Haiti Earthquake Reconstruction Knowledge Notes from ... - GFDRR

42 | Haiti Earthquake Reconstruction
thus, an incentive to defend the landlord’s tenure.
Possession is especially important for the poor and
in some cases, the only tool they have to defend
their rights.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LAND TENURE
PRACTICES IN URBAN AND RURAL
AREAS ARE NOTABLE
Urban Areas. Port-au-Prince and other urban
areas have relatively reliable land survey and cadastre
systems (Plans d’Arpentage) to identify individual
landowners. While land and property titles
are not always held, changes in title are generally
registered in the Plans d’Arpentage. However, extensive
informal settlement in recent decades has
complicated the situation. Where formal land title
systems were inaccessible or inapplicable, informal
systems have arisen—sometimes governed by violence.
Cité Soleil, for example, originally belonged
to a single family; it is now a major slum, with an
essentially parallel informal land tenure system.
Overcrowding in urban areas, especially Port-au-
Prince, will also have to be addressed.
Rural Areas. In the countryside, the process of
Arpentage has increasingly focused on titling and
the settling of disputes. While property is still often
registered (see chart below), conflicting claims
may nevertheless be found (see table below). In
national parks and elsewhere, government-owned
land is used by farmers with no permit or rental
agreement, leading to a lack of incentives to invest
in the land. The high legal costs of transferring
titles and subdividing land have led to the practice
of subdividing inherited plots without titling them,
resulting in disputes among family members. These
conflicts must then be resolved by a local Juge de
Paix.
Gender. Haitian property laws do not discriminate
against women. In practice, however, land held
informally is rarely allocated to or administered
equally by women and men. Customary and other
forms of “informal” tenure may allow women access
to land, but their rights are not equal to those
of men. Furthermore, most property is purchased so
women tend to have less access to land than men.
Without being recognized as heads of households
or included in existing ownership deeds, women
suffer the reclamation of their homes.
REFERENCES
FAO/IBD. 1997. Appui à la définition d’une politique
de reforme agro-foncière: Haiti. Port-au-Prince:
FAO.
Bell, Clifford. Case Study: Indonesia – Reconstruction
of Aceh Land Administration System Project.
Washington, DC: World Bank.
International Recovery Platform. 2009. Gender Issues
in Recovery.
Fan, Lilianne. The Struggle for Land Rights in Post
Tsunami and Post Conflict Aceh, Indonesia. London:
OXFAM.
World Bank. Land Policies and Legal Empowerment
of the Poor Workshop. November 2-3, 2006 in
Washington DC.
Gender Sensitive Guidelines on Implementing
the Tsunami Housing Policy: www.cohre.org/
store/attachments/Gender%20Sensitive%20
Guide%20Booklet.pdf.
NOTES
i
ii
See, How to Rebuild: Environmental and Social
Safeguards Note (pp.66-68).
Ranaivoarisoa, Rija, Andre Teyssier, and Zo Ravelomanantsoa.
2008. La gestion foncière communale
à Madagascar : objectives, processus, et
lignes directives de la reforme foncière. www.
foncier-developpement.org/