TAJIKISTAN: Returnees held up by property disputes

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DUSHANBE, 25 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - Returning from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, where she had lived for eight years, Safargul Davlatova had expected to find the home she used to live in before the civil war in Bokhtar district, in the southern Khatlon region, destroyed. She had prepared to be confronted with a burnt out shell that would need lots of work to make it habitable again, but at least it would be hers.

"But instead, to my utter surprise, I found a new building with white curtains at the windows and a well-groomed kitchen-garden," she told IRIN.

It appears that in 1992, when everybody fled, fearing for their lives and those of their children, her husband's brother sold the house they shared for next to nothing to their neighbour. When she demanded the house back, the new owner showed a receipt for payment and refused to return it.

During the civil war, bitter fighting between militias representing different regions of Tajikistan led to massive destruction and tore the country apart. The conflict and its aftermath resulted in the deaths of over 50,000 people and led to a humanitarian catastrophe, with some 1.2 million people becoming refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs).

The issue of legal ownership of property that changed hands during the war is hampering the return of thousands of refugees and IDPs who fled the conflict. While waiting for their property to be returned to them, perhaps in vain, Davlatova, her husband and three children live in a two-room apartment in a hostel close to the Sakhovat farm market in a Dushanbe suburb.

They chose the place carefully. The two rooms are basic and cheap to rent and the market where Davlatova and her husband, Nizom, run a small produce stall is close by. This has allowed them to buy some of life's necessities.

"We bought two new carpets, a few blankets, dishes," she said, pointing at the inexpensive belongings in the room.

However, life remains at subsistence level. In the corner, corncobs are being boiled on a hand-made electric stove.

"This is for sale," Davlatova explained. "When it is boiled, the children will go out to sell it." The family believes their lives would be easier back in Bokhtar, but without a house to go back to, they are stuck in their miserable existence in the capital.

The family cannot afford to send the children to school, so they sit staring at the walls or help out the parents at the market.

"It is necessary to buy school uniforms, footwear, belongings for them for school," she said. "We are not able to do that."

Latofat Dzhafarova, the judge of Bokhtar, confirmed that the majority of forced migrants, who are trying to return are homeless. He fears disputes over ownership could turn violent unless there is swift action to resolve the problem.

"Many people apply to the court to get back their houses, which were illegally taken away," Dzhafarova said. "But people who sense there is no justice could resort to using weapons, as they did several years ago."

The problem is likely to worsen as more refugees make their way home from neighbouring countries. According to the protection adviser to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Khurshed Junusov, 56 people returned from Turkmenistan in 2004, and 12 have come back from Kyrgyzstan.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Boi Radjabov, said his ministry, along with local law enforcement bodies and UNHCR, were working to help refugees and IDPs get their properties back.

"However, if a house has been sold and a sale and purchase agreement was formalised, we are not able to help them," Radjabov says. "In such a case, the sides should settle the matter on their own or via the court."

Meanwhile, UNHCR said it was offering practical help to returnees where possible.

"We help them to develop and strengthen their farms - we distribute agricultural seeds and cattle," Junusov said. "Some have to accept the reality that they have no house anymore."

In addition to this aid, this year UNHCR started micro-credit assistance through its partners. The returnees receive small credits to develop their farms and start small businesses, according to Idibek Gadoev, a UNHCR field officer. The beneficiaries, mostly women, receive US $100 - $300 dollars at a nominal monthly rate of two or three percent, to develop their farms or start small businesses.

Still, many returnees are saying this help is not enough. Some are calling for government compensation for the houses taken from them.

"Then we could feel good about making a new start in life in our old communities," one homeless returnee from Kyrgyzstan said. The government argues it does not have the resources to be able to offer cash payments of this kind.

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