Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2015 The World Bank - Washington DC | March 23-27, 2015 TIMOR-LESTE Shivakumar Srinivas Keith Clifford Bell

 Political Regimes through Centuries  Multiple Tenure Regimes  Forced Displacements, Relocations and Persisting Land Conflicts  Recent Initiatives to Reform Legal Frameworks on Land  Striking the Right Balance Presentation Outline

Socio-Cultural Setting Settlements distributed along ethnic and clan groups Ritually maintained social alliances and authority are critical Social connections define relationship to land (access and entitlements) Origin Groups The first possessors of certain areas maintain authority over land and resources Individual rights over land are allowed but subject to community traditions and practices Communal Lands Form Backbone of Tenure Arrangements in Timor-Leste

Political Regimes through Centuries Pre-colonial times Portuguese administration (1500s to mid-1974) Indonesian administration ( ) Transition administration under U.N. ( ) Independent Timor-Leste (2002 onwards)

 Portuguese colonial era titles  Indonesian titles  U.N. issued permits (all of these lease-type permits expired but their current actual status is unclear)  Customary tenure Different Governments and Multiple Tenure Regimes

Land areas owned or used by multiple members of the community declared as “State property” (usurping communally held native land rights) All lands NOT used for agriculture or housing or with Portuguese titles were deemed as “State property” Portuguese Tenure

Indonesian Occupation ( )  Basic Agrarian Law was implemented and close to 50,000 titles issued (a source of dispute to- date).  “Transmigration program” (moving people from other Indonesian provinces to Timor-Leste).  Focused on “extractive approaches” to land and resource management.  Perpetual “state of conflict” on authority over land areas.

 Portuguese colonial period relocation policy for agricultural projects (coffee, sandalwood)  Displacement by civil war in 1975  Indonesian “transmigration” programs (settlement of Indonesians from other provinces into Timor- Leste) and reshuffling of villages within Timor-Leste ( )  Social unrest and large-scale displacements ( ) Forced Displacements, Relocations

Categories of Tenure Public Private Communal Public Private Communal

Public ownership and use (per Law 1/2003) Lease of state land (per Decree Law 19/2004) Lease of private land or rental (per Law 12/2005 later replaced by Civil Code, 2011) Private ownership and use rights (per Constitution, Civil Code, Indonesian BAL, and recent 2011 decrees) Land use rights (other than property rights) (as per Civil Code and Indonesian BAL) Communal land (per Civil Code, 2011) Informal settlements (per Law 1/2003) Type of Legal Instruments

Persisting Land Conflicts Nature of land rights remains unsettled and unclear Portuguese and Indonesian titles overlap. YET Authority of the “origin groups” continues to function in parallel in land administration. Large-scale land acquisitions threaten customary rights and the authority of the “original groups”. Social upheaval and large-scale displacements in RESULT:

Common issues in post-conflict disputes:  Overlapping rights and claims  Lack of relevant land/Natural Resource Management Policies  Dysfunctional land administration  Land grabbing/encroachment  Calls for fair and adequate compensation (or restitution of rights)  Ambiguous, controversial or unenforceable laws Post-conflict Disputes

Land Dispute Dynamics  Displacement, secondary occupancy, illegitimate sale, lack of transaction records, statutory v. customary law, overlapping titles form past property regimes Limited Land Administration Capacity  Lack of qualified local lawyers, judges, surveyors, registrars, drafters and policy specialists  Land registry still under development  Lack of appropriate legal framework Land Tenure Disputes – The Common Challenges

Lessons Learned Indigenous, communal land rights and tenure arrangements challenge the conception of a modern State. Protection and recognition of communal tenures should be linked to ongoing reforms.

Land Governance Develop a thematic approach to assessing land governance that meets the requirements of Timor-Leste. Link these assessments to broader reforms initiated by the government

Striking the Right Balance Creating an enabling environment for communal lands and customary practices Addressing overlapping and contested land and property claims, especially in urban and peri-urban areas Developing precise guidelines for managing communal lands Setting up regulations and administrative capacity for the proposed Community Protection Zones Identifying and registering community land areas

Recent Initiatives to Reform Legal Frameworks on Land ( ) a pilot initiative financed by USAID Ita Nia Rai (Our Land) Program On-going preparation of the package of three land related Bills (i.e., Land Law, Expropriation law and Real Estate Financial Fund). Land -related Bills Building capacity in land administration services to communal lands (ttechnical assistance and grant financed by the World Bank, ) Protecting and Recognizing Communal Lands

A Socio- political Analysis of Communal Lands in Timor- Leste, A Socio- political Analysis of Communal Lands in Timor- Leste, 2014.

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