Papers by Joseph R Schechla
Land Times, issue 32, 2025
Birzeit Working Papers on Displacement and Colonialism No. 01/2024, 2024
Israel's founding military doctrine, expressed in its 1948 Plan Dalet, directs attacks on Indigen... more Israel's founding military doctrine, expressed in its 1948 Plan Dalet, directs attacks on Indigenous civilian Palestinian homes and human settlements that forcibly displace inhabitants into columns and clusters of shelter seekers. Israeli forces often have bombed the displaced persons in flight and/or their places of refuge, including refuges that Israeli military commanders deem 'safe' or 'humanitarian' zones. This article traces the pattern of Israeli forces applying their military doctrine in opportunistic phases, most dramatically manifest in the Nakba and two decades of serial wars against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It presents serial examples that demonstrate how this military doctrine has evolved through various tactics and techniques, geographical scope, scale, intensity, rationale and technologies. While these attributes differ slightly over time, they remain consistent with military doctrine set in Israel's conquest phase (1946-53), institutionalized under a state ideology that aligns Israel's raison d'état with the serious crimes of apartheid, population transfer and, now, genocide, as currently charged before the International Court.
Housing and Land Rights Network, 2020
All states bear human rights obligations that have individual, collective, domestic and extraterr... more All states bear human rights obligations that have individual, collective, domestic and extraterritorial dimensions. Whether these binding duties arise from treaties or peremptory norms, they apply to all organs of the state, including local governments and local authorities. This paper takes this perspective to present the sources and nature of the extraterritorial dimension of these obligations as they apply to the subnational spheres of government. It provides examples of municipalities that have exercised their extraterritorial obligations as examples of how local government can and should uphold human rights beyond their jurisdiction to fill gaps left by central government in doing so.
The ideologies of States are reflected in their human settlement policies. These being powerful i... more The ideologies of States are reflected in their human settlement policies. These being powerful instruments for change, they must not be used to dispossess people from their land or entrench privilege and exploitation." First UN Conference on Housing and Human Settlements (1976) 1 Israel's law, policy and implementing institutions in the housing and land sectors exemplify the common strategies of other colonial and apartheid regimes to eliminate indigenous peoples physically and/or spatially from their habitats and coveted lands by various types of force. Those former systems have involved a composite of acts now classified and prohibited in contemporary law among the most-serious international crimes of apartheid 2 and population transfer. 3 While other examples of apartheid arose from already-recognized states, Israel remains unique in that the tools of apartheid are enshrined in its founding instruments and proto-state institutions. Those predate the proclamation of the State of Israel (SoI) in 1948, the same year as Israel's then close ally, South Africa, formalized apartheid under the Afrikaner ethnic National Party. However, those colonial institutions survive with their original purpose to direct housing and land policy with the tools and objectives that meet the international law definition of apartheid.
Todos necesitamos y utilizamos la tierra. La tierra es indispensable para muchos aspectos de la v... more Todos necesitamos y utilizamos la tierra. La tierra es indispensable para muchos aspectos de la vida humana en este planeta. Además, como cuestión de Estado, la tierra y su administración son factores esenciales en la gobernanza y el orden mundial, así como en contextos específicos de conflicto, construcción de la paz, desarrollo sostenible y derechos humanos. Si bien la tierra es un tema constante de nuestra vida cotidiana, ha figurado de manera destacada en los instrumentos de política global y en las revisiones de la implementación de las obligaciones de los tratados por parte de numerosos Estados. Con su mandato de monitorear e interpretar el Pacto Internacional de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (PIDESC), el Comité de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales de la ONU (CDESC) ha determinado que la tierra es un tema constante en el desempeño periódico de los tratados por parte de los Estados, aunque el PIDESC no menciona la tierra explícitamente.
Este documento formó parte de la contribución de la Red de Derechos a la Vivienda y a la Tierra al desarrollo de la Observación General Nº 26 del CDESC: “La tierra y los derechos económicos, sociales y culturales” (E/C.12/GC/26, 2023).
Housing and Land Rights Network publications, 2024
Following the path of normative development, this reference work tells the story of how the UN le... more Following the path of normative development, this reference work tells the story of how the UN legal and policy bodies have elaborated the expanding standards of housing and land tenure security toward the fulfillment of related human rights to adequate housing, land and sustainable development. It begins with the first UN Conference on Housing and Human Settlements in 1976 and takes the reader through development of the global understanding about tenure rights and dynamics up to 2024.
This review of the evolving norms of law and practice treats both housing and land tenure as defined in international instruments that define the related binding obligations and voluntary commitments of states, as well as their authoritative interpretation, across the UN Human Rights System and Development Systems.
