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134Security of tenureBox 5.18 Security of tenure-related challenges inoccupied IraqShortly after the US-led occupation of Iraq in 2003, a number of challenges related to securityof tenure were identified, including:• housing, land and property disputes;• illegal and arbitrary forced evictions and displacement without any effective remedies;• homelessness and inadequate housing and living conditions;• housing, land and property registration and titling systems;• unauthorized or irregular occupation of abandoned private and public land, housing andproperty;• inequality facing women in the exercise of housing, land and property rights;• housing and property damage;• pending housing privatization; and• lack of a clear institutional framework and response.Source: Leckie, 2003aSecurity of tenurerights areincreasingly seen asa key area ofconcern in postconflictsettingsSecurity of tenure isa key element forthe integration ofthe urban poorwithin the cityConflict, peace-building and security oftenureSecurity of tenure and related housing, land and propertyrights issues also arise in the contexts of conflict and postconflictpeace-building. Security of tenure rights areincreasingly seen as a key area of concern in post-conflictsettings. In Iraq, for example, a range of such challenges wasidentified in the immediate aftermath of the US-led occupationof the country (see Box 5.18). The situation with respectto most, if not all, of these challenges has worsened since2003. By December 2006, the already disastrous situation inIraq had become far worse, resulting in a housing crisisleading to a massive growth in slums and squatter settlements,with nearly 4 million people facing displacement. 66While the housing and tenure insecurity issues facingthe people of Iraq are particularly severe, these types ofissues occur in most countries engaged in, or emerging from,conflict. Consequently, addressing housing, land andproperty rights challenges in the aftermath of conflict is ofvital importance for reconstruction and peace-buildingefforts. 67 This includes:• attempting to reverse the application of land abandonmentlaws and other arbitrary applications of law;• dealing fairly with secondary occupants of refugee orIDP land or housing;• developing consistent land, housing and property rightspolicies and legislation;• redressing premature land privatization carried outduring conflict;• reversing land sales contracts made under duress;• protecting women’s rights to inherit land; and• ensuring that owners, tenants and informal occupiers ofland are treated equitably. 68The United Nations and other actors have a vital role to playin ensuring that these issues are adequately and comprehensivelyaddressed since security of tenure rights challengesare common to all post-conflict countries and territories, asnoted by the United Nations Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO):Providing secure access to land is an importantpart of dealing with emergency humanitarianneeds, as well as longer-term social andeconomic stability. Secure access to land helpsvictims of conflicts to have a place to live, togrow food and to earn income. Security oftenure, without fear of eviction, allows peopleto rebuild economic and social relationships.More broadly, it allows local regions and thecountry to establish their economies. Itsupports reconciliation and prospects for longtermpeace. 69International peace initiatives, both large and small, increasinglyview these concerns as essential components of thepeace-building process and as an indispensable prerequisitefor the rule of law. Yet, much remains to be done in the areaof developing a comprehensive United Nations policy onthese concerns. 70 As a result, citizens in some countries orterritories have seen their tenure rights taken very seriouslyby peace operations, while in other countries or territories,citizens facing precisely the same tenure predicaments thatface victims of conflict everywhere have seen their securityof tenure rights effectively overlooked.THE GROWINGACCEPTANCE OF THE‘INFORMAL CITY’Perhaps the key trend at both the international and nationallevels is the growing recognition that informal settlementsand the informal or so-called ‘illegal’ city hold the key tofinding ways of conferring security of tenure on all of theworld’s dwellers. While, to a certain degree, due to default –given the massive scale and lack of other options to addressthese massive political challenges – the internationalcommunity has clearly recognized that informal settlementsare here to stay, that they are important sources of employmentand economic growth, and, in fact, that they are likelyto grow in coming years. While the squatter invasions ofunused public land so commonplace during the 1960s and1970s have largely ceased, the existence of informal settlementsis a social phenomenon few are willing to deny.Linked to this, there has been a growing recognition of a‘right to the city’ as one antidote to the neglect showntowards the informal city by policy-makers the world over.There is also growing agreement, on all points of thepolitical spectrum, that secure tenure is a multifunctionalinstrument in everything, from poverty alleviation, throughthe protection of human rights, to the generation of assetsand capital. An emerging consensus that security of tenure isa key element for the integration of the urban poor withinthe city can also be discerned, as can the realization that –given that security of tenure is multidimensional in nature,often varying widely between countries and within