2.1 This guide addresses major conflicts of sustained violence that result in the death and injury of much of the population, and the massive movement of people from their lands. They may also result in the substantial destruction of infrastructure and the breakdown of government institutions. The effects are severe, partly because the conflicts can last for many years.
2.2 This chapter is oriented towards land tenure and land administration specialists who may be required to provide support on projects, but who have limited direct experience with violent conflicts. It outlines the nature of violent conflicts. It describes the characteristics typically found in a post-conflict setting, and the effects that prolonged violence and extensive displacement may have on a society.
2.3 Most violent conflicts affect poor countries but the relationship between poverty and violence is not straightforward. The causes of violent conflicts are typically complex. Some conflicts are linked to competition for land and other natural resources. Growth in population without increases in productivity, or new opportunities to acquire income from non-agricultural activities, typically results in increased pressure on natural resources. The resulting environmental degradation may cause still greater competition for the remaining natural resources. As access to land is often related to social identity, the rights to land of people may be used in the political exploitation of tension. Where ownership of land is concentrated in the hands of a minority, whether based on class or ethnicity, the demands for land reform may lead to a violent struggle. Tenure issues are essentially political, and tenure relationships are imbedded in, and affected by, class or ethnic relationships. Tenure issues are liable to become politicized, and political issues are liable to become ethnicized.
2.4 Other violent conflicts arise without the scarcity of land and other natural resources being a fundamental cause, although land disputes may become merged with other issues, and different sides in the conflict may attempt to gain control over natural resources such as oil, diamonds and timber in order to finance their activities. A broad factor of many conflicts is the social, economic and political discrimination against groups in society, whether minorities or a majority of the population. Such discrimination can often have an impact on land tenure, e.g. through "ethnic cleansing" in specific areas. Bad governance is another common factor. Challenges to the legitimacy of the state may come from movements seeking independence, or from groups wishing to overturn the government. Grievances may be fed by experiences of arbitrary rule, favouritism, corruption and extortion. Conflict may also be fuelled by external factors such as the instability of a neighbouring country.
2.5 Grievances, even if held by many in a society, seldom lead to violence without mobilization by leaders. Divisions such as ethnicity and religion do not often result in violence by themselves. However, such divisions may be exploited by leaders who are ideologically inspired to address poverty and political injustices, or inspired by greed and the ability to extract wealth out of the conflict. These divisions can come to involve land in cases where social groups are connected to specific areas such as ethnic homelands or home territories.
2.6 The immediate cause of conflict often arises from leaders who are not willing to negotiate a peaceful resolution. The actual causes of the conflict may be far harder to diagnose: a combination of factors is often responsible and it may be difficult or impossible to assess their relative importance. A certain mix of factors might lead to violence in one society but not in another. A situation that has been stable for years may become violent because of a combination of factors such as external interventions, changes in the weather, changes in local leadership, and widening economic disparities. Other changes such as increasing population and migration, and the provision of infrastructure and social facilities such as education, may cause shifts in social consensus. The accumulation of sources of tension arising from such shifts may result in increased conflict between those who benefit from the changes and those who lose.
2.7 As a conflict escalates, it may go beyond the capacity of the leaders to control it. The violence may entrench the divisions in society, hardening the interests and positions of the various groups. Because of the spatial nature of violent conflict and land tenure, it may be difficult to separate the two in terms of cause and conduct of a conflict. Violence may not cease with the resolution of an original grievance; instead, it may continue around newly defined positions.
2.8 For the purposes of this guide, the post-conflict period starts when the main hostilities have ceased to the point that international aid can begin. There is a reasonable degree of security but the situation is not necessarily safe. The transition from intense violence to peaceful recovery typically does not follow a straightforward path. It also does not occur in all parts of the country at the same time. The signing of a peace agreement may signify the end of a conflict but hostility and resentment may continue for months or years at varying levels of intensity. Social tensions may even increase during the post-conflict period. The return of displaced people may provide opportunities to seek revenge and to settle old grievances, and people displaced by the violence may return to find that others have taken their property.
2.9 The post-conflict period is considered to end at the point when basic legal frameworks and land administration institutions exist and there is reasonable capacity within the country for the development of policies. However, the end of a post-conflict period may be as difficult to define as its start, and there is seldom a clearly defined boundary. The process of "peace-building" may go on for a much longer period of time.
2.10 The nature of activities within the post-conflict period will vary according to the extent to which progress is made. Activities can be characterized as having a focus on emergency relief, and on the development and implementation of policy. This categorization is illustrated in Figure 1, and is described in more detail in the following paragraphs. In practice, these groups of activities do not occur in a straightforward process. Instead, they are likely to overlap. Emergency activities such as peace enforcement may be required in some areas of a country while some degree of peace may exist in other areas. As a result, activities related to the development of policy may start unevenly across the country. Likewise, institutions may be established in law before there are the resources and capacity to implement the plans. While there may not be a steady move to normality as suggested by Figure 1, the ability for the development and implementation of policy will depend on the extent to which peace can be maintained. The greater the level of peace, the more likely it will be that policies will be developed and implemented.
