Scott Leckie

Scott Leckie is an international human rights lawyer and the Director and Founder of Displacement Solutions (www.displacementsolutions.org), an organisation dedicated to resolving cases of forced displacement throughout the world, in particular displacement caused by climate change and conflict. Over the past three decades he has established several human rights organizations and institutions. He regularly advises a number of United Nations agencies on housing, land and property rights issues, and has worked on these questions in 82 countries. He was the driving force behind more than 50 international human rights standards, most recently the Peninsula Principles on Climate Displacement Within States. Scott has written or edited 19 books and over 200 articles and reports on issues including land solutions for climate displacement, housing rights, economic, social and cultural rights, forced evictions, the right to housing and property restitution for refugees and internally displaced persons and other human rights themes. He lectures frequently and teaches several human rights courses in various top-ranked Universities around the world, including the world’s first law school course on climate change and displacement at the College of Law of the Australian National University, University of Melbourne Law School and Monash Law.

Present Positions

Scott Leckie is the Founder and Director of Displacement Solutions, a Geneva-based NGO working to assist people who are displaced from their homes due to conflict or climate change.^[1]

Leckie is also Director of Oneness World Foundation, an organisation that identifies practical, peaceful and evolutionary ways to establish a post-nation-state world governed on the basis that all humans are equal citizens of Earth, rather than exclusively citizens of individual nation-states.^[2]

Leckie teaches and has taught annual law school courses on Climate Change and Displacement at the Australian National University College of Law, the University of Melbourne Law School, Monash University and Mahidol University in Bangkok. He has lectured on various human rights issues at various Universities including American University Law School (Washington DC, USA), Columbia University Law School (New York, USA), Erasmus University (Rotterdam, Netherlands), Mahidol University (Bangkok, Thailand), New York University Law School (New York), University of Malta (Valletta), University of Oslo Law School (Oslo, Norway), University of Osaka (Osaka, Japan), University of Sao Paulo (Sao Paulo, Brazil), University of Tulsa Law School (taught in Geneva, Switzerland), Yale Law School (New Haven, USA) and many others.

2010 - 2016

In 2016, he advised the UK Government on programming on land and peace in Myanmar, and also designed plans to develop a Climate Land Bank in Myanmar. In the same year, he established the One House, One Family at a Time project in Bangladesh which accesses international funding to build homes for climate displaced families. In 2015, Scott and Displacement Solutions were awarded one of the prestigious Sasakawa Awards in recognition of work in support of climate-displaced communities. His book, which he co-edited with Prof. Chris Huggins, Repairing Domestic Climate Displacement: The Peninsula Principles was published by Routledge in mid-2015. In addition, he worked on the issue of land acquisition law in Myanmar. In 2014, his book Land Solutions for Climate Displacement was published by Routledge based on field work with climate affected communities in Bangladesh, Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. This work resulted in the first-ever global calculation of the amount of land required to provide new housing and land to people and communities displaced by climate change (12.5-50 million acres globally). Together with internationally-renowned photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen he backed the development of the Where Will We Go Exhibition which documents climate displacement through photographs and films around the world. In 2013, he completed work on a range of publications focusing on the acquisition of land for climate displaced persons and communities, including lengthy report entitled Finding Land Solutions to Climate Displacement: A Challenge Like Few Others. Also in 2013, he coordinated activities leading to the eventual adoption in August 2013 of the world’s first comprehensive normative framework on the rights of climate displaced persons and communities, The Peninsula Principles on Climate Displacement Within States. In 2012, he worked extensively on various housing land and property rights themes in Myanmar, in conjunction with the political reform process underway there. He worked with Presidential advisors looking into land rights queries, and published several groundbreaking reports on HLP themes, including the first-ever analysis of the relationship between land mines and land rights in the country. In addition, he instigated the Coastal Kids Project which puts 10-12 year-old students living along the world's coastlines in touch with each other in the era of rising sea levels. In 2011, he instigated the Bangladesh HLP Initiative that initiated efforts to acquire land to provide new land-based solutions to families and communities displaced in Bangladesh because of climate change. In 2011, together with two colleagues, he edited The Climate Displacement Reader, published by Routledge/Earthscan. In the same year, he taught the world’s first law school course on climate change and displacement at the Australian National University, as well as providing HLP training to communities and government officials in Bangladesh and Kiribati. In 2010, he helped to establish the Bhutanese Refugee Restitution Organisation (BRRO) which seeks restitution and compensation for Bhutan’s 110,000 refugees. During 2010, he completed, with a co-author, the book Housing, Land and Property Rights and Conflict, which was published by Cambridge University Press. He also designed an intensive training programme on housing, land and property rights for communities affected by climate-induced displacement, and led a fact-finding mission to Fiji, Kiribati and Tuvalu to examine the displacement consequences of climate change.

