The concept of housing, land and property (HLP) restitution is upheld by international standards of human rights law, primarily related to the human rights to adequate housing, land, the peaceful enjoyment of possessions and non-interference with one’s home. HLP restitution is guaranteed by the obligations of states parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Right to respect, protect and fulfill the human right to adequate housing. It is also the fulfillment of rights to property and corresponding state obligations to ensure the protection of property as guaranteed in customary law such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [Article 17] [AR]. Moreover, HLP restitution relates to civil and political rights such as the process of fulfilling the human right to “effective remedy, notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity” [ICCPR, Article 2.3(a)] .

HLP restitution is a form of entitlement to remedy and reparations [AR] arising from gross violations of human rights and various forms of cost, loss and damage accompanying climate change events, the serious crime of population transfer, especially as a consequence of development projects, conflict, occupation and war, that involve dispossession, destruction and/or displacement.