What Is to Be Done
This LT issue both raises and answers this question.
It arises from the contradiction of knowing the long-established norms that provide us with so much theory and the gaping implementation deficit.
Despite the treaties and other instruments of international law governing the behavior of states, powerful interests deviate majestically from them, and with impunity. This tenth anniversary of the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on the Apartheid Wall across the occupied West Bank of Palestine epitomizes this pattern. Despite its flagrant illegality, the Wall continues to stand as both a symbol and fact of Israeli hafrada (Hebrew for apartheid) with its cumulative dispossession of the indigenous people of Palestine.
On this occasion, it is difficult to escape reflection also on the other occupations in the region of our coverage, both Western Sahara and Cyprus. The former suffers partition and 80% of its territory under a Moroccan occupation regime, with a 2,700 km-long wall of its own. The latter also commemorates an anniversary this summer, the 40th since Turkey launched its 20 July 1974 invasion and continuing occupation of 36.2% of the island.
The land and natural resource questions in these cases are legend, and the law, as the ICJ articulated ten years ago, is also unambiguous and clear. The legal theory also calls for all states not to recognize or cooperate with the resulting illegal situation, and all High Contracting Parties to the 4th Geneva Convention to “respect and ensure respect” for its terms. However, on these anniversaries, and in the face of so many physical and diplomatic walls, all states that fail to meet their corresponding duties are culpable for the resulting violations.
LT takes note of the contradictions in these issues by recounting the major developments affecting land and resource struggles of the period. But more than that, the articles contained in this issue provide examples of what is to be done.
Ten years on since the ICJ ruling on the Apartheid Wall, an initiative of many of the world’s most conscientious legal scholars now call for the UN Secretary General and UN organs to end the impunity of Israel’s occupation of Palestine and finally uphold international law in Palestine and give effect to the Court’s ruling. They provide a legally grounded framework for concrete action and state compliance, reported in “For This 10th Anniversary, Give Concrete Action.”
One step toward preserving the land from further destruction in the path of the Apartheid Wall is reported here in the report on UNESCO’s admission of the Palestinian village of Battir, with its ancient and unique terraced agricultural system, as a World Heritage Site. We cover this development in “Battle for Battir.”
Yemen has set an example for setting the groundwork needed for restitution of lands and properties that the previous regime and its entourage have grabbed to enrich themselves at the expense of the people. The article “Yemeni Lands and Transitional Justice” updates readers on what Yemenis have accomplished, and what remains to be done to deliver reparations for those affected.
Questions remain as to the status and circumstances of thousands of Palestinian refugees from Syria, who are caught in a legal limbo in their search for asylum in an ever-widening swath of displacement. The broad contours of their situation are covered in the report “In Search of Peace—and Place.”
So, given the conflict, economic disparity and other housing and land rights violations that fill this issue, we shed light also on some current actions to remedy them. The recent political changes in Egypt have promised new opportunities for addressing the country’s notoriously squalid housing conditions. The article “The Cairo Coalition” shows how a civic coalition, including HIC-HLRN, and a brand new ministry are posing new dynamics for policy dialogue.
The problems and contradictions are not limited to any regions, but global. Therefore, in this issue, as always, we link the MENA examples to their global counterparts. The coverage of the UPR review of Turkey reveals some striking parallels to the governmental trends in other countries afflicted with the urge to privatize the commons. The hazards of ill-advised policy responses in the Eurozone are the subject of “Evictions and Austerity @ the UPR.”
“City-region Food Systems and Sustainable Urbanization” reprints a call for global action by a collective of civil society organizations that are seeking to realize the neglected synergies in the rural-urban continuum and symbiosis that is found in city-region food system. This initiative fuses efforts to address priorities in the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals and the Committee on World Food Security, requiring integrated approaches to land use and administration, but marks a special convergence made possible in the recent World Urban Forum (WUF) held in Medellin, Colombia.
Also at WUF, HIC-HLRN convened civil society actors to reflect on their needs and expectations from the upcoming Habitat III process and 2016 UN-wide conference. The article “HIC’s-pectations from Habitat III” encapsulates that exercise and provides the links to essential background documents for understanding the content and procedural issues that civil society and social movements are advocating in the global housing and urban development policy future.
We dedicate this LT issue question the many contradictions between the standing norms and ongoing practice. In doing so, we also provide some of the answers to what it takes to reconcile them.
Bonne lecture
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