Birzeit Working Papers on Displacement and Colonialism , 2025
Israel's founding military doctrine, expressed in its 1948 Plan Dalet, directs attacks on Indigen... more Israel's founding military doctrine, expressed in its 1948 Plan Dalet, directs attacks on Indigenous civilian Palestinian homes and human settlements that forcibly displace inhabitants into columns and clusters of shelter seekers. Israeli forces often have bombed the displaced persons in flight and/or their places of refuge, including refuges that Israeli military commanders deem 'safe' or 'humanitarian' zones. This article traces the pattern of Israeli forces applying their military doctrine in opportunistic phases, most dramatically manifest in the Nakba and two decades of serial wars against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It presents serial examples that demonstrate how this military doctrine has evolved through various tactics and techniques, geographical scope, scale, intensity, rationale and technologies. While these attributes differ slightly over time, they remain consistent with military doctrine set in Israel's conquest phase (1946-53), institutionalized under a state ideology that aligns Israel's raison d'état with the serious crimes of apartheid, population transfer and, now, genocide, as currently charged before the International Court.
Highlights in Business, Economics and Management
As multinational corporations pursue profits as organizations with significant influence, It is u... more As multinational corporations pursue profits as organizations with significant influence, It is unavoidable that during their development process, they will infringe upon the human rights of the host country. To prevent such violations, certain scholars have suggested that multinational corporations should have human rights obligations in their home countries. This article will analyze whether the home country has a certain obligation to constrain the actions of multinational corporations that violate human rights from international treaties and past cases, and draw on some practical experience to propose suggestions for future development.
ounting Costs, Loss & Damage: Quantifying Impacts of Habitat-related Human Rights Violations amid Environmental Hazards and Climate-change, 2023
On the occasion of World Habitat Day 2023, this report delves into cases entered in HLRN’s Violat... more On the occasion of World Habitat Day 2023, this report delves into cases entered in HLRN’s Violation Database (VDB)of housing and land rights violations reported in the 2022 report, "In Pursuit of Climate Justice," to focus on the efforts at quantifying their impacts.
The paper's preface reviews the most-recent norms developed in environmental, human rights and criminal law, including emerging recognition of ecocide and domicide. The body of the report presents cases that exemplify the pursuit of needed quantification data toward remedy and reparation for housing, land and other human rights deprivation associated with a variety of contexts. These involve:
Conflict, occupation and war in Ukraine (Kakhovka Dam case); Cross-border issues (Desiccating Iraq); Development-induced displacement (the East African Crude Oil Pipeline—EACOP); Discrimination/environmental racism (Bainsiria village, Odisha, India); Governance failure (Pakistan’s superfloods and Brazil’s Petrópolis landslides); Extractivism/megaprojects (Keystone Pipeline spills across North America); and Urbanization (Bengaluru flooding). The lessons learned from this review are culled in the report’s Conclusion, with Recommendations for practice going forward, including of the new Loss and Damage Fund established at CoP28 in 2023.
Pursuit of Climate Justice: Housing and Land Rights Violations amid Environmental Hazards and Climate-change, 2022
This report, based on data from HLRN’s Violation Database (VDB), takes a human rights-based appro... more This report, based on data from HLRN’s Violation Database (VDB), takes a human rights-based approach to violations of adequate housing land and other habitat-related human rights in the context of environmental hazards and climate change. Based on VDB entries spanning more than a century, each instance explores the root causes and consequences of loss, cost and damage resulting from human activity.
Taking a human rights approach, this report seeks to identify the scope of impacts and the public, private and/or corporate responsibility for the remedies and reparation to which victims and affected persons are entitled. The collection of cases gives rise to a pattern of 13 causes/contexts for monitors, duty bearers and human rights defenders to consider.
1. Conflict situations
2. Cross-border effects
3. Development-induced displacement
4. Environmental racism/discrimination
5. Extractivism
6. Governance
7. Industrial pollution/contamination
8. Large-scale agriculture/livestock farming
9. Megaprojects
10. Neglect
11. Tourism
12. Urbanization
13. Other human factors
Out of these categories also emerges one overarching pattern, whereby the persons subject to these violations in the context of environmental hazard and climate change are most often the most vulnerable among us. The many lessons contained in the report on World Habitat Day give occasion also to numerous recommendations for duty holders to prevent and remedy the devastating events accompanying environmental destruction and climate change, which promise to become even costlier and more frequent.
Egypt in 2030 the Global Development Agenda Lens
AWG Publishing, 2015
Putting Human Rights Back on the Map of Palestine
the arab world geographer, 2011
The Routledge Handbook on Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations, 2021
Prospects for the Arab City Facing the Multiple Challenge of War, Conflict, Social Cohesion and the Fulfillment of Human Rights
por.habitants.org
... Mixed with these physical changes in cities is the escalating challenge of social cohesion. W... more ... Mixed with these physical changes in cities is the escalating challenge of social cohesion. With the region as a transcontinental crossroads, conflict, instability and unequal distribution ofresources within the ESCWA region and in adjacent regions have generated human waves. ...
'Jewish Nationality,' 'National Institutions' and Institutionalized Dispossession
badil.org
What is 'Jewish nationality' and what does it mean for Palestinian refugees, IDPs and Palestinian... more What is 'Jewish nationality' and what does it mean for Palestinian refugees, IDPs and Palestinians still remaining in their homes an...
