E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/17
page 15
SECTION VI. THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY,
INCLUDING INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
22. Responsibility of the international community
22.1 The international community should promote and protect the right to housing, land and
property restitution, as well as the right to voluntary return in safety and dignity.
22.2 International financial, trade, development and other related institutions and agencies,
including member or donor States that have voting rights within such bodies, should take fully
into account the prohibition against unlawful or arbitrary displacement and, in particular, the
prohibition under international human rights law and related standards on the practice of forced
evictions.
22.3 International organizations should work with national Governments and share expertise
on the development of national housing, land and property restitution policies and programmes
and help ensure their compatibility with international human rights, refugee and humanitarian
law and related standards. International organizations should also support the monitoring of
their implementation.
22.4 International organizations, including the United Nations, should strive to ensure that
peace agreements and voluntary repatriation agreements contain provisions related to housing,
land and property restitution, including through the establishment of national procedures,
institutions, mechanisms and legal frameworks.
22.5 International peace operations, in pursuing their overall mandate, should help to maintain
a secure and stable environment wherein appropriate housing, land and property restitution
policies and programmes may be successfully implemented and enforced.
22.6 International peace operations, depending on the mission context, should be requested to
support the protection of the right to housing, land and property restitution, including through the
enforcement of restitution decisions and judgements. Members of the Security Council should
consider including this role in the mandate of peace operations.
22.7 International organizations and peace operations should avoid occupying, renting or
purchasing housing, land and property over which the rights holder does not currently have
access or control, and should require that their staff do the same. Similarly, international
organizations and peace operations should ensure that bodies or processes under their control or
supervision do not obstruct, directly or indirectly, the restitution of housing, land and property.
SECTION VII. INTERPRETATION
23. Interpretation
23.1 The Principles on housing and property restitution for refugees and displaced persons
shall not be interpreted as limiting, altering or otherwise prejudicing the rights recognized under
international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law and related standards, or rights
consistent with these laws and standards as recognized under national law.
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