The trouble with Iraq: Lessons from the Field on the development of a property restitution system in “post”-conflict circumstances

Background: In recent Iraqi history, human rights abuses connected to housing, land, and property (HLP) issues are as complex as they are continuous. The background given here provides only an impression of that complexity. While this commentary primarily looks at responses to HLP issues from March 2003, the time of the occupation of Iraq by a coalition of foreign forces, it necessarily draws upon the deeper history of Iraq's human rights abuses. In particular, the last four decades in Iraq have been witness to a series of events involving the death and displacement of many Iraqis and the destruction of their properties. In many cases, these abuses have been caused by Iraqi government actions against its' own people. These abuses flew in the face of Iraq's obligations under international law, in particular the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But there were a number of other specific international instruments that Iraq became party to and then subsequently violated. The instruments that either directly or indirectly enshrine HLP rights include: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Convention on the Rights of the Child Others have suffered too during this period, in particular, Iranians and Kuwaitis