Climate Change and Displacement (LAW5454) - Will be Offered 2-6 March 2020 at Monash Law School Human rights and access to justice, will be increasingly affected by the consequences of climate change. This will manifest in a multitude of ways, with the issue of climate displacement providing perhaps the most graphic example in this regard. The scale of climate displacement is likely to dwarf current levels of displacement throughout the world caused by conflict, disaster and poorly planned development projects. While estimates of the scale of future climate displacement are notoriously difficult to prove with any precision, it is certain that tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people will be forced by the consequences of climate change to flee their homes and lands, and in some instances, their countries. International and national laws and institutions are arguably not yet capable of ensuring that the rights of climate displaced persons will be fully respected. Offered in March 2020, Climate Change and Displacement (LAW5454)will provide a state of the art, up to date overview of the links between human rights and climate change, the phenomena of climate displacement, an understanding of the dynamics of climate displacement, the countries which are now and in…...

This report provides an in-depth understanding of customary land dispute resolution in Kayin State, Eastern Bago Region and Shan State and its interaction with the formal statutory Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar(GORUM) system. A participatory community-based research approach was used to understand customary practices concerning land, including how land title is defined, enforced and how land disputes are contested, negotiated and resolved at the community level. Based on the perceptions of local people and village leaders in the three research sites, the report identifies current practices as well as prior work on this topic in Myanmar and seeks to identify ongoing dispute resolution mechanisms and practices used by communities in ethnic nationality areas with a view to informing policy and programming on restitution. Key to this analysis is the question of what a genuine restitution process might look like in Myanmar and how customary practices might be integrated into it. Furthermore, if a genuine restitution process was established, what realistic capacity is there to integrate customary dispute mechanisms and authorities into it. Based on in-depth qualitative research in 31 villages across 3 regions/states, it offers an insight into understandings of customary mechanisms that people use to…...

Growing numbers of people are losing their homes and lands every day because of the effects of climate change. Climate displacement is happening now, and has been happening for many years. With some notable exceptions, the vast majority of governments the world over have thus far failed to protect the rights of climate displaced families and only a handful of States have policies and programmes in place to protect this new wave of displacement, which will be far, far larger than displacement associated with conflict and instability.  DS and our partners Young Power in Social Action (YPSA) in Bangladesh established The One House, One Family at a time project (OHOF) several years ago to provide quality homes to some of the most vulnerable climate displaced families in eastern Bangladesh. To date we have built four houses, with four additional houses under construction now. OHOF's third phase will commence in 2020 with the aim of constructing a further 12 homes, culminating in a total of 20 homes by the end of next year. With an average of five or six people per house, OHOF will have provided permanent new homes to more than 100 people by the end of 2020. Virtually…...

Displacement Solutions and the Norwegian Refugee Council today released a new publication outlining how Myanmar could constructively apply the UN's Pinheiro Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons (2005) as a key tool to resolve ongoing forced displacement throughout the country.  The booklet provides a brief history of the Pinheiro Principles and the full text of this historic document which provides  comprehensive framework for securing HLP restitution rights for refugees and IDPs everywhere, including those from Myanmar. The publication is accompanied by a lengthier Introductory Guide on Understanding and Claiming Housing, Land and Property Restitution Rights in Myanmar: Questions and Answers which was also released today. Later this month, a 72-page legal analysis of HLP restitution issues in Myanmar, prepared for NRC by the DS Director Scott Leckie, will be published. This report examines the current state of affairs regarding restitution in the country and concludes with five specific recommendations that can be implemented to bring the dream of restitution ever closer to the millions of people from Myanmar who still have yet to resolve their outstanding claims for homes and lands from which they were forced to flee. The detailed report explores the vital nature…...