FIGURE 1
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2.11 Emergency activities focus on establishing basic governance and providing humanitarian services. They are usually undertaken in the immediate aftermath of conflict and before full-scale mobilization of aid resources has started. During this period, there is often little or no operational governance and rule of law, and extensive destruction of infrastructure. Food security is low. There is usually a high possibility of epidemic diseases and exploitation of the population, particularly vulnerable groups including women and children, the elderly, sick and injured, and ethnic minorities. This period may or may not involve international peace-keeping operations such as disarmament and demobilization of former combatants. An uncertain return to peace or problems surrounding mines and unexploded ordnance may prevent people from returning to their homes and places of work. Land tenure and land administration specialists should play a role in the identification of priorities for land policies. They should also identify short-term actions that can be implemented relatively quickly.
2.12 Activities for the development of policy focus on the planning of necessary administrative and physical infrastructure. They occur when emergency activities are being concluded, and when more concrete plans can be made for the future. Activities may include:
Identification and recruitment of core expert personnel;
Identification of specific policy priorities;
Development of the foundations of government, its institutions and other aspects of its administrative infrastructure;
Development of interim policy guidelines to deal with urgent priorities, and assignment of responsibilities within government for dealing with them;
Development of longer-term policies, recruitment of personnel, and establishment of the administrative infrastructure.
Land policies should be carefully designed to ensure that they do not cause new conflicts. They must take into consideration the existing social, political and economic conditions. Land tenure and land administration specialists may assist in the development of a broad policy framework to address land tenure issues. They should advise on a range of narrower policy decisions that affect access to land through restitution and resettlement.
2.13 Activities for the implementation of policy tend to be concentrated later in the post-conflict period when there is a return to a reasonable degree of political and social stability. In this period interim institutions and their policies can be more carefully defined and established in law. Policy strategies are implemented and a reasonable degree of normal government operations begins. Land administrators should assist in the implementation of policies, e.g. on restitution and resettlement. They should monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of such policies.
2.14 During the post-conflict period, people are likely to change the strategies they use to ensure their livelihoods. A livelihood strategy during the conflict and immediately after its end may focus on agricultural production that results in quick yields, and on access to natural resources such as naturally growing food sources, wild game, firewood and water. A livelihood strategy in a later period may focus on access to land and water closer to transportation networks in order to move produce to the markets. A change in livelihood strategy may also involve migration from rural areas to urban centres. Moving from a crisis strategy to one more appropriate for development may take time. It often results in changes in priorities of people for different types of natural resources and other assets.
2.15 This section provides an overview of characteristics that may exist in a country emerging from a violent conflict. Characteristics related to land tenure are given in Chapter 3. Civil wars are often lengthy, and many conflicts extend for more than a decade. In Lebanon, the civil war lasted for 17 years. Conflict affected Afghanistan for more than two decades, Guatemala for over three decades and Sudan for four decades. Widespread violence over such periods often results in a humanitarian crisis. See Box 1.
2.16 Death and injury. By the time peace breaks out in a country that has suffered a lengthy violent conflict, huge numbers of people are likely to have been affected by death and injury. Over three million people are estimated to have been killed in the conflict of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Those who escape with their lives may suffer injuries from mines or the amputations of limbs. The situation is often characterized by an ongoing fear of violence. Death and injury may be based on ethnic or religious differences. In some conflicts the majority of victims are members of particular groups. In other conflicts atrocities are carried out by all sides.
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BOX 1 Common characteristics of countries emerging from violent conflict include:
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2.17 Hunger and starvation. Severe food shortages typically exist as the conflict disrupts the production and distribution of food supplies. Difficulties in getting access to land, seeds, agricultural implements, livestock and capital in a coordinated way may extend food insecurity, especially in the period when food stocks are low and new crops have not yet been harvested. Chronic hunger weakens people physically and reduces their ability to work.
2.18 Displacement of people. Violence is likely to result in the displacement of a large percentage of the population, either as refugees or Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). In many cases, displacement arises from forced evictions. Large numbers of displaced people may have been forced to settle on land to which they have no legal claim. With prolonged conflicts, displacement may be across generations. The following section describes the displacement and return of people in more detail.
2.19 Negative social and psychological consequences. Many survivors of the conflict may be highly traumatised. Exposure to murder, rape and torture, together with experiences of displacement, separation from friends and family, and loss of employment may result in mental illness and an inability to cope effectively with the task of rebuilding livelihoods after the conflict. Living conditions may create tensions and conflicts, as large numbers of people are forced to live in inadequate space, and as temporary accommodation becomes increasingly permanent. Post-conflict countries often lack the facilities to treat traumatised victims.
