The My Home App

57. The World Restitution Agency’s national focus would include its staff directly capturing restitution data from displaced persons and government agencies. The data collection would assist in identifying the severity of restitution issues and the consequential impact on the legal system. Overall, the data would provide the underlying logic for a holistic approach on what the requisite advocacy approach should be. Pursuant to the Pinheiro Principles, the

World Restitution Agency would disseminate the insights gained from the data collection through releasing reports underpinned by rigorous data analysis, conducting advocacy, and providing best practice recommendations.

58. A novel feature of the WRA is that it would provide meaningful and relevant best practice recommendations and expertise on how to develop national housing, land and property restitution rights and mechanisms. This would occur through its data collection and advanced data analysis capabilities. Collection of data and provision of information would occur directly with everyone throughout the world who had what they felt to be an unresolved restitution claim. A mobile application - the My Home App - would collect relevant restitution data directly from claimants through their individual or family use of the

App. Similarly, a national government liaison would be identified in all states from where claims stemmed who would also collect data from various State agencies and databases.

The collected data from both States and claimants would be stored in a single database, which would allow the WRA to conduct meaningful research and gain valuable insights in the validity of claims. Insight capabilities will increase over time through the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence models. Such models could identify the principal drivers that relate to restitution claims in order to predict where restitution could be a significant issue and how large restitution issues could be.

59. Any new WRA would host, manage and promote the use of the My Home App. This App would enable refugees and IDPs everywhere to create their own case files for what they subjectively see as unresolved HLP restitution claims and to formulate their own individual/ family claims on HLP resources they left behind in their places of origin. In using the App, the user will be presented with a list of questions concerning their HLP circumstances at the time of flight and be asked to accurately answer these questions. Once this HLP data is placed into the App, a case number will be created that will be unique to the person/family submitting the claim, and the user will create a unique password enabling them to save their data and complete the questions at a later time or to revise the data inputted. The App will enable users to upload any documentary evidence they may have proving their HLP claims (title deeds, purchase contracts, cadastral records, tax receipts, photographs, neighbour witness statements, street address, land size, etc). Once all relevant data has been submitted, the

App will then store the information in a secure/non-public database, managed by a still to be determined international organisation. The user’s specific information can be retrieved, as a report or in relation to the individual files uploaded, and edited, and/or revised by the user at any time. Under management by the WRA, users will agree to have their HLP claims sent to any eventual restitution procedure determined by the donor to be credible and trustworthy.

60. In order to achieve the App’s important objectives, a range of structural assumptions must inform the design of the App. In particular, the App must be free of charge for all users. The

App must also not have paid premium features. The App must also be available globally.

This will include hosting the App outside of the Google Play store (Google’s official mobile application library for the Android mobile operating system) and the iOS App Store (Apple’s official mobile application library for the iPhone). The App must be easy-to-use and user friendly for all eventual users. Language used in the claims form will need to be simple, clear and easy to understand. Measures will need to be taken to ensure that the App can be used by persons who have limited reading and writing abilities. Measures will need to be taken to translate the App from English as soon as possible into all other UN languages, beginning with Arabic given that a majority of the world’s displaced populations stem from

Arabic-speaking countries. Overall, the objective of the App is to have a user-centered design which will enable each claim/form to be delivered from the perspective of the user – simultaneously delivering a human rights centred approach. The App must be accessible for all users, be without bias, and present questions in a manner which does not discriminate by accounting for the manner that different cultures interpret language uniquely. It must be equally accessible to men and women, people of all ages, and people of all groups as defined under international law. There must be no discrimination of any sort allowed through the use of the App. The App must be universal in nature and accessible to all refugees and

IDPs wherever they are anywhere in the world. The basic premise of the App design must be global access for all refugees and IDPs who wish to file an HLP claim. Data management of the files submitted will allow the relevant organisation to organise the files into various formats, eg. country-by-country, office-by-office and camp-by-camp. The App must allow all users continual access to their claim file to enable the user to input changes or amendments to the file. Users will not, therefore, be expected necessarily to complete all questions on the claim form the first time they use the App.

61. The users of the App will need to be certain that the App is both secure and protected by the highest quality digital protections available. This will be a major priority of the WRA. While the data placed within the App will be secure and protected, general data will be extracted with a view to: (a) Generating a GIS-based map indicating the location of all claims; (b)

Building statistical databases generating information of the total number of claims, types of claims, etc; (c) Information indicating which HLP resources are subject to more than one claim from different claimants; and (d) a table listing all individual claims. As noted, the App will enable refugees and IDPs across the globe to create a unique housing, land and property claim against the HLP resources they left behind in their places of origin. Once accessed, the user will be able to generate a case file number and then be able to complete the detailed claims form which will constitute the main aspect of the App. The App Icon will be able to be downloaded free from a yet to be determined App provider Google Play store (Google’s official mobile application library for the Android mobile operating system) and the iOS App

Store (Apple’s official mobile application library for the iPhone) and from the WRA website(s).

