Presented at the Country Learning Exchange held during the 7th GLTN Partners Meeting 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya.

1. Housing, Land and
Property Rights of Yazidis
in Sinjar District, Iraq
Ismael Frioud
GLTN Partners’ Meeting
Nairobi
April 2018

2. Addressing HLP in Sinjar District

3. Housing, Land, and Property Rights of Yazidis Prior to 2014
In total, the inhabitants of 146 villages were
displaced ( = estimated 100,000 people)

4. • Most of Yazidi settlements were
systematically damaged, looted,
or demolished by ISIL fighters.
• Thousands of homes have been
destroyed, burnt, or looted in the
district of Sinjar during the
occupation
Sinjar under ISIL

5. Housing, Land and Property Issues in Sinjar
• Destruction of
properties
• Discriminatory practices
against minorities
• Forced evictions
• Secondary occupations
• Absence or lost of
property documentation
• Overlapping claims
• Transfer of properties
under ISIL
• Land administration
• Informal settlements

6. The approach is based on the continuum of land rights and is
incremental and fit-for-purpose
A) Tenure security
1) Phase 1 - Secure occupancy rights (certificates of occupancy)
2) Phase 2 - Recognition of the Yazidis in Sinjar as a collective
caseload and issuance of land titles in collaboration with the MoJ
and the Council of Ministers
B) Housing stock and land administration
1) Phase 1 - House rehabilitation and mapping of property claims
2) Phase 2 - Support Tapoo rights, land administration, and cadastral
surveys
Approach
The Tools: (phase 1) STDM, KoBo, Satellite images

7. Intervention
A. Community Mobilization and
assessments.
• vulnerability assessment, and preliminary
evaluation of damaged houses
B. Verification of claims
• Alternative documents, validation of
occupancy by communities and local
authorities
C. Mapping of claims
• Plot boundaries are marked on satellite map
and presented to neighbors and local
authorities for their validation.
• The maps are an essential component of
the certificates of occupancy

8. E. STDM
• STDM facilitates the recognition of
informal rights and claims in an area
without an operating official land
administration system and where
tenure is informal.
• It is used in Iraq to link alternative
tenure documents, administrative
and spatial data and it can record
the history of parcels, vectorize
boundaries of plots on satellite maps,
and generate reports and certificates.
D. GeoSpatial Data
• GPS coordinates recording and
mapping

10. F. Delivery of Occupancy Certificate
• The certificates include data on beneficiaries, alternative documents,
photos and map with plot boundaries
• The certificates are signed by beneficiaries, local authorities, the
municipality, two witnesses and UN-Habitat.
• Finally, the certificates and data collected will support the GoI issuing
full titles to people in Sinjar District

11. G. House Rehabilitation
• Technical rehabilitations are conducted through local contractors and
with the direct involvement of returnees as workforce under the
supervision of engineers.

12. Conclusion:
• The approach combining KoBo, STDM, and geospatial data to
support the continuum of land rights has been effective in the
Sinjar District context as no operating official land
administration system exists and tenure is informal
• Housing rehabilitation also offers a good entry point in
communities and facilitate housing, land, and property
response
• The certificate of occupancy is a necessary first step toward the
full recognition of land titles
• Further support to the government is required to complete
phase II, namely support to cadastral surveyors, handover of
the database and data on beneficiaries, and technical support
at the communal/Governorate level to administer land

13. Next step:
• Scaling up the response to close the Yazidi caseload in Sinjar
District (estimated at least 10,000 households to be reached)
• Transforming the certificates of occupancy into full titles. A MoU
with the Ministry of Justice is currently under draft.
 Yazidi caseload approved as a bulk (transfer of STDM and
certificates of occupancy)
 Support cadastral surveyors
• Build the land administration system in Sinjar.
 Training of land offices at the Governorate or District level.
• At the national level, important efforts will be required to record
informal settlements and cases of secondary occupation (STDM)
• Addressing the status of disputed territories and related HLP claims

14. Thank You