2.20 Conflicts typically affect men and women differently. Men are more likely to have been recruited, either voluntarily or forcibly, by one of the opposing forces, and may have been killed or captured. Women will have faced increased responsibility for providing for themselves, their children, and the elderly, but with decreased access to resources. Women and their children typically constitute the majority of displaced persons who are destitute. Women may have faced increased risk of rape, with sexual violence and torture sometimes used as a deliberate tactic by the opposing forces. They may have been assaulted as they fled their villages and in camps established for displaced people. Gang rapes and other attacks may have resulted in serious injury and even death, and in sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Victims of rape may have faced rejection and physical abuse from their own communities. Where males were present, the allocation of responsibilities for tasks outside the home may have given a family a difficult choice: to risk the rape of women if they were caught by opposing forces, or the death of men.
2.21 Children would also have been affected by the conflict. Young boys may have been abducted and forcibly recruited as soldiers. Boys who evaded abduction may have been mistakenly identified as combatants and attacked by opposing forces. Girls may have faced sexual violence, and even abduction to serve as "temporary wives" for combatants. In countries where girls were responsible for collecting firewood and water and for grazing livestock outside the boundaries of secure settlements, they may have been more exposed to risk than older women.
2.22 Changes in values and expectations. Conflicts may result in significant changes in values and expectation of some people. As these changes are not shared by all, or even a majority of the population, the effect may be to increase tensions between groups of people. In a number of conflicts, women in refugee and settlement camps established women’s organizations to improve conditions in the camps. Such change in behaviour of women may have been spontaneous or promoted by international NGOs. Changing the practices of women does not necessarily change the attitudes of men. The empowerment of women during the conflict sometimes resulted in men feeling a loss of power, and particularly in camps where their traditional role of supporting their families was carried out by aid agencies. Women’s organizations created during the conflict may expand their roles and work to improve the political and economic power of women. The continuing empowerment of women following the end of the conflict may be resented and resisted by men who wish for a return to the social conditions and power structures that existed before the conflict.
2.23 Conflicts may also shift power from one generation to another. In many societies age is respected. However, traditional leaders may not have been equipped to cope with the changed circumstances of refugee and settlement camps. Younger people may have adapted more easily and may have had the language skills to communicate directly with international aid workers. Younger people, with more formal education than the elderly, may have also been recruited by NGOs. The increasing status, both politically and economically, of the young may come at the expense of older male members of the community.
2.24 Exposure to conditions in urban areas may reshape behaviours and attitudes. On the one hand, displacement can accelerate the process of urbanization. People moving from rural areas to safer urban settlements may have experienced facilities such as schools, clinics and electricity, and may have been exposed to a greater variety of goods. They may be reluctant to return to rural areas without these facilities. On the other hand, people who return to rural areas may bring with them values and perceptions that prevail in urban centres.
2.25 Destruction of infrastructure and housing. Conflicts typically result in widespread destruction of houses and other property of civilians. In addition, there is often destruction of infrastructure needed for governance, such as transportation facilities (roads, railways, bridges, airports and harbours), communication facilities (radio and television), and physical facilities (offices, courtrooms and archives).
2.26 Limited government capacity. During the conflict, the power of the government to operate in parts of the country may have been limited and even blocked. The reduction of government services may have been most severe in areas of fighting or under the control of opposition forces. A lengthy conflict is likely to have resulted in the reduction in capacity to govern in all areas as financial resources were diverted to support conflict-related activities.
2.27 Following the end of the conflict, governments at the central and local levels may have little or no capacity to manage the process of reconstruction. Major infrastructure and development projects are complex, and problems arise with their planning and management even under stable conditions. Such problems are magnified by the limited capacity typically found in post-conflict settings. Governments may lack the capacity to provide people returning home with food and services such as health care, education, water and sanitation. Government agencies may lack experienced staff at all levels, with officials having fled or been killed. Equipment and buildings of agencies may have been destroyed. There is often a lack of coordination between government agencies, and between government and aid agencies. For example, an area may be targeted to receive electricity or water, but it may be inaccessible because the road network has not been rehabilitated, or it may not have access to needed social services. In addition, the legitimacy of the government may be questioned by people who opposed it during the conflict. Local and national tensions may flare into violence in settings where many people still have firearms, and where the state is unable to resolve disputes by enforcing the rule of law.
2.28 The chaotic conditions may mean that there are significant opportunities for corruption. A lack of accounting procedures may result in widespread theft of money allocated for redevelopment. People who have easy access to the profits of victory may resist attempts to introduce good governance.