2000 - 2010

During 2010, he completed, with a co-author, the book Housing, Land and Property Rights and Conflict, which was published by Cambridge University Press. He also designed an intensive training programme on housing, land and property rights for communities affected by climate-induced displacement, and led a fact-finding mission to Fiji, Kiribati and Tuvalu to examine the displacement consequences of climate change. In 2009, Mr. Leckie compiled for the first time, the entire legal code of Burma as it relates to housing, land and property rights which resulted in the 1245 page book, jointly authored by Zeke Simperingham, entitled Housing, Land and Property Rights in Burma: The Current Legal Code, now widely seen as the first effort of its type in the country. In the same year, he completed the first practical handbook of its kind designed to assist persons displaced due to climate change to access new homes and lands. In 2008, he assisted the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to develop a policy on HLP Rights in Post-Disaster contexts, and participated in designing the institutional framework for Colombia's housing, land and property restitution programme which aims to provide durable solutions to some 3 million internally displaced persons. Also in 2008, Scott Leckie expanded his work on displacement and climate change, working on these issues concerning the Maldives, Bougainville/Papua New Guinea and the Pacific and in the development of international policy on these themes. In 2007, he was primary author of a report commissioned by the United Nations designed to solve the internal displacement crisis in Timor Leste, called Housing Timor, while in 2006 he was one of the primary authors of the UN's Global Report on Human Settlements. In 2005, he worked in Sri Lanka, Maldives and Thailand on human rights issues in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Also in 2005, he prepared a draft UN Policy on Housing, Land and Property Rights in Post-Conflict Settings, while later in the same year he conceived of and spearheaded efforts leading to the adoption by the United Nations of his initiative which eventually became known as the UN's Pinheiro Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons. In 2004, he developed the idea of National Housing Rights Dialogues as a tool for promoting the enforcement of housing rights in all countries and coordinated the first regional Housing Rights Dialogue, which addressed housing rights in Asia and the Pacific. In 2003 he was invited by the United Nations to Sri Lanka where he prepared, together with one of the country's Supreme Court judges, the design for a Sri Lanka Commission on Land, Housing and Property Rights which was under consideration by the parties until the breakdown of the ceasefire in 2005. Also in 2003, at the request of the UN, he designed the Iraqi Housing, Land and Property Directorate, which was under discussion at the time of the bombing of UN Headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003. In the same year, he drafted a policy on human rights and displacement for British Petroleum (BP), the first such policy considered by a large global corporation. With the support of the OSCE and the World Bank, he developed a legal reform plan in Albania to facilitate the restitution of properties illegally seized during the period of dictatorship and provided legal analysis of the draft Law on Return and Compensation for Property of Former Owners.In 2000, he was requested by the UN Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET) to design a Housing and Property Commission to bring stability and residential justice to the newly emerging nation.

1990 - 1999

In 1999 Leckie prepared a Plan of Action on behalf of UNHCR for the possible return of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Republic of Georgia and South Ossetia, including a draft Law on Housing and Property Restitution of the Republic of Georgia.^[3] In 1999, Leckie designed the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Housing and Property Directorate,^[4] which to date has settled over 29,000 restitution claims in the territory.^[5] He founded the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) and was Executive Director from 1991 to 2007.^[6] He has also worked with the Centre for Human Settlements of the University of British Columbia, the Panos Institute, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM). From 1989 to 1999 he acted as Legal Counsel and United Nations Representative for Habitat International Coalition.