The icon will require a logo to be developed during later phases of this project and the words

My Home will appear within, or under, the logo as an App on Smartphones.

62. The WRA would manage the database into which these files were created and held and thus provide a platform for any future restitution programmes in the countries from where the unresolved restitution claims stem. While the presentation of HLP data by refugees and

Android / iOS Mobile Application

Web Application

Central Database

Central Database Android / iOS Mobile Application

UN Portal

Web Application

IDPs seeking to return is no guarantee that they will actually be able to return and exercise their restitution rights (this will be highlighted to users of the App), the creation of such case files and the input of data into a database can serve a range of important purposes all of which serve to strengthen the mandate of prospective donors in protecting the rights of refugees and IDPs across the world. These would include everything from constituting a valuable trove of information to supplement other ongoing refugee and IDP registration and other activities relevant to any eventual restitution process or procedure (including to any adjudicating body that may be established for these purposes) to enabling the creation of digital maps showing all HLP claims in a given geographical area, and which will indicate whether there are any competing claims that may exist over a single HLP resource. Current practice by humanitarian actors still insufficiently includes the acquisition of data on housing, land or property losses, and support by the international community towards these ends and the eventual management and ownership of these processes by the appropriate institution will all benefit the pursuit of key humanitarian and human rights objectives. Accessing this information once refugees and/or IDP’s disperse from emergency camps is often difficult, expensive and often unreliable. The major impact of collecting the information immediately will be in the ability of appropriate institutions to initiate restitution, compensation or resettlement programming far more quickly than current practice allows. Finally, providing access to such an App can give psychological assurances to refugee and IDP families that the international community is concerned about, and recording individual HLP losses and that these institutions support their right to recover their original homes, land and properties. The App must be legally owned, managed, updated, and controlled by the WRA. To meet these objectives, the WRA will need to: Heavily disseminate, publicise, and market the availability of the App to all refugees and IDPs; Provide support and training to field offices and officials to broaden awareness of the App and how to use it; Generally manage all of the technical aspects of the App, in particular the databases in which all of the information gained throughout the use of the App will be stored and managed; and To encourage other refugee support organisations to incorporate the App in various aspects of their work together with and on behalf of refugees and IDPs.

63. The My Home App will create an improved protection environment by strengthening the ability of refugees and IDPs to exercise their HLP restitution rights under international law, and by supporting and promoting the establishment of restitution programmes in countries of return. Once developed, the My Home App will be supported by a website providing comprehensive information on all aspects of HLP rights and other protection matters as they relate to refugees and IDPs, including a detailed FAQ document assisting claimants with the process. By providing the technology through which refugees and IDPs can self-report, selfclaim and self-formulate HLP claims which are registered in a-managed database, the App will result in the empowerment of refugees and IDPs to exercise their HLP restitution rights and give them a degree of agency over the eventual enforcement of those rights. The My

Home App will provide users with a detailed questionnaire about their HLP restitution claim, in their language, that the user will answer. A unique case file and case number, accessible with a unique password, will then be generated. The My Home App will also enable users to upload any documentary evidence they may have supporting their HLP claims (title deeds, purchase contracts, cadastral records, tax receipts, photographs, neighbour witness statements, street address, land size, etc). The refugee/IDP user’s specific information will be able to be retrieved by the user at any time, updated and edited on the My Home

App. The contents of the HLP restitution claim would then be placed within managed refugee registration databases. The database will self-generate a geographic information system mapping of all claims providing an invaluable source of analysed, meaningful data concerning restitution, compensation and potential HLP disputes. The My Home App would be globally relevant, but will initially be field-tested with refugee communities in still to be determined field location. If and when a restitution process gets underway in the country of return, the information contained in these claims can form the basis of a more formal restitution claim as the data gathered by the My Home App will be evidentiary in nature.

The database will also assist advocacy efforts supporting the establishment of restitution programmes.

The database will be linked to data visualization software such as Tableau or Power BI, to enable continuously updated infographics, an automated alerts system, and live data feeds for all WRA staff.

Data driven analysis will strengthen advocacy efforts, restitution claims, and programming.

Customisable user defined data requests will enable WRA to ascertain specific insights from the data at will. The data will be stored in SQL to enable the greatest amount of support and flexibility.

Locations monitored