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Housing Terms (english)
| Key Housing and Land Rights Terms |
| A-E |
Adequate housing: Living conditions that the State must respect, protect and fulfill such that it integrates the following in elements and entitlements:
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| Affordable housing: Individuals and communities should have access to adequate housing that is affordable such that expenditures for occupancy are not at a level that threatens other basic needs affordability at a level that threatens other basic needs (usually meaning a cost of no more than 30% of household income spent on housing, maintenance and services). States must ensure affordability through market regulation, convenient financing schemes, cooperative arrangements, availability of reasonably prices building materials and/or subsidies. |
| Apartheid (a·part·heid:a-part-hāt; اﭙﺎرْتْهَيْت): A crime against humanity legally defined as “inhumane acts…committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime”[1] |
| Asylum: The provision of the features of national protection extended internationally to a foreign citizen or other person from outside the receiving State’s borders. Article 14 of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights provides that: 1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. 2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from nonpolitical crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. However, the right to asylum is not an automatic right or expectation, as asylum is contingent upon many factors, including the receiving State’s sovereign immigration and asylum laws and policies, bilateral and multilateral agreements, principles of reciprocity between and among States, and other constraining circumstances in the receiving State. |
| Campaign: a sustained, organized public effort making collective claims on target authorities. (See “social movement” below.) |
| Coalition: a collaborative, means-oriented arrangement, especially a temporary one, that allows distinct people or organizational entities to pool resources and combine efforts in order to effect change. The combination of such persons or entities into one body, as a union, variously organized and structured, but generally less formal than a covenant. Although persons and groups form coalitions for many and varied reasons, the most common purpose is to combat a common threat or to take advantage of a certain opportunity; hence, the often-temporary nature of coalitions. The common threat or existence of opportunity is what gives rise to the coalition and allows it to exist. Such collaborative processes can gain political influence and potentially initiate social movements. (See “Social movement(s)” below.) According to Sidney Tarrow, five elements are necessary to maintain a coalition: 1. Members must frame the issue that brings them together with a common interest; 2. Members’ trust in each other and believe that their peers have a credible commitment to the common issue(s) and/or goal(s); 3. The coalition must have a mechanism(s) to manage differences in language, orientation, tactics, culture, ideology, etc. between and among the collective’s members (especially in transnational coalitions); 4. The shared incentive to participate and, consequently, benefit. Coalitions manifest in a variety of forms, types and terms of duration: § Campaign coalitions with high intensity and long-term cooperation; § Federations, characterized by relatively lower degree of involvement, intensity and participation, involving cooperation of long duration, but with members’ primary commitment remaining with their own entities; § Instrumental coalitions, involving low-intensity involvement without a foundation “to carry them beyond the issues and conflicts that bring them together”: § Event-based coalitions that have a high level of involvement and the potential for future collaboration.[2] (For some definitions of terms distinguishing types of collective action such as alliance, coalition, collective, movement and network, click here.) |
| Community: A social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. The term has acquired several related meanings, including: 1. the commons or common people, as distinguished from those of rank; 2. a state of organized society, in its later uses relatively small; 3. the people of a district; 4. the quality of holding something in common, as in community of interests, community of goods; 5. a sense of common identity and characteristics. The international law definition of “community,” as developed, refers to “a group of persons living in a given country or locality having a race, religion, language and tradition of their own and united in the identity of race, religion, language and tradition in a sentiment of solidarity, with a view to preserving traditions, maintaining their form of worship, insuring the instruction and upbringing of their children in accordance with the spirit and traditions of their race and rendering mutual assistance to each other.”[3] |
| Compensation: should be provided for any economically assessable damage, as appropriate and proportional to the gravity of the violation and the circumstances of each case, resulting from gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law, such as: (a) Physical or mental harm; (b) Lost opportunities, including employment, education and social benefits; (c) Material damages and loss of earnings, including loss of earning potential; (d) Moral damage; (e) Costs required for legal or expert assistance, medicine and medical services, and psychological and social services.[4] Compensation does not substitute for the other elements of reparation, including restitution of the original situation before the violation, among others. (See “Reparation” below.) |
| Complementary protection (of refugees): The provision of some measure of security, care and/or services for persons lacking national protection of their State, but not defined as refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention, and whose return to the originating country may be impossible. Complementary protection is based on a domestic or international obligation arising from legal instruments or principles other than the 1951 Refugee Convention, whether based on a specific human rights treaty or more general humanitarian principles that complement and expand from the essential non-refoulement obligation of State toward vulnerable persons seeking refuge. |
| Confiscation: forcible or coerced dispossession of property belonging to a person or persons, without adequate compensation. The confiscation of land, shelter or materials needed for housing, by a State or other actor, is a type of housing rights violation. |
| Decentralization: the process of delegating authority and assigning responsibilities for providing services away from the central governance structures to more-local authorities, institutions or structures. An example of decentralization is the restructuring of government institutions to devolve more decision-making and service delivery responsibilities to local levels. |
| Dispossession: the act of seizing and controlling someone's property without their consent or agreement. (See “confiscation.”) |
| Ethnic cleansing: various policies and practices with the effect and/or purpose of eliminating an unwanted group from a society or territory, as by genocide or forced migration, in order to create an ethnically homogenous, or supposedly “pure” society, area or state. Although no legal definition yet exists, “ethnic cleansing” has become a commonly used term in international legal writings, discourse and official documents. One author defines ethnic cleansing such that, “At one end, it is virtually indistinguishable from forced emigration and population exchange while at the other it merges with deportation and genocide. At the most general level, however, ethnic cleansing can be understood as the expulsion of an "undesirable" population from a given territory due to religious or ethnic discrimination, political, strategic or ideological considerations, or a combination of these.[1] Ethnic cleansing could be defined broadly and narrowly. Broader definitions identify eviction or expulsion on the basis of ethnic criteria. Some narrower definitions add specific characteristics, including the “systematic” or “illegal” nature of the evictions/expulsions, involving gross violations of human rights or grave breaches of international humanitarian law, or describe their context of an ongoing internal or international war, and/or deliberate policy. For example, another author characterizes ethnic cleansing is: “a well-defined policy of a particular group of persons…systematically [to] eliminate another group from a given territory on the basis of religious, ethnic or national origin. Such a policy involves violence and is very often connected with military operations. It is to be achieved by all possible means, from discrimination to extermination, and entails violations of human rights and international humanitarian law."[2] The term "ethnic cleansing" entered the English lexicon as a calque (loan translation) of the Serbo-Croatian/Bosnian phrase etničko čišćenje (/etnitʃko tʃiʃtʃʲeɲe/). In the early the 1990s journalists and news media used the term extensively in reporting on events in the former Yugoslavia, and it has since become popularized and used more generally to describe analogous situations. The term may have earlier antecedents in the military doctrine of the former Yugoslav People's Army, which adopted the phrase "cleansing the field" (čišćenje terena, /tʃiʃtʃʲeɲe terena/); i.e., eliminating enemy presence, in order to gain total control of a conquered territory.[3] [1] Andrew Bell-Fialkoff, "A Brief History of Ethnic Cleansing," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72, No. 3 (summer 1993). [2] Drazen Petrovic, "Ethnic Cleansing - An Attempt at Methodology," European Journal of International Law, Vol. No. 3, pp. 342–60, at 352, and quoted in quoted by Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2006), p.1. [3] “Ethnic cleansing,” in Wikipedia, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing#_note-1. |
| Evacuation: the act of evacuating; leaving a place in an orderly fashion; especially for protecting the moved persons from impending harm. |
| Eviction: The act or process of evicting; or state of being evicted; the recovery of lands, tenements, etc., from another's possession by due course of law; dispossession by paramount title or claim of such title; ejectment; ouster. Removal of a tenant from rental property by a law enforcement officer following the landlord’s successful lawsuit, also known as an "unlawful detainer." (See “forced eviction” below.) |
| F-J |
