1. Confirms that all those displaced have the right to return voluntarily in safety and dignity, as established in international human rights law;

2. Also confirms that all displaced persons have a right to return to their original homes or places of habitual residence or to settle voluntarily elsewhere; where authorities send displaced persons to a place other than their habitual residence, this does not affect their right to return to their place of habitual residence, nor their right to restitution or compensation or both;

3. Reaffirms that all those displaced have the right to adequate housing and property restitution or, should this not be possible, appropriate compensation or another form of just reparation, and the particular importance of these rights for displaced persons wishing to return to their original homes or places of habitual residence;

4. Urges all parties to peace agreements and voluntary repatriation agreements to include implementation of the right to return in safety and dignity, as well as housing and property restitution rights, consistent with the requirements of international law, in all such agreements;

5. Confirms that the exercise of the right to return is voluntary and not conditional upon permission or approval; if documentation of any sort is necessary, returnees are entitled to such documentation as of right and free of cost;

6. Reminds States of the right of all displaced persons to participate in the return and restitution process and in the development of the procedures and mechanisms put in place to protect these rights;

7. Urges all States to guarantee the free and fair exercise of the right to return to one's home or place of habitual residence by all displaced persons and to establish an enabling framework to enable return to take place in conditions of physical, legal and material safety and to restore full national protection of returning displaced persons; in this context, States are urged to take measures to ensure the physical safety of returnees; to remove legal and administrative barriers to return and to provide other legal guarantees for returnees; and to ensure non-discriminatory access to means of survival and basic services;

8. Confirms that the obligation of the State to assist the right of return includes an obligation, without which the right to return cannot be fulfilled, to make good any damage for which the authorities are responsible, including the obligation to restore the infrastructure, including water, sanitation, electricity, gas, roads and land, where it has been damaged or destroyed; in particular, States shall not charge returning displaced persons with the costs for services consumed by those who were temporarily accommodated in the displaced persons' homes;

10. Reminds States of the need to ensure, in implementing the right to return, that measures are taken to address the special needs of women and children, including effective and equitable access to means of survival and basic services, including education, and the effective implementation of the right of women to full equality with respect to housing and property restitution, in particular in terms of access, control, ownership, possessory and inheritance rights;

11. Confirms that where displaced persons voluntarily settle elsewhere, this does not affect their right to return to their home or place of habitual residence, nor their right to housing and property restitution or, should this not be possible, just compensation or other form of just reparation;

12. Recognizes that displaced persons may choose voluntarily to exchange their property rights over their original homes or places of habitual residence for the same or similar rights over another property or undertake other possible transactions, on condition that such decisions are knowingly and voluntarily taken;

13. Also recognizes that property restitution processes are only effective if the rights of occupants of displaced persons' houses, who themselves are equally affected by displacement and in need of accommodation, are protected, and urges States to provide adequate alternative accommodation; where secondary occupants have no place to return to, States are encouraged to provide affordable social housing;

14. Urges States where secondary occupants are in possession of the homes of displaced persons as a result of criminal action to enforce their own laws and to ensure that displaced persons have the possibility to return in safety;

15. Encourages States to seek, through appropriate means, to cooperate with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees with regard to matters concerning refugees and, where appropriate, to internally displaced persons and with all other humanitarian organizations and other appropriate actors, in the exercise of their respective mandates, and to ensure rapid and unimpeded access to displaced persons in order to assist in their voluntary return or voluntary relocation and reintegration;

16. Decides to continue its consideration of the question of the right to return of displaced persons in the context of freedom of movement under the same agenda item at its fifty-fourth session;

17. Recommends that the Commission on Human Rights adopt the text of the present resolution.