Work with the United Nations

Since 1990, Scott Leckie has worked in expert and high-level advisory capacities with many United Nations and other international agencies, including the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UN Habitat, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), United Nations Operational Project Services (UNOPS), UN Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET), UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In addition, Scott has worked with and advised hundreds of grassroots slum dweller associations, popular movements and non-governmental organisations in Asia, Africa, Australasia, Latin America, North America and Europe. Leckie has also worked closely with several UN rapporteurs for whom he provided research and drafting assistance, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and IDPs (2002-2005), UN Special Rapporteur on Housing Rights (1992-1995) and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1990-1992).

Human Rights Awards

In 2015, Displacement Solutions was nominated and received the Certificate of Merit of the Sasakawa Awards for its path-breaking work on climate displacement. In 2002 during his tenure as Executive Director of COHRE, the organization was awarded the UN Habitat Scroll of Honour Award in recognition of COHRE’s groundbreaking work on housing rights and eviction issues throughout the developing world. In 2004, he initiated the annual COHRE Housing Rights Awards, and also advised the Bodyshop on their annual human rights award. Over his career, he has facilitated the awarding of major grants from numerous donor agencies including the Governments of Canada, Finland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, as well as major foundations and other donors, including the Ford Foundation, Fondation Hoffmann, Misereor and many others.

Selected Publications

He has written or edited more than 200 publications including books, academic articles, book chapters, manuals and other substantive reports. His personal author page on www.amazon.com can be accessed at: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Scott+Leckie&x=0&y=0. His books include:

The United Nations Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons, the Pinheiro Principles: A Commentary (with Khaled Hassine) (2016 - Brill/Nijhoff)

Repairing Domestic Climate Displacement: The Peninsula Principles (with Chris Huggins)(2015 - Routledge)

Land Solutions to Climate Displacement (2014 – Routledge Studies in Development, Displacement and Resettlement)

The Climate Change and Displacement Reader (with Ezekiel Simperingham and Jordan Bakker) (2012 – Routledge)

Conflict and Housing, Land and Property Rights: A Handbook on Issues, Frameworks and Solutions (with Chris Huggins) (2011 – Cambridge University Press)

Housing, Land and Property Rights in Burma: The Current Legal Framework (with Ezekiel Simperingham)(2010 – Displacement Solutions)

Housing, Land, and Property Rights in Post-Conflict United Nations and Other Peace Operations: A Comparative Survey and Proposal for Reform (ed, 2009 – Cambridge University Press)

Housing, Land and Property Restitution Rights of Refugees and Displaced Persons: Laws, Cases and Materials (ed. 2007 – Cambridge University Press)

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Cases and Materials (with Anne Gallagher) (ed 2006 – University of Pennsylvania Press)

Returning Home: Housing and Property Restitution Rights for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (ed, 2003 – Transnational Publishers)

National Perspectives on Housing Rights (ed, 2003 – Foreword by Nelson Mandela – Martinus Nijhoff Publishers)

When Push Comes to Shove: Forced Evictions and Human Rights (1995, Habitat International Coalition)

Destruction by Design: Housing Rights Violations in Tibet (1994, COHRE)

From Housing Needs to Housing Rights: An Analysis of the Right to Adequate Housing Under International Human Rights Law (1992, International Institute for Environment and Development - IIED)¬¬.

He has published numerous academic articles in journals including: Human Rights Quarterly, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Refugee Survey Quarterly, Forced Migration Review, The Ecologist, Third World Planning Review, Environment & Urbanisation, Beyond Law, Whole Earth Review, Cities, Housing, Human Rights Tribune, Habitat Debate, Economic & Social Rights Review, New Academy Review and many others.¬

Guest Editor

Oxford University’s Forced Migration Review (2000)

UNHCR’s Refugee Survey Quarterly (2000)

References

External links

• Displacement Solutions
• Oneness World Foundation
• Centre on Housing Rights And Evictions (COHRE)