Organisational Components

64. Once the My Home App is fully functional and widely used, the database holding the claims forms and documentation will provide data, which will be fed into the database by the My Home App’s users, on the HLP claims of relevant refugees and IDPs, which in turn can be used to strengthen advocacy efforts in favour of restitution for refugees and IDPs currently unable to access their former homes, lands and properties. In particular, the data, gathered by the My Home App, can be further utilised to strengthen arguments in support of establishing restitution laws and procedures in countries of return by providing a real-time statistical basis evidencing the precise scale of unresolved HLP restitution claims, which will then demonstrate the need for institutional systems that relate to the restitution process.

65. The lack of any substantial engagement by major international agencies on the issue of HLP restitution combined with the growing scale of unresolved restitution claims throughout the world demands that a new restitution agency be established to improve the prospects of those seeking residential justice. A new institution with this mandate would need to be fully independent of any other agency and certainly free of interference from any State or other entity. It would be designed to be practical in orientation and aimed to be a problem solving body. It should be an institution that acts as a clearinghouse of all relevant information on the broad question of restitution. It should provide legal expertise on all restitutionrelated matters and essentially provide a one-stop shop for any questions or queries about restitution in the world.

66. Ideally, beyond carrying out advocacy and legal advice, the WRA should act as the repository for all housing, land and related documentation and unresolved restitution claims organised on a country-by-country basis. It should have a secure, fraud-free and safe system of managing these files and have secure back-ups of all materials stored on separate servers off the physical premises of any eventual headquarters of a new WRA. Initially, the new agency would seek originals or copies of existing restitution files such as those held in the

United States on behalf of the United Nations for Palestinian refugees, HLP restitution case files from Sri Lanka resulting from displacement occurring during the civil war there, case files from Bhutan, and all such files that exist already in various places around the globe.

67. Managing and overseeing the use of the My Home App, combined with data management and analysis will form key functions of the WRA, along with other key functions highlighting all aspects of the restitution question. Overall, it is proposed that the WRA will be comprised of six central units as well as various national liaison functions as things evolve. The six units include: 1. Management; 2. Legal claims and procedures; 3. Documentation and Data

Management; 4. Advocacy; 5. Client Relations and 6. PR/Media. The following organagram displays the key functional groups and their relative hierarchy within the WRA: