Property, Human Rights and Land Surveyors

Land surveyors in their capacity as land professional pursue their profession within the context of human rights law and are thus challenged to entrench human rights and human right approaches in their daily professional duties. The aim of this paper is to review the issue of property within international and regional human rights law and to deduct interfaces with the land surveyor’s profession

Engaging the Challenge of Rapid Urbanization and Slum Upgrading and Enhancing the Role of Land Surveyors

This paper aims at understanding the domain of rapid urbanization and slum upgrading. Therefore it collects facts in order to clarify the status quo. The paper highlights relevant aspects, such as development of new forms of spatial planning, modern slum upgrading methods, provision of security to flexible people-land relationships, linking informality and formality and enhancing land and property tax revenue to facilitate urban services. It appears that for all aspects, a role for the land surveying profession can be formulated. This role requires mastering the newest geospatial and non-spatial technologies, and the capability to design and maintain cost effective land information systems, which can deliver relevant services to urban residents and city managers

Post-Conflict Land Administration, Facilitator of Post-Conflict State Building

Land and its administration are always negatively affected during conflicts and in post-conflict contexts. This has been confirmed both in the literature and in practice. This research has shown that if land and its administration are neglected or not properly addressed after the end of a conflict, they can be a cause for a renewed armed conflict and an obstacle in the rebuilding of a post-conflict society. The author’s initial research on the topic revealed that there is a relation between land administration and post-conflict state building. Therefore, the main research objective was to identify which interventions in land administration and under which circumstances facilitate post-conflict state building. In order to achieve the main research objective, a qualitative research approach was applied on two main case studies: Kosovo and Rwanda. Findings from the main case studies were supported with three supportive case studies: Mozambique, Cambodia and Timor-Leste, by collecting data from the literature. Empirical data and literature were used to set the theoretical propositions as: (1) a framework for rebuilding post-conflict states, and (2) interventions in land administration for post-conflict state building. For the final discussions and for the analytical generalisation correlating analyses were performed in a three-dimensional matrix, where the theoretical propositions (1) and (2) formed a skeleton of the matrix and empirical data from the main case studies constitutes the third dimension. The research first derived general findings on land, conflict and post-conflict contexts and, finally, specific findings were presented as in the framework for rebuilding post-conflict states grouped as: institutional weaknesses, economic and social problems, and serious security problems. Main findings from this research lead to conclusion that the identified interventions in land administration can be seen as facilitators of post-conflict state building

Can Land Administration in Post-Conflict Environment Facilitate the Post-Conflict State Building?: a Research Problem

There is a very specific correlation between land and conflict; they meet each other on every point of the cycle of the armed conflict and in the post-conflict period. Although land was identified as a critical gap in international response capacities and the awareness about the vital importance of addressing the housing land and property issues within the context of post-conflict peace building has increased, experiences show that there are only a few cases where land issues were addressed in the post-conflict period, and humanitarian organizations in this period mainly focus on internally displaced persons and refugee’s related issues, and restitution of the situation as it was before the conflict. There is an identified need to ensure that land issues are put on the agenda of the international community and that they are tackled in the peace treaty document or national land policies of the states emerging from conflict. As the goal of a ’land administration process is to support the implementation of land policy using the aspects of land management’, land administration is the appropriate instrument for implementing land related parts of the peace treaty document or national land policies of post-conflict states. Post-conflict period is complex, fluid and enormously difficult. After a war sometimes a new state is formed or the old one is coming out from the conflict. Both need to follow a post-conflict state building process. State-building is defined as purposeful action to build capacity, institutions and legitimacy of the state in relation to an effective political process to negotiate the mutual demands between the state and societal groups. Main characteristics of the post-war society are: institutional weaknesses, economic and social problems, and serious security problems. ‘Land administration in post-conflict environment’ in this research is recognised as land administration performing in peace - normal life conditions - but loaded with the characteristics of the post-conflict environment. Having an overview of the post-conflict situations, the potential of land administration as an instrument for implementing land policies, the concepts of state building and the acknowledged characteristics of war-torn societies, it could be derived that land administration can be seen as one element – facilitator – of the overall process of post-conflict state building. This phenomenon needs in depth and evidence based research

Land Administration an Academic Discipline: To Be or Not to Be

This paper examines the status of land administration as an academic discipline. An evaluation approach for validating areas of study as academic disciplines is described. The approach is then applied to the domain of land administration. The following attributes are found to exist: formal definitions, a common knowledge base, structural elements on university level, graduate programs and students, both academic and professional associations, textbooks, discipline specific lingo, some icons and visible scholars, some researcher self-identification with the discipline, some accepted rules, recurring conferences, and a strong interaction between academia and the field of practice. The following attributes are still found to be wanting: unifying theories, procedures and methods of inquiry, a unique cluster of research problems, a shared vision, recurring journals, and a truly worldwide research community. In summary, at best, land administration represents a discipline in formation. Alternatively, it can be considered an emerging area of interdisciplinary study, however, still primarily based in the areas of land registration (land lawyers) and cadastre (geodesists/surveyors). It is concluded that scholars, including those beyond the traditional fields, and practitioners must work more collaboratively to overcome the areas of weakness. In doing so, the utility of land administration in assisting with the delivery of broader societal goals will be enhanced