Post-Conflict Reparation, Restitution and Human Rights — Where to Head from Here?
| Date | 01 March 2009 |
| Published date | 01 March 2009 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410902700101 |
| Subject Matter | Column |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 27/1, 3–7, 2009.
© Netherlands I nstitute of Human Ri ghts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands. 3
COLUMN
POsT-COnflICT RePaRaTIOn,
ResTITuTIOn and Human RIgHTs –
WHeRe TO Head fROm HeRe?*
ree excellent art icles within this volume of NQHR address several of the pert inent
themes surrounding the question of restitut ion and reparation following conict.
A common thread run ning through each of t hese pieces – beyond the descriptions
of t he various trials and tribulat ions the restitution concept has faced through the
years – centres on what can perhaps best be characterised as restitution’s weakest
link. Recognising the various manifest ations of restitution and reparation as rights,
even if we are only par t of t he way t here, may tu rn out to have been the easy part
of the process when the f ull history of restitution is nally writ ten. Achieving t hese
rights in practice, on the other hand, presents human rights pract itioners of all i lk’s
– lawyers, researchers, UN ocials, advocates, community organisers, academics
and others – wit h some of the most daunting tasks a nywhere within the increasi ngly
vast human rights doma in.
For with the promise of restitution we i mplicitly demand not merely assurances
that past acts of extreme injustice will not occur again, but also that that most dicult
task of turning back the clock of a buse and cruelty to a time and place where peace
and relative ca lm prevai led can be made rea l. With reparations we seek to repair
the damage done, but usual ly in a limited way, o en throug h compensation and
admissions of accountability. With restitution, we seek something more than that; here
we strive to create conditions whereby past acts are in eect reversed leading ideally to
a situation w here the tragic month s, years, and even decades of forced d isplacement
are legally and prac tically made null and void. Rest itution oers the promise that the
wrong done will not be allowed to sta nd. It tells those planning to ‘ethnical ly cleanse’
an area, those who are intent on forcibly removing people and populations from their
places of historic residence, t hat you will not prevail, you w ill not get away with your
crimes, you wil l not be allowed to take what is not rightful ly yours.
us we have the loy pri nciple that if a buse, extreme injust ice, an illega l act or
a crime that caused the forced displacement of a per son, family or community, these
* Scott Le ckie is the Founder and Director of Dis placement Solutions (www.displacementsolution s.
org), an organis ation dedicated to resolvi ng cases of forced displac ement throughout the world. He
is also Founder and Spec ial Advisor to the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), an
organisation he he aded from 1991–2007.
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