| Family: A fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children. However, family may be considered for the purposes of enumerating similarly formed social units inhabiting a housing unit: A group of individuals related by blood or marriage or by a feeling of closeness.[5] |
| Forced eviction: defined in international law as “the permanent or temporary removal against their will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land [that] they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection."[6] |
| Forced migration: refers to the movements of refugees and internally displaced persons forced to flee to avoid harm arising from violent conflict or by natural or environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters, famine, or development projects. Forced migration is a complex, wide-ranging and pervasive set of phenomena that manifest as three separate, although sometimes simultaneous and inter-related, types identified by their causal factors: conflict, development policies and projects, and disasters.[1] (See “Internally displaced person(s)” and “Refugee” below.) [1] Based on the definition adopted by the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration. |
| Forced removal: refers to various forms of coercive and often-violent displacement of persons from their habitation or residence. The meaning can vary according to the context, methods and affected persons. In some cases, “forced removal” is a term synonymous with eviction, as in the case of the forced removal of squatters. In the United States, “forced removal” describes the policy applied since the Thomas Jefferson presidency in the United States and throughout the 19th Century against indigenous peoples living east of the Mississippi River. Under the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, Congress adopted the “Indian Removal Act” of 1830, which provided legal basis and funds for President Jackson to “negotiate” removal (land exchange) treaties. One of the most famous applications of that forced removal policy was the forced migration of Cherokee Nation from their homeland in today’s State of Georgia to present-day Oklahoma in the 1835 “Trail of Tears,” or, in the original Cherokee language, “Nunna dual Tsuny” [trail where they cried]. (See “Indigenous people(s)” below.) In Australia, forced removal is commonly understood to describe an aspect of assimilationist policy of governments by which state authorities forcibly separated Aboriginal children from their families for placement in non-Aboriginal institutions and families during the 1960s and 1970s. The victims of that policy are known as the “stolen generations.” The apartheid South African parliament legislated the Land Act, Group Areas Act and Pass Laws As tools to dispossess and expel Africans from their lands and homes to distant locations. Through the 1950s to early 1980s, the South African government implemented a “resettlement” policy to force people to move to their designated "Group Areas." Estimates place the number of affected persons at over three and a half million. (See “Resettlement” below.) These removals included: § People evicted though slum-clearance programs, § Tenant laborers on white-owned farms, § Inhabitants of so-called “Black Spots,” (Black-owned land surrounded by white farms), § Families of workers living in townships near the homelands, § “Surplus people” living in urban areas, including thousands of people moved to Transkei and Ciskei homelands from the Western Cape (which was declared a “Coloured Labour Preference Area”). One of the most well-known cases was the 1950s forced removal of some 60,000 Africans in Johannesburg to the new township of Soweto (an acronym for South Western Township). The detention and deportation of an individual or group of migrants is also common referred to as “forced removal.” International law strictly proscribes the practice and prohibits forced removals if carried out arbitrarily; without due process or access to affective remedies; collectively (against a particular group, amounting to discrimination); with undue or excessive force; against vulnerable persons, seriously ill persons, refugees, children or victims of trafficking.[1] (See “Refugee” below.) [1] For further information, see “Common principles on removal of irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers” (August 2005),at: http://www.ccme.be/archive/2005/Common%20principles%20on%20removal%20lay-out.pdf. |
| Gentrification: In its classical definition, gentrification refers to the physical and social transformation of existing districts. Recently, the concept has been extended to include high status developments and changes in the urban fabric such as the re-use of former industrial wastelands. |
| Globalizationis the increasing interdependence, integration and interaction among people and public or private bodies, organizations or corporations, featuring the exchange of information, labor, goods, or other resources, across disparate locations around the world. |
| Homelessness: the condition of living without permanent home or shelter and relying on temporary means of shelter. |
| Household: A household includes all the persons who occupy a housing unit. The occupants may be a single family, one person living alone, two or more families living together, or any other group of related or unrelated persons who share living arrangements. (People not living in households are classified generally as living in group quarters.) |
| Indigenous people: cultural groups (and their descendants) who have an historical continuity or association with a given region, or parts of a region, and who formerly or currently inhabit the region either: · before its subsequent colonization or annexation; or · alongside other cultural groups during the formation of a nation-state; or · independently or largely isolated from the influence of the claimed governance by a nation-state, And who furthermore have maintained at least in part their distinct linguistic, cultural and social / organizational characteristics, and in doing so remain differentiated in some degree from the surrounding populations and dominant culture of the nation-state. To the above, a criterion is usually added also to include: · peoples who are self-identified as indigenous, and those recognized as such by other groups. Other related terms for indigenous peoples include aborigines, native peoples, first peoples, Fourth World, first nations and autochthonous (this last term having a derivation from Greek, meaning "sprung from the earth"). Indigenous peoples may often be used in preference to these or other terms, as a neutral replacement where these terms may have taken on negative or pejorative connotations by their prior association and use. It is the preferred term in use by the United Nations and its subsidiary organizations. |
| Informal settlement: cluster of housing and other structures built without the formal consent of the planning authorities, or settlements that have only temporary permission to occupy the settled land. |
| Internally displaced persons (IDPs): “Persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of, or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border.”[7] |
| International protection: First expressed by the French delegation in the 1950 negotiation of the 1951 Refugee Convention,[8] the term “international protection” refers to the essence of States' international law obligations toward refugees, which can take various forms and is not precisely defined in any single legal instrument. The need for international protection arises from the breakdown of national protection with the person’s escape from impending harm in the habitual country of residence, the breakdown of the originating State’s protection functions or other lack of basic guarantees that States normally guarantee for their citizens. Thus, international protection is triggered not merely by the loss of nationality, but by the loss of protection resulting from nationality. Providing a substitute for national protection, international protection theoretically continues until the affected person can benefit again from national protection, either by returning to the protection of her/his own country, or by assuming a new nationality. International protection has two aspects: (1) the fact of refuge outside the borders of one’s own country of citizenship, nationality or habitual residence effecting national protection, and (2) the acquisition of refugee status as determined by the duty-holding host State or other agency, usually UN High Commissioner for Refugees. |
| K-P |
| Mass exodus: an event in which a large group of people leave a region because of conflict, ethnic or religious persecution, or natural disaster. |
| Migrant: “Any person who lives temporarily or permanently in a country where he or she was not born, and has acquired some significant social ties to this country."[9] |
| Minimum Core Obligation: A minimum core obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels of each of the right to housing is incumbent upon every State party to the relevant human rights treaties (ICESCR, ICERD, etc.). “Thus, for example, a State party in which any significant number of individuals is deprived of… basic shelter and housing, or of the most basic forms of education is, prima facie, failing to discharge its obligations… [A]ny assessment as to whether a State has discharged its minimum core obligation must also take account of resource constraints applying within the country concerned. Article 2 (1) [of ICESCR] obligates each State party to take the necessary steps `to the maximum of its available resources.’ In order for a State party to be able to attribute its failure to meet at least its minimum core obligations to a lack of available resources it must demonstrate that every effort has been made to use all resources that are at its disposition in an effort to satisfy, as a matter of priority, those minimum obligations.[10] |
| Network: A social organization whose structure resembles an openwork fabric or composition in form or concept, especially: § A complex, interconnected group or system; § An association of people drawn together by common relation or interest; § An extended group of people or entities with similar interests or concerns who interact and remain in informal contact for mutual assistance or support. The term “social network” was first coined by London School of Economics professor J. A. Barnes in the 1950s, who defined the size of a social network as a group of about 100 to 150 people.[11] (For some definitions of terms distinguishing types of collective action such as alliance, coalition, collective, movement and network, click here.) |
| Non-refoulement: The fundamental principle that prescribes that no person should be returned to any country where s/he is likely to face persecution or torture. The principle encompasses both nonreturn and nonrejection. |
