Press Releases

For Immediate Release

The new interim Iraqi constitution provides for property claims and human rights commissions.  Jews around the world continue to fight for and receive restitution for losses inflicted by the Nazi regime throughout Europe.

As the anniversary of the Deir Yassin massacre (9 April) and the commemoration of Nakba Day (15 May) approach, Palestinians await recognition of their right to compensation and restitution for the losses they suffered in 1948.  Why can’t Palestinian refugees have the same rights?  Even the peace plans floated regularly to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict omit human rights and refugee rights, including the right to property restitution or compensation.

Peace agreements throughout the world that prescribe solutions for refugees and displaced persons recognize their right to return and repossess their properties. They include agreements in Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Tajikistan, Georgia, Burundi, Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Cambodia, and Guatemala. 

Institutions to process housing and property claims have been set up in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia and Burundi. Some agreements, including Bosnia and Burundi, also establish compensation funds for refugees not wishing to return and repossess their homes and properties.

Article 58 of the Iraqi interim constitution, developed under the U.S.-led “Coalition Provisional Authority”, asks the transitional government and the Iraqi Property Claims Commission to quickly remedy previous injustices.  These include altering the demographic character of certain regions, deporting and expelling individuals from their places of residence, forcing migration in and out of the region and settling individuals alien to the region.  Remedies include restitution or compensation for losses suffered between 1968 and 2003.

BADIL studies of Bosnia, South Africa and Cyprus underlined: the need for detailed peace agreements that set out expressly the right to return, restitution and compensation; that discriminatory laws and measures enacted during the conflict must be annulled or amended; the central role of mechanisms for enforcement and political support; and the need for financial resources and clarity about who will pay what. 

See the following BADIL publications for more information on restitution and its basis in international law:

• The Right to Housing and Property Restitution in Bosnia and Herzegovina:  A case study, BADIL Working Paper No. 1, April 2003

• The Right to Restitution: Law, Principles, Mechanisms, Comparative Experience and the Palestinian Refugee Case, BADIL Expert Forum.  Working papers and summary of proceedings see this website.