In this report, Counting on Justice, HIC-HLRN and the Social Democratic Forum - Yemen have co-produced the findings and future vision of land restitution in Yemen for those dispossessed of their properties by both the previous regime of Ali Abdalla Salih and the ongoing conflict in Yemen.
This publication is the result of five years of fact gathering, consultation with victims and civil society strategic planning to seek remedy and reparation for those effected. The report introduces the subject of politically motivated land grabbing in Yemen`s historical context and explores emblematic cases in Aden, Ta`iz and al-Hudayda. It goes into depth by quantifying costs, losses and damages subject to remedy within the reparation framework in international law in a representative case in each region.
While reporting the consequences of this dispossessing and poverty-generating aspect of tyrannical governance, armed conflict and state failure, the authors also propose norm-based solutions. This treatment then culminates in a proposal for civil society`s needed contribution to transitional justice aligned with Yemen National Dialogue processes and mechanisms interrupted by conflict. Their proposal reviews the possible types of justice, in general, while outlining a proposal for a future civil-society-led National Land Observatory—beyond the corrupting influences of politics, tribalism, nepotism and military rule.
This detailed, evidence-based analysis and proposal for remedy and restorative justice casts a ray of hope for Yemen amid an otherwise desperate prospect for its future.
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