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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYProperty Rights are Human Rights‘Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others … .No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.’ 1Property rights must be understood as afundamental human right. 2 The body andmind are the first and most immediateproperty of persons and thus respect for thisproperty is related to the respect of the integrityof the individual. 3 Throughout history the ideaof human rights has developed in close associationwith the idea of private property rights. 4Early defenders of human rights consideredproperty rights as important as freedom of religionand freedom of speech. But the majority ofthe world’s population does not have adequateaccess to secure property rights, and their realisationremains an arena for social and politicalcontestation.Absence of Property Rights andPovertyThe absence or insecurity of property rights is acentral and ubiquitous cause of poverty, not onlyin the very poorest states, but also in middleincomecountries such as Brazil, Russia, Indiaand China. 5 The relationship between absence ofproperty rights and poverty is moving from argumentand anecdote to comparative analysis andmeasurement. Secure property rights facilitateeconomic transactions, ensure efficient and sustainableresource use, allow for the evolution ofeffective credit markets, improve business climateand investment opportunities, and ensure economicaccountability and transparency. Equally,the absence of such rights undermines economicdevelopment and hinders governance. Analysis ofthe World Bank’s Country Performance and InstitutionalAssessment (CPIA) ratings for 2005 indicatesthat on a scale of 1 to 6 (with 1 being thelowest score), only five of 76 developing countriesscored 4 on objective measurement of propertyrights and rule-based governance. 6 As all five aresmall island states, this indication confirms thatproperty rights of the absolute majority of the peoplein developing countries are not protected intheory or practice, contracts are not enforced, andregistries and other institutions required to protectproperty function poorly or not at all. 7Especially Vulnerable GroupsCertain groups are frequently and systematicallydisenfranchised through lack of access to propertyrights in many countries. Women, who constitutehalf of the world’s population, own around10 percent of the world’s property. 8 Virginia Woolfeloquently expressed the long arch of history thathas not only excluded women from property in64