Frankfurt Meeting Discusses Housing Rights for Displaced Syrians

5-6 April 2022  -  Frankfurt, Germany

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) organizes a working group meeting on safeguarding housing, land and property rights of Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons. This event, held on April 5-6, 2022 in Frankfurt, marked the first session of a new working group (WG) focusing on the housing, land, and property (HLP) challenges faced by those in Syrian informal settlements.

The WG, a part of the broader HLP expert network established in 2019, aims to address the acute HLP issues in war-torn Syria. Omar Abdulaziz Hallaj – a Partner at LUGARIT - participated, bringing his expertise to the table. The GIZ HLP II project, under which this WG operates, is dedicated to enhancing the capabilities of Syrian and international organizations in documenting and securing HLP claims for Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

A focus of the meeting was the proposed GIS-based Informal Settlements Observatory, a new approach first introduced at the closing of the HLP I project in Istanbul in July 2021. This observatory is set to play an essential role in monitoring specific HLP violations in informal settlements and across Syria.

This first meeting covered three areas:  the concept and structure of the proposed Informal Settlements Observatory, the nature of HLP violations to be monitored, and the use of collected data for advocacy purposes.  

This gathering brought together a diverse group of Syrian and international experts who have extensively worked on the challenges of informal settlements in Syria. Their collective experience and dedication are expected to contribute significantly to addressing the HLP rights of those displaced in the ongoing conflict. While not all objectives could be fully explored due to time limitations, the meeting laid a strong foundation for future discussions and actions in this critical area.

Header Photo

A woman stands outside her family's cars, now their home. Afrin, Syria.  2018.  Photo © Afshin Ismaeli/SOPA Images/LightRocket - via Getty Images.  Link >

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