| Obligation: Consistent with its ratification of international human rights treaties, the State Party must “take steps, individually and through international assistance and cooperation…to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights recognized…by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures. Thus, the State “undertake[s] to guarantee that the rights…will be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” [12] A State’s human rights obligation is comprised of three aspects: (1) to respect, (2) to protect and (3) to fulfill the right.[13] The obligation to respect requires States to refrain from interfering with the enjoyment of the right. (Thus, the State fulfills its duty to respect the right to housing when it refrains from arbitrary forced evictions or other outright violation.) The obligation to protect requires States to prevent violations of such rights by other (third) parties. (Thus, the State discharges its obligation to protect the human right to adequate housing when it prevents private developers from carrying out forced evictions and/or prosecutes those responsible for the violation; or the State meets its obligations to protect inhabitants’ housing rights by treating domestic violence as a crime.) The obligation to fulfill requires States to take appropriate legislative, administrative, budgetary, judicial and other measures toward the full realization of the right. Therefore, when the State increases the amount of proportion of its budget for slum upgrading through domestic or overseas development assistance, it is acting in compliance with its treaty-bound obligation to fulfill the human right to adequate housing. |
| Over-riding principles of (human rights) application: Principles found in the initial articles common to both international human rights Covenants and other major international human rights treaties and standards, and to norms of justice arising from the major legal systems of the world. These explain how a State is to perform its obligation under human rights law and standards and involve principles of immediate application, including to ensure (1) the inalienable rights to self-determination; (2) nondiscrimination, in general; (3) gender equality; and (4) the rule of law, including access to justice and domestic application of the human rights contained in each treaty, particularly by adopting legislative measures. In the case of ESC rights, these also include (5) progressive realization of the rights. State are obligated also to engage in (6) international cooperation in order to ensure the respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights domestically and extraterritorially. Thus, comprehensive monitoring of the human right to adequate housing requires assessing each entitlement (element) in light of the rights and corresponding obligations arising from these over-riding legal principles: 1. Self-determination 2. Nondiscrimination 3. Gender equality 4. Rule of law 5. Applying the maximum of available resources 6. Progressive realization (nonregressivity/nonretrogression) 7. International cooperation |
| Pastoralist: a person who derives her/his main source of livelihood from tending and raising livestock, which may involve moving seasonally in search of pasture and water. |
| Peasant: a small-scale or subsistence farmer who may rely on, and claim occupancy of cultivatable land under various forms of tenure. |
| Population transfer: known also by other of synonyms, is a process involving the movement of people as a consequence of processes in which a State government or State-authorized agencies participate. Such processes, whether intended or unintended, negatively affect the human rights of the transferred population, as well as the inhabitants of an area into which settlers move or are transferred. The term "transfer" implies purpose in the act of moving a population; however, it is not necessary that a destination be predefined. The State's role in population transfer may be active or passive, but nonetheless contributes to the systematic, coercive and deliberate nature of the movement of population into or out of an area. Thus, an element of official force, coercion or malign neglect is present in the State population transfer practice or policy. The State's role may involve financial subsidies, planning, public information, military action, recruitment of settlers, legislation or other judicial action, and even the administration of justice.[14] Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court[15] defines "crime against humanity" to include “any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:…(d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population,” which means “forced displacement of the persons concerned by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds permitted under international law…” Article 8 of the Rome Statute defines "war crimes" to include “(vii) Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement” and other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict, within the established framework of international law, such as “(viii) the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory…” International humanitarian law also embodies the prohibition against population transfer. The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian persons in Time of War (1949) determines that “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive….The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”[16] |
| Privatization of public goods and services: is the act or policy of selling or transferring control of publicly owned goods and services, such as water, electricity, and utilities, to persons or privately owned enterprises. Such privatizations often are instituted without public input and can result in land and housing dispossession, increased living costs, and evictions. |
| Public housing: a housing unit or development that is publicly funded and administered for low-income persons and families. Public housing or project homes usually involve forms of housing tenure in which a central or local government authority owns the property. (See also “Social housing” below.) |
| Q-T |
| Refugee: anyone “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his [or her] nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself [or herself] of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his [or her] former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”[17] |
| Refugee protection: Protection is first and foremost the duty of a state to protect persons within its borders from persecution. States must minimally respect the principles of nondiscrimination and non-refoulement; i.e., the right of persons not to be forcibly expelled or returned to territories where their life or freedom would be at risk on account of their race, religion, nationality or membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. The prohibition against refoulement forms part of customary law and, therefore, Applies to all States, irrespective of whether they are signatories to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. When states are unable or unwilling to protect, this responsibility falls upon the international community. The refugee protection regime is enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which cover the gamut of activities through which the rights of refugees are secured. The primary goals are to ensure physical security, access to territory and asylum procedures, as well as respect for the principle of non-refoulement. Once refugees are admitted to a territory, an international agency or the host country will normally provide shelter, water, food and medical care. Protecting agencies will also encourage host countries to show respect for the basic human rights of refugees. States party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol are obliged to guarantee freedom of religion, freedom of movement, the right to work, housing, property ownership and education, as well as the right to identity papers, travel documents and social security. The 1951 Refugee Convention requires that most of these rights be guaranteed at the same level as nationals of the state; all are guaranteed at least at the same level as the most-favoured category of foreigner in the host country. Promoting a proper legislative framework for refugee status determination within states is also a component of protection. Protection also includes the search for durable solutions for refugees and IDPs at all stages of displacement. The search for durable solutions is a core component of protection. Durable solutions refer to the three possible solutions that will restore refugees’ rights; i.e., repatriation (return), local integration in the host country, and resettlement in a third country. The preferred solution for refugees and IDPs is repatriation, the only option constituting a fundamental and inalienable right (i.e., the right of return) that can be implemented by individuals independently of the search for durable solutions. |
| Refugee protection: Protection is first and foremost the duty of a state to protect persons within its borders from persecution. States must minimally respect the principles of nondiscrimination and non-refoulement; i.e., the right of persons not to be forcibly expelled or returned to territories where their life or freedom would be at risk on account of their race, religion, nationality or membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. The prohibition against refoulement forms part of customary law and, therefore, Applies to all States, irrespective of whether they are signatories to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. When states are unable or unwilling to protect, this responsibility falls upon the international community. The refugee protection regime is enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which cover the gamut of activities through which the rights of refugees are secured. The primary goals are to ensure physical security, access to territory and asylum procedures, as well as respect for the principle of non-refoulement. Once refugees are admitted to a territory, an international agency or the host country will normally provide shelter, water, food and medical care. Protecting agencies will also encourage host countries to show respect for the basic human rights of refugees. States party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol are obliged to guarantee freedom of religion, freedom of movement, the right to work, housing, property ownership and education, as well as the right to identity papers, travel documents and social security. The 1951 Refugee Convention requires that most of these rights be guaranteed at the same level as nationals of the state; all are guaranteed at least at the same level as the most-favoured category of foreigner in the host country. Promoting a proper legislative framework for refugee status determination within states is also a component of protection. Protection also includes the search for durable solutions for refugees and IDPs at all stages of displacement. The search for durable solutions is a core component of protection. Durable solutions refer to the three possible solutions that will restore refugees’ rights; i.e., repatriation (return), local integration in the host country, and resettlement in a third country. The preferred solution for refugees and IDPs is repatriation, the only option constituting a fundamental and inalienable right (i.e., the right of return) that can be implemented by individuals independently of the search for durable solutions. |