2.29 Limited funding. Most post-conflict countries were poor and burdened by debt before their plunge into conflict. An inability to service debt during the conflict further increases the debt-load. As a result, governments at the central and local levels tend to be heavily dependent on the international community. The demand for funding typically exceeds the resources available for recovery and reconstruction. Strategies that are developed are sometimes impractical in light of the limited resources available. Initial estimates of costs have been often only a fraction of what was actually required.
2.30 Limited national "ownership" of recovery plans. The need for international assistance is common for countries emerging from violent conflicts, but the nature and extent of that assistance can vary significantly. In some cases, the pre-conflict government remains in power at the end of the conflict; in other cases, a new national government is formed. In both situations the international community has responded by supporting the government in efforts to rebuild the physical, social, economic, political and administrative infrastructure. In a few cases, the international community has established an authority that has been directly responsible for governance. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Dayton Peace Agreement established the Office of the High Representative to oversee the implementation of the civilian aspects of the agreement. The United Nations Security Council established a mission in Kosovo that had broad law-making powers, and created a transitional administration that had extensive legislative and executive authority in Timor-Leste.
2.31 International interventions are often necessary because of the limited national capacity. At an extreme level neutral authorities imposed by the international community have been instrumental in the elimination of discriminatory policies, laws and practices that might otherwise have remained in effect. However, the existence of international interventions does raise tensions as to whether policies are "nationally-owned" or are driven by outsiders.
2.32 Conflicts result in the massive displacement of people, creating large numbers of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons. Some 75 percent of the population were displaced in Timor-Leste, while up to half the population were displaced in the conflicts of Sierra Leone and Bosnia and Herzegovina, many of them fleeing to neighbouring countries. People were often forcibly evicted. Displaced people frequently had little time to prepare and may have left with few possessions. Once displaced, they may have received contradictory advice from governments, armed forces and aid organizations. Displaced people are often forced to settle on land to which they have no legal claim. Such displacement may be across generations when conflicts last for decades.
2.33 Entire communities may have been forced to relocate to "protected villages" under military control. The forced movement of civilians by governments is provided for under the Geneva Convention in order to give protection against attacks by rebels, but a number of conditions are required, including the provision of food, water and shelter. While the need to protect the population may be used as justification, such relocations have often been carried out as part of a deliberate effort to control areas by depopulating them. At times rebel forces have banned settlements in certain areas in order to remove people from the control of government. Government forces in turn may have taken action against villages suspected of containing rebel troops or sympathizers. Activities of both sides may cause the death of villagers, the destruction of homes and food stocks, and displacement of the survivors.
2.34 There is an important legal distinction between refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Refugees are people who flee their homes for the safety of another country. The legal obligations of countries are defined in the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and its Protocol (1967). IDPs are people who flee from violence but remain within their own country. As such, they are subject to the laws of that country, and may lack the protection of international law. Refugees are often taken care of through well-defined organizational structures while IDPs tend to be beyond the reach of international organizations.
2.35 The return of refugees is usually based on specific arrangements negotiated at the end of the conflict. The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees contains cessation clauses defining when a person would be no longer eligible for refugee status. International law does not define when an IDP rejoins society and decisions may be made on an arbitrary basis. The use of different criteria by various parties may result in a controversy over the number of IDPs, and even whether there is an "IDP problem" in a country.
2.36 An IDP may become a refugee by crossing an international boundary. Conversely, the termination of refugee status following a peace settlement may result in an increase in the number of IDPs if returning refugees are unable to return to their homes. The numbers of refugees, IDPs and former combatants who return at the end of the conflict may be very large, but it may difficult or impossible to know when they return. Many IDPs may have remained anonymous during the conflict due to a fear of persecution, and the spontaneous return of refugees may not show in official statistics.
2.37 Safety is often one of the greatest concerns in areas of continuing tension. Some refugees and IDPs may be reluctant to return to the area from where they were forcibly evicted because of a belief that the situation is not yet stable. In some cases, areas in a country may be classified as safe while conditions are still insecure.
2.38 For many who return, a major concern is the limited ability to enjoy a sustainable livelihood. Employment opportunities are typically scarce, especially in rural areas. Land may not be available for agricultural purposes because of mines, or it may have to be cleared of vegetation that grew while it was abandoned. People may find that they do not have access to food and water, and to services such as education and health care which they experienced in urban areas or in settlement camps. The inability to farm or find other work may cause some people to migrate to urban centres.
2.39 Differences between refugees and IDPs may emerge upon their return. Some programmes have given the return of refugees a higher status even though both refugees and IDPs may have been forced to flee for the same reasons. IDPs may resent the fact that refugees received assistance while they were in another country, and at times they may have even been able to work. IDPs may also resent refugees returning with new and valuable possessions acquired while they were outside the country. Programmes may also distinguish between different categories of refugees, and people who left with one wave of refugees may be treated differently from those who left in a later wave.
