World Refugee Day: Why Secure Land Rights Must Be at the Center of Return and Reintegration

Each year, on World Refugee Day, we pause not only to honour the strength and resilience of forcibly displaced persons across the globe, but to recommit to their right to a future rooted in dignity, opportunity, and belonging. While the humanitarian response often focuses on emergency aid, protection, and basic services, one foundational issue continues to demand greater global attention: The right to land.

A Burundian family that returned from Tanzania stands outside the home they built using UNHCR return assistance. With their grant, they independently purchased land and began rebuilding their lives — a powerful reminder that secure land access is not just a resource, but a right that underpins dignity, self-reliance, and long-term reintegration. (Photo: Jamal Browne)

Land is more than territory. It is the space where we build homes, grow food, access livelihoods, and anchor our identity. Refugees and returnees are no exception, and for them, secure access to land is a cornerstone of sustainable reintegration — and a precondition for achieving lasting peace, resilience, and self-reliance.

Objective 4 of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) speaks to the imperative of supporting conditions in countries of origin that enable voluntary return in safety and dignity. It recognises that the path to durable solutions does not end at the border, but must include structural interventions — among them land and property restitution, access to housing, and legal frameworks that safeguard tenure rights for returnees.

These principles are not merely aspirational. They are essential. Without secure access to land, returnees face new cycles of displacement, marginalization, and poverty. Land conflicts — particularly in post-conflict or post-disaster settings — can reignite tensions, weaken social cohesion, and undermine development gains.

The experience of the 2021 Joint Refugee Return and Reintegration Plan (JRRRP) for Burundian refugees, which supported their return from countries like Tanzania and Rwanda, offers some invaluable lessons. This multi-year, multi-agency initiative — co-led by UNHCR and national governments — placed land and housing access at the heart of its strategy. Recognizing that return without land is return to vulnerability, the JRRRP prioritized legal documentation, land dispute resolution mechanisms, and investments in local governance systems.

Notably, international NGOs such as ZOA played a pivotal role. In collaboration with local governments and community actors, ZOA worked to ensure that returnees had not just theoretical access to land, but documented, recognised, and enforceable land rights.

Burundian returnees gather outside homes they built on land purchased using UNHCR return assistance. With limited resources but strong determination, they transformed their return packages into permanent housing — a testament to the power of land rights in enabling dignity, security, and sustainable reintegration after displacement. (Photo: Jamal Browne)

Through a comprehensive land certification approach in priority areas of return, ZOA helped thousands of returnees — including women-headed households and youth — gain formal land tenure. Their model emphasized participatory mapping, community sensitization, and the integration of customary and statutory tenure systems.

These efforts helped reduce land disputes, increase agricultural productivity, and build trust among returnee and host populations. Such initiatives however remain underfunded and under-scaled.

As donor fatigue sets in and humanitarian funding continues to decline — particularly from major contributors such as the United States — there is growing urgency to rethink how we mobilise and sustain resources for land tenure work in displacement contexts. The private sector, especially multinational corporations with global footprints and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) commitments, has a vital role to play.

Corporate actors increasingly recognize that insecure land tenure is not only a development barrier but a reputational and operational risk. Land-related disputes can delay infrastructure projects, expose companies to human rights violations, and undermine social license to operate. Conversely, supporting land rights initiatives can advance a range of ESG goals — from gender inclusion and climate resilience to peace-building and food security.

At LPN Global, we believe that bridging the land tenure gap for refugees and returnees requires bold, coordinated, and multi-sectoral action. Our work as a digital media and strategic communications platform is rooted in coordinated visibility: shining a light on local land issues, community innovations, and policy breakthroughs that often go unnoticed on the global stage.

Our commitment is to serve as a bridge — between data and action, between communities and decision-makers, between field realities and global policy. We envision a world where no refugee is forced to choose between return and security — because land rights are not protected. Where governments, humanitarian actors, and the private sector co-invest in pathways that dignify return and empower communities.

Land is not charity. It is justice. It is a returnee’s right. So in commemoration of World Refugee Day 2025, we raise our voices in solidarity with refugees everywhere. For until every displaced person opting to return to their country of origin is safe, settled, and secure — our work is not done.