The right of displaced persons to property and to return home after Demopoulos

Abstract

This article considers the rights of those displaced by armed conflict to their property and to return home under general international law in light of Demopoulos and Others v Turkey and its impact on subsequent cases. The European Court of Human Rights dismissed the case as inadmissible on the ground that the Immovable Property Commission established by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was an effective domestic remedy that should first have been exhausted. Significantly, the Court concluded that the lapse of time and the political nature of the dispute should influence its decision, and that property restitution is not the only remedy available to those displaced. This article is critical of these conclusions. It emphasises the significance of property restitution and the right to return home and argues that the decision, as evident from post-Demopoulos developments, fundamentally undermines the established rights of the displaced, giving primacy to political realism.