have been displaced because of the ravages of climate change Once Phase 3 is completed, OHOF will have built 20 homes and provided much needed housing to some 120 Bangladeshi citizens With your help we are planning to build eleven (11) more homes and assist up to 70 more climate displaced people. As is well-known, Bangladesh is one of the countries hardest hit by climate change. Every year tens of thousands of people across the country permanently lose their homes to rising sea levels, violent tropical cyclones, devastating floods and other effects of climate change. Most have nowhere else to go. Solving this problem starts with land. Displacement Solutions has worked on…...