| Refugee temporary protection: (See “Temporary protection” below.) |
| Rehabilitation: the restoration of normal living conditions following a disruption or displacement so as to return the inhabitant(s) to a state of personal and community integrity. Such process “should include medical and psychological care as well as legal and social services.”[18] |
| Remedy: Remedies for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law include the victim’s right to the following as provided for under international law: (a) Equal and effective access to justice; (b) Adequate, effective and prompt reparation for harm suffered; and (c) Access to relevant information concerning violations and reparation mechanisms. [19] |
| Reparation: In order to promote justice, international law establishes norms for adequate, effective and prompt reparation to redress gross violations of international human rights law or serious breaches of international humanitarian law. Reparation should be proportional to the gravity of the violations and the harm suffered. In accordance with its domestic laws and international legal obligations, States are obliged to provide reparation to victims for acts or omissions resulting in such violations that can be attributed to the State. In cases where any entity is found liable for reparation to a victim, such party should provide reparation to the victim or compensate the State if the State has already provided reparation to the victim. Reparation includes the following forms of redress: restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of nonrepetition. No single one of the five elements of reparation can substitute for another form. (See “Compensation,” “Guarantees of nonrepetition,” “Rehabilitation,” “Restitution” and “Satisfaction” in this list of term.) No single one of the five elements of reparation can substitute for another form. |
| Restitution: should, whenever possible, restore the victim to the original situation before the gross violations of international human rights law or serious violations of international humanitarian law occurred. Restitution includes, as appropriate: restoration of liberty, enjoyment of human rights, identity, family life and citizenship, return to one’s place of residence, restoration of employment and return of property.[20] |
| Resettlement(refugee):A durable solution for an asylum seeker such that results in her/his consensual relocation to a destination country, where authorities accept the asylum seeker as an immigrant for the purpose of permanent residence and naturalization (i.e., citizenship). |
Resettlement(displaced person): The transportation of a person or persons (as a family or community) for relocation at a different settlement (as after some kind of upheaval). The term resettlement includes: 1. the relocation of living quarters; 2. finding and engaging in acceptable new employment for those whose jobs are lost or severely 3. affected; 4. restoration (or compensation, as necessary) of affected productive resources, including land, workplaces, trees and infrastructure; 5. restoration of other adverse effects on affected persons’ living standards (quality of life) through adequate land acquisition for affected persons and communities;
[1] Objectives of Resettlement Plan and Definition of Resetalment terminology, at: http://209.225.62.100/Documents/Resettlement_Plans/PRC/Ningxia/ ningxia_chap01.pdf. |
| Resettlement(homeless person):A planned supported process of change in an accommodation context.[1] In particular, a process for vulnerable homeless people with a history of sleeping rough of securing access to long-term accommodation that best suits their needs and reasonable preferences, and of ensuring that they do not subsequently lose it, or move to less-suitable accommodation[2] The process by which people are enabled to live as full a life as possible within an appropriate form of housing[3] [1] National Resettlement Conference, Manchester (1995), at: http://handbooks.homeless.org.uk/resettlement/howtouse. [2] Outreach and Resettlement Work with people Sleeping Rough by G. Randall and S. Brown, Department of the Environment (1995), at: http://handbooks.homeless.org.uk/resettlement/howtouse. [3] Settlement and Housing Policy, Simon Community of Ireland (1994), at: http://handbooks.homeless.org.uk/resettlement/howtouse. |
| Return (right of): one of the elements of the right of all refugees to reparation,[21] as codified in international law and incumbent upon all States to respect protect and fulfill, entitling refugees to go back to their country of origin, regardless of the present sovereign or any other conditions, The right of return is independent of the acquisition of citizenship or any other legal status. It is a fundamental right enshrined in both human rights law[22] and international humanitarian law.[23] At any time, even if locally integrated or resettled in a country other than their country of origin, refugees may decide to return to their homes spontaneously, or as part of a repatriation program. UNHCR stresses the following features of the right to return: (1) refugees are free and have the right to return to their country of origin at any time; (2) refugee’s decision to return should be voluntary; (3) refugees must be provided with objective [true, reliable] and up-to-date information on the situation of their origin, in order to make an informed decision about repatriation; and (4) the level of assistance and protection provided in the country of refuge should not be the determining factor for refugees to decide whether or not to return.[24] |
| “Right to the city”: a slogan and claim of urban social movements to guide policies to be more equitable and inclusive, as an alternative to current policies and planning practices that lead to segregation, privatization and inequitable distribution of public goods and services. Henri Lefebvre is generally attributed as having developed the notion of a “right to the city” in his book, Le droit à la ville (Paris: Anthropos, 1968). Currently, the “right to the city” argument rests on a bundle of existing human rights, in addition to specific claims of right to access land, water, sanitation, transport and public space, as well as the concept of the “social function” of land, housing and related infrastructure and public goods and services. The “right to the city” is elaborated in the draft “Charter on the Right to the City,” which developed out of the urban social movements in Latin America and spread through the World Social Forum.[1] [1] For more information, refer to “The Right to the City,” at Habitat International Coalition, at: http://www.hic-net.org/indepth.asp?PID=18. |
| Rom (sing.), Roma (plural), Romani/y (adj.): a traditionally mobile or nomadic ethnic group largely of Rajastani origin found globally, but concentrated in Europe. They often face severe persecution and violation of rights in their countries of residence, in particular, housing and land rights, in the form of forced eviction, dispossession, destruction, marginalization, denial of access to services and other forms of spatial, physical, psychological and material discrimination. |
| Satisfaction: in the case of reparation, the victim is entitled to the state of well-being in which s/he perceives that justice was done. Thus, satisfaction is an international legal norm providing that, where applicable, the remedy of the original violation/harm includes any or all of the following: (a) Effective measures aimed at the cessation of continuing violations; (b) Verification of the facts and full and public disclosure of the truth to the extent that such disclosure does not cause further harm or threaten the safety and interests of the victim, the victim’s relatives, witnesses, or persons who have intervened to assist the victim or prevent the occurrence of further violations; (c) The search for the whereabouts of the disappeared, for the identities of the children abducted, and for the bodies of those killed, and assistance in the recovery, identification and reburial of the bodies in accordance with the expressed or presumed wish of the victims, or the cultural practices of the families and communities; (d) An official declaration or a judicial decision restoring the dignity, the reputation and the rights of the victim and of persons closely connected with the victim; (e) Public apology, including acknowledgement of the facts and acceptance of responsibility; (f) Judicial and administrative sanctions against persons liable for the violations; (g) Commemorations and tributes to the victims; (h) Inclusion of an accurate account of the violations that occurred in international human rights law and international humanitarian law training and in educational material at all levels. [25] |
| Secure tenure: is the legally protected right of all individuals and groups to occupy property and enjoy effective state protection against unlawful evictions.[26] Major types of tenure include freehold (ownership) and leasehold, “including rental (public and private) accommodation, cooperative housing, lease, owner-occupation, emergency housing and informal settlements, including occupation of land or property. Notwithstanding the type of tenure, all persons should possess a degree of security of tenure [that] guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats. States […consequently should] take immediate measures aimed at conferring legal security of tenure upon those persons and households currently lacking such protection, in genuine consultation with affected persons and groups.”[27] |
| Self-determination: the right of all peoples and nations freely to determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.[28] |
| Slum: a contiguous human settlement where the inhabitants are characterized as having inadequate housing and basic services. A slum is often not recognised and addressed by the public authorities as an integral or equal part of the city and includes any combination of the following elements: § Insecure residential status; § Inadequate access to safe water; § Inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure; § Poor structural quality of housing; § Overcrowding.[29] |
