A new report on Promoting Affordable Housing in Yangon, Myanmar published by the Asian Development Bank has, among other recommendations, urged the government of Myanmar to consider establishing a National Climate Land Bank to proactively address the looming climate displacement crisis in the country. The report notes that "Myanmar’s housing sector is struggling to cope with rapid urbanization, internal migration, and new demand from recent economic growth. These challenges are most apparent in the Yangon Region, where estimates suggest there will be a housing shortage of 1.3 million units by 2030. This publication assesses the current housing market situation in Yangon. It identifies reform options and offers practical recommendations to support the Yangon Region Government’s implementation of its affordable housing agenda and related policies." With a specific recommendation to establish a climate land bank, the report continues "The central importance of land for security, stability, and economic development is already well-recognized by the present government and by all organs of civil society, which have commenced identifying state land resources for eventual distribution to landless rural poor households as part of broader land reform efforts. In this context, the establishment of the MNCLB would be a further element of broader land…...

  http://issuu.com/displacementsolutions/docs/ds-nrc_pinheiro_principles_in_burme?e=31296948/53928232...

DS is happy to announce that the second phase of our One House, One Family at a time project (OHOF) in Bangladesh, implemented with our partners YPSA, is nearly complete. Once Phase 2 is completed, OHOF will have constructed nine new homes for some of Bangladesh's most vulnerable coastal dwellers. These homes are provided on a permanent basis at no cost to the new residents. DS and YPSA will commence Phase 3 of OHOF in mid-2020 and will aim to raise funds for and construct a further eleven homes, thus bringing the total number of homes to 20, providing free homes to more than 100 residents.  Please JOIN us in supporting OHOF by making a financial contribution of any size towards the USD 56,000- budget of Phase 3 by being in contact with us (info@displacementsolutions.org).  As always, we re happy to report that 100% of your funds will go straight to Bangladesh. All efforts by DS are voluntary and carried out on a pro bono basis.  We hope you can assist in making Phase 3 a success!!...

A new 76-page report prepared by DS Director Scott Leckie with the collaboration of Jose Arraiza of NRC, with the support of the Joint Peace Fund, outlines the components of what an eventual agreement in Myanmar on housing, land and property restitution could look like. The report, entitled BUILDING AGREEMENT ON RESTITUTION RIGHTS WITH THE MYANMAR PEACE PROCESS AND NATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK examines all of the necessary components that would need to find recognition within an eventual national agreement designed to ensure that everyone with a viable HLP restitution claim could submit these to an independent judicial body with enforcement powers strong enough to ensure the full enjoyment of restitution rights throughout all corners of the country. Millions of people with legitimate restitution claims have yet to be able to have these claims heard by judicial bodies with the power to enforce these claims to return to, recover and/or re-inhabit the homes and lands from which they have been forced to flee over the past several decades. The report points out that HLP restitution rights are widely recognised in international law, and that many other countries have adopted restitution laws and procedures as key elements within peace processes and the…...