Housing, Land and Property (HLP) rights must be protected. The HLP rights of women, men and children affected by the current crisis in Syria are at risk, and the mechanisms to secure them are lacking or disrupted. Groups potentially at risk include the poor (17% of the population), women (50% of the population), children/youth (21% of the population), and internally displaced persons (2 million).
Humanitarian aid should take into account the HLP dimensions of the crisis in order to avoid creating or exacerbating conflicts and putting beneficiaries at risk of being further harmed. Care should be taken to ensure that any emergency relief action does not preclude or militate against access to HLP rights by all affected people in the medium and long-term. Specific priorities for action based on the Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan for Syria are included in this briefing note.
Response to HLP issues faced by affected populations must begin now. Early and effective action is required to ensure HLP issues are incorporated into humanitarian needs assessments, strategy formulation, coordination and response programming. An urgent stock-taking is required to understand and build on pre-crisis urban development and natural resource management plans.