| Social capital: the collective value of social networks of an individual, community or society that facilitates individual and collective action. (For more information, click here.) |
| Social function: in theory, a social function is "the contribution made by any phenomenon to a larger system of which the phenomenon is a part."[1] In practice, the social function of a thing is its use or application to the benefit of the greater society, in particular, prioritizing those with the greatest need. Thus, the social function of a property, good, resource or service is realized when it is applied to satisfy a general social need or the unmet need of a segment of society. The 1988 Brazilian Constitution explicitly recognizes the right to decent housing, and provides that property, whether urban or rural, must serve a "social function." Unoccupied buildings or unproductive land, thus, became more susceptible to expropriation in the social interest. Islamic philosophy, prophetic authority and law recognize ownership, but reserve water, pasture and fire as common entitlement of the people with a social function,[2] restricting their privatization.[3] [1] Thomas Ford Hoult, Dictionary of Modern Sociology (Totowa NJ: Littlefield Adams 1969), p. 139. [2] The Prophet Muhammad (PBuH) famously enjoined: “Muslims are to share in these three things: water, pasture, and fire." 15. Hadith related by Abu-Dawud, Ibn Majah, and al-Khallal. [http://www.islamset.com/env/contenv.html]. [3] “O you who believe! Verily, there are many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks who devour the wealth of mankind in falsehood, and hinder (them) from the Way of Allâh (i.e., Allâh's Religion of Islâmic Monotheism). And those who hoard up gold and silver [al-Kanz:the money, the Zakât of which has not been paid], and spend it not in the Way of Allâh, -announce unto them a painful torment. 35. On the Day when that (al-Kanz: money, gold and silver, etc., the Zakât of which has not been paid) will be heated in the Fire of Hell and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs, (and it will be said unto them):-"This is the treasure which you hoarded for yourselves. Now taste of what you used to hoard.” Surat al-Tawba 9 |
Social housing: is an umbrella term for government-assisted accommodation with the objective of attaining and sustaining household and community well-being. Social housing could include—although not uniquely—not-for-profit housing that government and community managers provide with the purpose to ensure for reasons of household affordability and appropriateness. Social housing has developed in response to inability of the housing market to respond to the general need and demand for housing. Usually, it is rental housing that may be owned and managed by the State, by not-for-profit organizations, or by a combination of the two. However, some social housing schemes involve also private-sector investment partners. “Social housing is housing where the access is controlled by the existence of allocation rules favouring households that have difficulties in finding accommodation in the market.”[1] While recognizing that the types of tenure, target groups/beneficiaries and further interpretation of social housing are subject to variation by country, circumstance and over time, social housing involves at least the following characteristics: § Allocation and access: State or the regional or local authorities determine the target groups and criteria for allocation and access, including such criteria as income ceilings, affirmative action/positive discrimination, or other priorities;
[1] The European Liaison Committee for Social Housing (CECODHAS) proposed this definition of social housing to the European Commission in 1998 to define Social Housing by a single, Europe-wide criterion under the 6th European directive on value-added tax (VAT), which allows the European Union Member States to apply a low rate of VAT on social housing. |
| Social movement: the term originated around 1850 by German sociologist Lorenz von Stein,[30] in its contemporary usage, commonly refers to collective action, involving an informal grouping of individuals and organizations focused on common political or social goals and manifesting a visible and recognizable force in the public arena. A social movement is a major vehicle for ordinary people's participation in public politics through a series of contentious performances, displays and campaigns by which ordinary people make collective claims on others. Charles Tilly ascribes social movements as having any of three major elements to social movements: 1. campaigns: a sustained, organized public effort making collective claims on target authorities; 2. social movement repertoire: employment of combinations from among the following forms of political action: creation of special-purpose associations and coalitions, public meetings, solemn processions, vigils, rallies, demonstrations, petition drives, statements to and in public media, and pamphleteering; and 3. participants' concerted public representation displays worthiness, unity, numbers, and commitments on the part of themselves and/or their constituencies.[31] Sydney Tarrow distinguishes social movements from political parties and interest groups, describing a social movement as collective challenges [to elites, authorities, other groups or cultural codes] by people with common purposes and solidarity in sustained interactions with elites, opponents and authorities.[32] (For more information, go to HIC-HLRN website or click here.) |
| Social production of habitat: all nonmarket processes carried out under inhabitants’ initiative, management and control that generate and/or improve adequate living spaces, housing and other elements of physical and social development, preferably without—and often despite—impediments posed by the State or other formal structure or authority. (For more information and cases, go to HIC general website and HIC-HLRN website.) |
| Temporary protection (TP), a form of “provisional protection” for individuals and groups, is the most recent norm of State practice developed to find solutions for refugees. Along with the obligation of non-refoulement (no sending back) and the nonobligatory protection of political asylum, TP also constitutes an international law norm by which States treat as refugees those persons fleeing a major crisis in their home State, although they may not be covered explicitly by the 1951 Refugees Convention’s criteria. TP applies to diverse migrants, or putative refugees, including, but not limited to those escaping armed conflict, civil strife or individual persecution. As developed, the multiple forms of TP implementation across the world share some common elements: 1. The host-State grants TP to specific groups or individuals for a defined period; 2. The State grants TP with the expectation of providing a solution for a defined period, after which the individual or group would return home, if s/he prefers, or should seek resettlement in a third State offering more-permanent status; 3. TP is a discretionary practice on the part of States and, thus, 4. May guarantee fewer rights than to refugees under the 1951 Convention. |
| Tenure: the holding of a thing, such as a position or a property. (See “secure tenure.”) Land and housing tenure comes in various forms, including freehold (ownership), leasehold (rental), or other legal forms, and could be held singly (private tenure), jointly or collectively. |
| Traveler: a person forming part of a traditionally nomadic group found globally, but concentrated in Ireland. They often face severe persecution and denial of rights in their countries of residence, in particular, housing and land rights violations in the form of forced eviction, dispossession, destruction, marginalization, denial of access to services and other forms of discrimination. Travelers also are associated with Roma, because of their nomadic life style, although they do not share the same Romani ethnic origins or composition. |
| U-Z |
| Unit of housing: A structure that serves as the undivided dwelling place for habitation of one or more persons constituting a single nuclear family. A housing unit is a house, an apartment, a hut, a mobile home, a tent, a shanty, a group of rooms, or a single room that is occupied (or if vacant, is intended for occupancy) as separate living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live and eat separately from any other persons in the building and that have direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall. For example, a building with six apartments counts as six housing units. |
| Violation: the failure of a duty holder (primarily the State) to fulfill its obligations to respect, protect and fulfill a human right. Violations may be by commission (a violative act, such as forced eviction, or discrimination), or by omission (the State’s failure to act in protecting or fulfilling the right) “to take steps, individually and through international assistance and cooperation…to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the right[ to adequate housing] by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures”[33] in such as way as to ensure the continuous improvement of living conditions.”[34] |
| Key of Terms pertaining to Israel/Palestine |
| Absentee: persons whose status is defined in Israel’s Basic Law: Law of Absentees’ Property (5710 - 1950) and applied both retroactively and prospectively for the State of Israel possession by confiscation properties (mostly to be administered by the Jewish National Fund and subsidiaries). Those whom the Basic Law identifies as “absentees” include anyone who: 1. At any time during the period between 16 Kislev 5708 (29 November 1947) and the declaration published under Section 9(d) of the Law and Administrative Ordinance, 12 Iyar 5708 (21 May 1948), has ceased to exist as a legal owner of any property situated in the area of Israel or enjoyed or held by it, whether by himself of and another and who, at any time during the said period, (i) was a national or citizen of the Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Transjordan, Iraq or the Yemen; or (ii) was in one of these countries or in any part of Palestine outside the area of Israel; or (iii) was a Palestinian citizen and left his ordinary pace of residence in Palestine (a) for a place outside Palestine before 27 Av 5708 (1 September 1948); or (b) for a place in Palestine held at the time by forces that sought to prevent the establishment of the state of Israel or that fought against its establishment.” (Full the full text of Basic Law: Absentees’ Property Law [LAP], click here. See also “present absentee” below.) |
