The Pinheiro principles
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions
United Nations Pronciples on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons.
This booklet contains the full text of an important new international standard which outlines the rights of refugees and displaced persons to return not only to their countries when they see fit to do so, but to their original homes and lands as well. The Pinheiro Principles are the culmination of more than a decade of international and local activities in support of the emerging right to housing and property restitution as a core remedy to displacement. Though few experiences can be more harrowing than being forced by circumstance or design from onees home, every year many millions of people are left with no other option than fleeing their homes, lands and properties against their will. Whether caused by armed conflict, genocide, ethnic cleansingg or large-scale violations of housing, land and property rights carried out by governments, rebel groups or others, displacement is always nasty, always brutish, but all too rarely is it short. Official statistics now point to more than 12 million refugees worldwide, with an additional 25 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) dispersed in camps, slums and temporary shelters within the borders of their own countries. This group of some 37 million people, however, is only part of the displacement dynamic facing the world today. If we add to this total those forced from their homes by politically-motivated forced evictions, development-induced displacement, natural disasters or other means, the actual number of the worldds displaced is probably closer to 50-60 million, if not considerably more.
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