SOLLIMS Sampler Special Edition | Page 40

G . TOPIC . Solving Displacement in Timor-Leste : Dialogue Processes & Property Disputes ( 2477 )
Observation .
Not handling Internally Displaced Person ( IDP )/ refugee resettlement appropriately at first may subsequently perpetuate additional conflict , as was the case in Timor-Leste when displaced people from the conflict in 1999 did not return to their place of origin but instead occupied land that did not belong to them . This contributed to social and economic breakdown precipitating another displacement crisis in 2006 . Many displaced people were able to resolve property disputes and return safely , however , due to local reconciliation processes and dialogue teams coordinated by various UN missions , according to a 2014-2015 study on internal displacement by the Brookings Institute .
Discussion .
After the people of Timor-Leste voted for independence from Indonesia in a UNsupervised referendum in 1999 , widespread violence broke out , causing approximately 450,000 people to flee ( 210,000 internally and 240,000 as refugees in West Timor ). Most of these displaced people returned between 1999 and 2002 under the efforts of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ). When IDPs resettle , there are three choices to achieve durable solutions : “ by reintegration at the place of origin ; by local integration at place of refuge ; or by integration in another part of the country ,” ( Derks-Normandin , p . 7 ). In Timor-Leste , most displaced people did not return to their place of origin but instead settled in Dili ( the capital city ). However , most land where they settled did not belong to them . This was complicated by a high degree of informality regarding property ownership , with few people possessing official property titles , and many official documents either being destroyed during the conflict or issued differently from Portuguese colonial administration to Indonesian occupying authority .
Though it was assumed that durable solutions to displacement had been found by the closing of UNHCR operations in 2002 , internal tensions increased within Timor-Leste , even without an external aggressor . After the 1999 returns , competing property claims and uneven access to property and land in the capital city of Dili fueled latent tensions between westerners and easterners ( some dating back to Portuguese colonization ). This was exacerbated by rapid urbanization which the government system , 70 % of whose infrastructure had been demolished by the 1999 violence , was unequipped to handle . In 2006 , there was a break-down in law and order as tensions erupted between the military and the police over discriminatory practices against westerners . The utilization of arson as a protest weapon destroyed myriad homes . By June 2006 , 150,000 people had fled from Dili and approximately 100,000 remained displaced by the beginning of 2008 .
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