| Absentee property: a type of individual or collective possession denied to an indigenous class of inhabitants of Palestine through military and legislative events of the State of Israel’s proclamation of establishment process. Israel’s Absentee Property Regulations (1950) vested possession of properties belonging to indigenous Palestinian Arabs in the “Custodian,” which was an acquisitive function within the Israeli Finance Ministry in 1947, established well in advance of the Regulations. The Law of Absentees’ Property (LAP) (see also “present absentee” below) provided the Custodian a new name, The “Custodian of Absentee Property” (CAP), also replaced the temporary and vague legal category of “abandoned” property with the better-defined and soon-to-be permanent category of “absentee property.” The CAP possessed broad administrative and quasijudicial powers, as well as evidentiary and procedural devices, to seize property at CAP’s own discretion, and ensured that the burden of proving “nonabsentee” status fell heavily on the newly dispossessed Palestinian Arab property holders. The British Trading with the Enemy Act (1939), which created an extremely powerful property custodian and formally extinguished all rights of former owners, inspired the Israeli Absentee Property Regulations. Israel thus treated absentee property as State property, but the nature of the emergency legislation model from which the Israeli Absentees’ Property Law derived also made it subject to long-term legal challenge. Therefore, the State of Israel incorporated the ideologically Zionist protostatal institutions within the State under 1953 legislation, but maintained them arguably outside of “government.” So, in order to retain the “absentee” properties and shed the potentially constraining State obligations governing the Custodian under general principles of public international law (see “obligations” above.), the State of Israel began transferring newly acquired properties—especially such properties acquired outside internationally recognized Israeli territory—to the parastatal institutions (Jewish National Fund, World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency and their subsidiaries and affiliates) and, subsequently, other State-managed institutions that share the Zionist protostatal institutions’ covenanted principles of Jewish-only presence in, and possession of the land, properties and productive resources contained in all areas of the Land of Israel (Eretz Israel), defined as the whole of historical Palestine.[35] The illegal transfer of Palestinian refugees’ and internally displaced persons’ (all “absentees’) properties (see “Internally displace person(s)” above) to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in exchange for revenues to the nascent colony was to a (then) off-shore England-registered entity, the JNF, which reunited with the State of Israel under the above-mentioned 1953 Knesset legislation. That transfer of “absentee property” took place over five years, after no standing party posed an international law challenge to Israel’s territorial expansion beyond the 1947 Partition Plan (UNGA resolution 181 [II]). That omission is despite the fact that UNGA 181 was merely one of the General Assembly’s contemporary nonbinding recommendations on the Palestine question, but submitted to a vote on 29 November 1947. The “absentee property” lost in this gradual process is undetermined, but subject to reparation to Palestinian refugees and present absentees. (See also “absentee(s),” “compensation,” “confiscation,” “indigenous people(s),” “internally displaced person(s),” “refugee(s),” “reparation,” “return,” “satisfaction” above.) |
| Areas of Jurisdiction: A, B and C: Gradations of Israeli and Palestinian National Authority jurisdictions in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as defined in the interim agreements signed by the two parties since 1993; however, Israel has ceased to respect many areas and dimensions of Palestinian Authority jurisdiction since its reinvasion of those zones since 2002. The Oslo Interim process created four spheres of jurisdiction in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, defined as follows: A. Closed Palestinian jurisdiction (Area A): In these lands, the Palestinian Authority has full effective and theoretical (de facto and de jure) jurisdiction. Israeli troops and military withdrew fully until late 2000, when they besieged the territories. Until then, Israel formally did not exercise jurisdiction over this area, except through reoccupation or Palestinian consent. Today, these areas remain under Israel's control, and several areas are under occasional Israeli military siege. B. Over-riding Israeli jurisdiction. In those areas, the Palestinian National Authority holds partial personal, functional and geographical jurisdiction, as Israel retained overriding security jurisdiction through activities of Israel’s troops and the Military Government. The overriding jurisdiction encompasses all components and actions that form clear violations of the Convention, as house demolitions, for example, occur in those areas in particular with the Israeli authorities’ full resolve and jurisdiction. This area forms approximately 10% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and is inhabited by approximately 20% of the Palestinian population. C. Where Israel has held functional, geographical and personal jurisdiction and the Palestinian Authority has claimed personal jurisdiction, awaiting withdrawal of Israeli troops and Military Government. The size of this area is undefined; it is open to speculation by both sides, with the continuation of supreme Israeli jurisdiction as the occupying power along with jurisdictional category “A” (total Israeli jurisdiction). These areas constitute more than 73% of land in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and are inhabited by some 24% of the Palestinian population. |
| Citizenship and Nationality: Distinct from democratic States, the legal and institutional determiners of civil status in Israeli law provide for “Israeli citizenship,” under the “Law of Citizenship” [ezrahut]. No “Israeli nationality” status exists, and the State has refused petitions to establish such. Rather, nationality is a civil status created in Israeli law, particularly, “Basic Law: Law of Return” (1950) and “Status Law” (1952), establishing “Jewish nationality” and related rights and privileges, superior and distinct from those arising from “citizenship.” Among the material consequences of this distinction are the State’s refusal to allow the return of the Palestinian refugees expelled in 1948, and subsequently, in favour of extraterritorial “Jewish nationals”; the dispossession of indigenous Palestinians, including current citizens of Israel, under the “Law of Absentee Property”; and the distribution of that property and additional development benefits through the parastatal “national” institutions, particularly the World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency, Jewish National Fund and their subsidiaries. |
| Closure: The Israel occupation authority practice applied first in 1988, and consistently since 1993 that denies Palestinians in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip passage through other areas of historic Palestine under Israeli jurisdiction. This involves separation of the residents of both territories from each other, and affects tens of thousands of Palestinian workers access to their jobs in Israel, and who lack other options because of the well-entrenched dependency of the occupied territories on the Israeli economy. Closure and separation also affect a variety of rights under the Convention, including by denial of freedom of movement and closure/separation as a form of collective punishment. Closure has led to the aggravated illness and death of medical patients, who also are not spared this stricture, except in rare cases. Children are denied normal life, including family life, under closure, and are regularly denied access to education and other basic services. |
| Curfew: Absolute denial of the population to leave their homes or other structures into the public space for a specified period. Israeli occupation forces often impose curfew on entire villages and cities, enforceable by lethal force. Typically, the occupation authorities impose this extreme security measure as a form of collective punishment. Lifting of curfews typically takes place on a periodic basis one or two hours to allow essential civilian functions only. |
| Dunum: The traditional system of land measurement used in historical Palestine, equalling 1,000 square meters. |
| Final-status lands: Categories of land that Israel reserves under its total control and jurisdiction awaiting their status to be determined through negotiations that are scheduled to begin in 1999 to determine their status following the end of the interim process, the framing agreements of which expired on 4 May 1999. These are lands that fall under sole Israeli rule and are excluded from the Interim Process as final-status lands: (1) lands of settlements, (2) lands of annexed Jerusalem, (3) lands of military areas, and (4) borders. Israel enjoys all aspects of jurisdiction in these areas and is, thus, fully responsible as the occupying power. The spatial definition of all these areas remains ambiguous. |
| Green Line: Borders determined by armistice with neighbouring States (1948–49), separating the State of Israel-controlled territory from the other areas of Palestine (Jerusalem, West Bank & Gaza Strip). Indigenous Palestinians remaining inside the Green Line became citizens of Israel. Palestinians living in the other areas of Palestine, including refugees originating from inside the “Green Line,” came under the administration of Jordan (in the West Bank) and Egypt (Gaza Strip) until Israel conquered those territories in the 1967 War. |
| Higher Planning Committee (HPC): Israel, as Occupying Power and despite Hague Regulations (Article 43) prohibitions, altered the law and the structure of civic institutions in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) from a system of 25 municipal councils and 86 village councils. It transferred planning authority from indigenous District Committees to an Israeli “Higher Planning Committee,” and conveyed the planning and development powers of village councils to military appointees. Israeli authorities then imposed their own physical planning regime and master plans on villages, towns and rural areas, thereby restricting Palestinian living space, often evading legally prescribed objection rights and procedures. Meanwhile, the HPC maintains three subcommittees: Israeli settlement, house demolitions and local planning and development). The first of these secretive bodies organises and sanctions settlement activity recognised under international law as a war crime.[36] The third of these, as its name indicates, oversees physical planning and development in Palestinian town and villages. That subcommittee has included some Palestinian employees of the Israeli “Civil Administration” in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt); however, they lack power to affect policy. Neither the “Settlement Subcommittee” nor the “Supervision Subcommittee,” dealing with demolitions, has any Palestinian member. In any case, the Israeli military commander retains the power to override any planning authority decision, ensuring that all use of land in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) is subject to Israeli military objectives. |
