Who Will Take the Lead on Post-Conflict HLP Issues?1
Scott Leckie
Abstract: Housing, land and property (HLP) rights issues are invariably affected by conflict and
in the various steps to build post-conflict peace. As ubiquitous as they may be as issues of war,
however, HLP rights still do not enjoy the benefits of a lead agency within the UN system which
is willing and able to take coordinating responsibilities for securing these rights within broader
peacebuilding objectives. While considerable progress has been made in terms of programming
and policy, peacebuilding exercises on HLP issues tend to be ad hoc, incomplete and all to often
ineffectual in achieving their avowed aims. This chapter looks at these issues and proposes both
an agency that might be most well-suited within the UN system to be the lead agency for HLP
rights, as well as exploring the basic HLP policy infrastructure that should be in place within all
post-conflict societies.