Bosnia and Palestine: So Close, and Yet So Far
badil.org
... As early as 1997, reports of Palestinian negotiations with Israel&amp... more ... As early as 1997, reports of Palestinian negotiations with Israel's former Foreign Minister Shimon Peres have left his Palestinian negotiating counterpart Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) indelibly on record as agreeing to limit the right of return even for 1967 refugees.( 49 ). ...
Middle East Policy, 1992
Mr. Schechla, a Washington-based human rights consultant and advisor with the Settlement Watch pr... more Mr. Schechla, a Washington-based human rights consultant and advisor with the Settlement Watch project on Israeli land policies, was the founding editor of the journal Without Prejudice (1988-91). he current negotiations for peace between Israel and its neighbors are squarely focused on land and 'Walid Khalidi, ed., All That Remains (Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992). *Of this number, 65 have local councils; 5 are municipalities (Shafa Amr, Nazareth, Umm El Fahem, Tira, Kafr Qasem and Taibah); 27 are without local councils, but have local community authorities; the rest are within "mixed" communities. 'So far, only a fraction of these orders have been carried out.
A righteous inconsistency: Applying international norms to population transfer in Bosnia and Palestine
Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies, 1998
Everybody needs and uses land. Land is indispensable to many aspects of human life on this planet... more Everybody needs and uses land. Land is indispensable to many aspects of human life on this planet. Moreover, as a matter of state, land and land administration are essential factors in governance and world order, as well as specific contexts of conflict, peace building, sustainable development and human rights. While land is a constant subject of our daily lives, it has figured prominently in global policy instruments and the reviews of numerous states' implementation of treaty obligations. With its mandate to monitor and interpret the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has found land to be a constant subject of states' periodic treaty performance, although ICESCR does not mention land explicitly.
This paper formed part of the Housing and Land Rights Network’s input to the development of CESCR’s General Comment No. 26: “Land and economic, social and cultural rights” (E/C.12/GC/26, 2023).
This paper traces the concept of security of tenure, as established in the first UN Habitat Forum... more This paper traces the concept of security of tenure, as established in the first UN Habitat Forum in 1976, through its development in human rights methodology and Habitat II commitments. It concludes with an inventory of established norms as a minimum basis for commitments to be adapted in the new Habitat Agenda (2017-36) at Habitat III (Quito, Ecuador, 2016).
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Papers by Joseph R Schechla
Este documento formó parte de la contribución de la Red de Derechos a la Vivienda y a la Tierra al desarrollo de la Observación General Nº 26 del CDESC: “La tierra y los derechos económicos, sociales y culturales” (E/C.12/GC/26, 2023).
This review of the evolving norms of law and practice treats both housing and land tenure as defined in international instruments that define the related binding obligations and voluntary commitments of states, as well as their authoritative interpretation, across the UN Human Rights System and Development Systems.
The paper's preface reviews the most-recent norms developed in environmental, human rights and criminal law, including emerging recognition of ecocide and domicide. The body of the report presents cases that exemplify the pursuit of needed quantification data toward remedy and reparation for housing, land and other human rights deprivation associated with a variety of contexts. These involve:
Conflict, occupation and war in Ukraine (Kakhovka Dam case); Cross-border issues (Desiccating Iraq); Development-induced displacement (the East African Crude Oil Pipeline—EACOP); Discrimination/environmental racism (Bainsiria village, Odisha, India); Governance failure (Pakistan’s superfloods and Brazil’s Petrópolis landslides); Extractivism/megaprojects (Keystone Pipeline spills across North America); and Urbanization (Bengaluru flooding). The lessons learned from this review are culled in the report’s Conclusion, with Recommendations for practice going forward, including of the new Loss and Damage Fund established at CoP28 in 2023.
Taking a human rights approach, this report seeks to identify the scope of impacts and the public, private and/or corporate responsibility for the remedies and reparation to which victims and affected persons are entitled. The collection of cases gives rise to a pattern of 13 causes/contexts for monitors, duty bearers and human rights defenders to consider.
1. Conflict situations
2. Cross-border effects
3. Development-induced displacement
4. Environmental racism/discrimination
5. Extractivism
6. Governance
7. Industrial pollution/contamination
8. Large-scale agriculture/livestock farming
9. Megaprojects
10. Neglect
11. Tourism
12. Urbanization
13. Other human factors
Out of these categories also emerges one overarching pattern, whereby the persons subject to these violations in the context of environmental hazard and climate change are most often the most vulnerable among us. The many lessons contained in the report on World Habitat Day give occasion also to numerous recommendations for duty holders to prevent and remedy the devastating events accompanying environmental destruction and climate change, which promise to become even costlier and more frequent.
This paper formed part of the Housing and Land Rights Network’s input to the development of CESCR’s General Comment No. 26: “Land and economic, social and cultural rights” (E/C.12/GC/26, 2023).