| Intifada: The common Palestinian—and now international—term for “uprising,” derives from the Arabic verb nafaḍa (نَفَضَ) “to shake off.” The Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation that began on 7 December 1987 is referred to as the first Intifada. The ongoing uprising sparked by Israeli Gen. Ariel Sharon’s militaristic desecration of the Muslim Noble Sanctuary (Jerusalem) and the subsequent massacre of Palestinian faithful there after Friday prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque, 29 September 2000, has come to be known as the second, or al-Aqsa Intifada. |
| Jerusalem: UNGA resolution 181 determined that Jerusalem was to come under an international regime, a corpus separatum. This legal status has been confirmed internationally as recently as 2000 in the formal reaffirmation by the European Union. However, Israel conquered and occupied the western part of Jerusalem in 1948, incorporating the then-occupied city into the State as its capital. (The international community generally rejects that under international law doctrine of the unacceptability of the acquisition of territory by force, recognizing instead Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel. When Israel conquered the rest of the city (East Jerusalem) in the 1967 War, Israel pursued Jewish settlement of the area and applied Israeli domestic law to the area in 1981, thereby “annexing” it ("annexed Jerusalem"). The international community, including the Security Council has formally rejected this Israeli-acclaimed annexation as a violation of international law. |
| Jewish nationality: (See “Citizenship and nationality” above.) |
| Naqab/Negev: The arid southern region of historic Palestine is traditionally and locally known as the Naqab, its capital Bi’r Sabi` (“7 springs”). Jewish colonizers sought to impose Hebrew or hebraicized place names on conquered and otherwise-acquired territories. They applied the Hebrew cognate title Negevto the territory, and “Beer Sheva” (or, Bersheeva, originally Bi’r Saba`/بئر سبع) to its capital. |
| “National” institutions: For the purposes of this parallel report, “national” institutions is the official Israeli term qualifying the parastatal organizations, particularly the World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency, Jewish National Fund and their subsidiaries, that are chartered to engage in public development on behalf of the State of Israel exclusively for “the Jewish people,” and that maintain an ideological commitment and strategy to colonize all areas under Israel’s effective control for those beneficiaries, excluding all others. |
| Nationality and citizenship: (See “Citizenship and nationality” above.) |
| Occupied territory: The lands that Israel controls as a consequence of its 1967 “pre-emptive” war. These include lands acquired by force and where Israel maintains effective control through the Military Government of Israel. These remain: the West Bank, including Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in Palestine; and the Golan Heights of Syria. Subsequent acquisition of lands in southern Lebanon through gradual conquest in the 1970s and through its 1982 invasion there has been reduced through Israel's July 2000 withdrawal. However, the territory of Shiba` Farms and Ghajar village lands remains under Israeli military occupation, which neighboring States affirm is Lebanese sovereign territory. |
| Present absentee: a person or descendant of a person living in Israel after 21 May 1948 with the “absentee” status created under the Basic Law: Law of Absentees’ Property of 5710/1948 (LAP), especially those consequently dispossessed; a dispossessed citizen of Israel. Technically, this status affected virtually all Arabs who exited their actual homes or other possessed or owned properties during the 1947–48 War of Independence/Conquest, regardless of whether they returned. Also technically, the legislative dispossession order covered most residents, indigenous Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews (LAP, Article 1[ii]). However, the LAP regulations embedded a clause that systematically exempted Jews from the law’s intended dispossession.[37] Consequently, tens of thousands of Arabs citizens who became citizens of Israel were dispossessed absentees, but practically no Jewish Israelis were. The dispossessed Arab citizens of Israel thus assumed the paradoxical legal identity and simultaneous materially dispossessed status of “present absentee.” |
| Separation Barrier / Separation Wall / Apartheid Wall / Security Fence / Annexation Wall: Various terms used to describe the complex of fences, ditches, razor wire, groomed trace sands, electronic monitoring system and patrol roads, 8–9 m-high concrete slabs, forming a physical separation between Settler colonies and Palestinian communities across the West Bank and through Jerusalem. Approximately 85% of the route, revised in June 2004, meanders up to 22 km into Palestinian territory. It runs through populated, agricultural and natural areas, severing access to roads, agricultural lands and services that the Palestinians depend on. Many in Palestine and the international community have accused Israel of designing the barrier route so as to annex the most possible Palestinian land and water resources. The International Court of Justice issues its Advisory Opinion determining the entire construction to be illegal. The Court called for its removal, for restitution and compensation for incurred losses, and “that all States are under an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation arising from the construction of the wall, not to render aid or assistance in maintaining that situation and to cooperate with a view to putting an end to the alleged violations and to ensuring that reparation will be made therefor” (para. 146.). In accordance with the ICJ Advisory Opinion, this report uses the term “Wall” throughout. |
| Settlements and settler colonies: For the purposes of this report, "settlements" is the social science and planning term for areas of human habitation, irrespective of their legal status, or the ethnic or religious composition of their population. "Settler colony" is the term used in reference to wholly illegal settlements of the Occupying Power's population, violating GC4, articles 49 and, under article 147, constituting "war crimes," and forming part of the practice of population transfer, recognized also as a "crime against humanity" under the Rome Statute (1998), Article 7. |
| Unrecognized villages: settlements of indigenous Palestinian habitation inside the "green line" that almost-exclusively predate the 1948 establishment of the State of Israel. For the sole reason that their residents are Arab citizens, and not "Jewish nationals," these villages have been excluded from master plans and, consequently, their existence is considered illegal. These "unrecognized villages" face demolitions and other bureaucratic means of forced removal amounting to internal population transfer. These are hundreds of settlements of indigenous Palestinian habitation inside the Green Line that almost exclusively predate the 1948 establishment of the State of Israel. For no other criterion but that their residents are Arab citizens, and not “Jewish nationals,” Israeli (exclusively Jewish) planners have deliberately omitted these villages from all plans, foreclosing their benefit from basic services enjoyed by other settlements of similar and smaller Jewish populations with the State or even in occupied territories. Consequently, the Zionist-dominated planning regime considers their existence illegal. They face demolitions and other bureaucratic means of forced removal amounting to internal population transfer. Regional and national-level Israeli development plans call for most “unrecognized village” Arab populations to be transferred to what Israeli planners call “concentration points” (planned townships, or “concentration townships”) designated elsewhere in Israel where they would live in zero-growth zones with no secure land tenure and limited livelihood options. |
[1] Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, UN doc. 2187, United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) 90,entered into force 1 July 2002, Article 7.2(h). Further defined in International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1973, entered into force 18 July 1976), apartheid involves the following practices. (a) Denial to a member or members of a racial group or groups of the right to life and liberty of person: (i) By murder of members of a racial group or groups; (ii) By the infliction upon the members of a racial group or groups of serious bodily or mental harm, by the infringement of their freedom or dignity, or by subjecting them to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; (iii) By arbitrary arrest and illegal imprisonment of the members of a racial group or groups; (b) Deliberate imposition on a racial group or groups of living conditions calculated to cause its or their physical destruction in whole or in part; (c) Any legislative measures and other measures calculated to prevent a racial group or groups from participation in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full development of such a group or groups, in particular by denying to members of a racial group or groups basic human rights and freedoms, including the right to work, the right to form recognized trade unions, the right to education, the right to leave and to return to their country, the right to a nationality, the right to freedom of movement and residence, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association; (d) Any measures, including legislative measures, designed to divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups, the prohibition of mixed marriages among members of various racial groups, the expropriation of landed property belonging to a racial group or groups or to members thereof; (e) Exploitation of the labour of the members of a racial group or groups, in particular by submitting them to forced labour; (f) Persecution of organizations and persons, by depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms, because they oppose apartheid.”
[2] Sidney Tarrow, The New Transnational Activism (Cambridge University Press, 2005).
[3] Permanent Court of International Justice, The Greco-Bulgarian “Communities,” Advisory Opinion No. 17, 31 July 1930 (Leyden: Sijthoff, 1930), p. 21.
[4] “Basic principles and guidelines on the right to a remedy and reparation for victims of gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law,” Commission on Human Rights Resolution E/CN.4/2005/35, Article 20.
[5] Webster’s New World Medical Dictionary, at: http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=16603
[6] Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, General Comment 7, Art. 3.
[7] Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2.
[8] “ECOSOC Official Records,” 9th session (1949), “Summary Record of 236th Meeting,” 629–29; UN General Assembly “Official Records,” forth session, Third Committee “Summary Record of the 256th Meeting,” cited in UNCHR’s Observations, No. 2, note 16. See “Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,” General Assembly resolution 428 (V), 14 December 1950.
[9] Council of Europe, “Migration and integration - basic concepts and definitions,” at: http://social.coe.int/en/cohesion/action/publi/migrants/concepts.htm#back1.
[10] Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 3: The nature of States parties’ obligations (art. 2, para. 1, of the Covenant),” para. 9. [11] J. A. Barnes, “Class and Committees in a Norwegian Island Parish,” Human Relations No. 7, pp. 39–58 (1954).
[12] International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Article 2. [13] Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Maastricht, 22–26 January 1997.
[14] “The human rights dimensions of population transfer, including the implantation of settlers” [preliminary report presented by Mr. A.S. al-Khasawneh and Mr. R. Hatano], E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/17, 6 July 1993, paras. 14–15.
[15]UN Doc. 2187 UNTS 90, entered into force 1 July 2002.
[16] 75 United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS), 287.
[17] Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, 189 UNTS 150, entered into force 22 April 1954, Article 1.A.2.
[18] “Remedy and Reparation Guidelines,” Article 21.
[19] “Basic principles and guidelines on the right to a remedy and reparation for victims of gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law” [Remedy and Reparation Guidelines] Human Rights Resolution 2005/35, para. 11.
[20] “Remedy and Reparation Guidelines,” Article 19.
[21] See “Reparation,” “Rehabilitation,” “Compensation” and “Restitution” above.
[22] Universal Declaration of human Rights, 10 December 1948, Article 13(2); International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, Article 12(4); and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 4 January 1969, Article 5(d)(ii).
[23] Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War, 12 August 1949, Article 45; Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977, Article 85(4)(a); Turku Declaration of Minimum Humanitarian Standards, 2 December 1990, UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1991/55, Article 7
[24] UNHCR, Resettlement handbook (Geneva: Department of International Protection, November 2004), Chapter II, P. 5.
[25] “Remedy and Reparation Guidelines,” Article 22.
[26] “Expert seminar on the practice of forced evictions, Geneva, 11–13 June 1997,” E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/7 (2 July 1997).
[27] Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, “General Comment No. 4 `the right to adequate housing’ (Article 11[1] of the Covenant),” 13 December 1991, UN document HRI/GEN/1/Rev.8, para. 8(a), p. 20.
[28] ICCPR and ICESCR, common Article 1(1).
[29] “Defining Slums and Secure Tenure,” Expert Group Meeting, Nairobi, November 2002.
[30] Lorenz von Stein, Geschichte der sozialen Bewegung in Frankreich von 1789 bis auf unsre Tage, 3 vols. (Leipzig: 1850); History of the French Social Movement from 1789 to 1850, transl. by Kaethe Mengelberg (New York: Bedminster Press, 1964).
[31] Charles Tilly, Social Movements, 1768–2004 (Boulder, CO, Paradigm Publishers, 2004), pp. ??.
[32] Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement: Collective Action, Social Movements and Politics (Cambridge and London: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
[33] International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Article 2.1
[34] ICESCR, Article 11.1
[35] Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion later noted the legalistic motivations of retaining lands and properties, but under the name of the Jewish National Fund. He acknowledging that “the government does as it pleases with this property…[while]…the law limits the government in its efficient, permanent use” David Ben-Gurion diaries, no date, entry of 4 August 1949, cited in Forman and Kedar, ibid.
[36] For example, as stipulated in the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg), the International Law Commission’s draft Code on Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind, Article 22; and the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court, Article 22.
[37] Section 28 of the regulations obligated the Custodian of Absentee Property to exempt absentees who had left their home or properties out of fear of Israel's military operations or its enemies, or to exempt those who were, in the Custodian’s opinion, capable of managing their property efficiently without aiding Israel's enemies. Dov Shafrir, the first Custodian of Abandoned Property, later revealed that all efforts sought to avoid applying the dispossessiong application of LAP to Jews. Knesset Law and Constitution Committee, 1949–50, minutes of 6 and 22 December, cited in Geremy Forman and Alexandre (Sandy) Kedar, “From Arab land to `Israel Lands': the legal dispossession of the Palestinians displaced by Israel in the wake of 1948,” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol. 22 (2004), pp. 809–30, at p. 815.
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Daveisaak |
Latest page update: made by Daveisaak
, Oct 24 2007, 12:47 PM EDT
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About This Update
Edited by Daveisaak
42 words added view changes - complete history) |
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Keyword tags:
definitions
habitat
housing as a human right
international
Land Rights
More Info: links to this page
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| mariehicgs | Questions regarding the Coalition term in english | 0 | Sep 7 2007, 1:10 PM EDT by mariehicgs | ||
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Thread started: Sep 7 2007, 1:10 PM EDT
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In the definition, it states: "According to Sidney Tarrow, five elements are necessary to maintain a coalition" but only 4 are shown, then a list of variety of forms, types and terms of duration is displayed.
Should be correct the number or is the 5th missing ? Please inform, thank you. marie |
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| AnnaKaijser | Questions regarding some of the key terms | 1 | Aug 24 2007, 7:22 PM EDT by jschechla | ||
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Thread started: Aug 22 2007, 12:00 PM EDT
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1. Compensation - Indicate who is responsible for providing the compensation
2. Indigenous people - I am unsecure about the use of the word "nation-state" in this section. The term nation-state usually refers to a sovereign state that coincides geographically with a nation (a group of people sharing a sense of a common culture or ethnicity), but it seems to have a different meaning in this text. Also, I don't understand the sentence ending with: "...independently or largely isolated from the influlence of the claimed governance by a nation-state". 3. Return - missing word at the end of the text: the situation of their COUNTRY of origin. Also, I think it should be "the situation IN their country of origin" 4. Unrecognized villages - There is a text section that is repeated, although not identically. Ok, that's all for now! Otherwise the text is good! -Anna |
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