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Follow the links below for information on:
- Legal basis for claims collection and the Ita Nia Rai project
- Draft Land Law
Legal Basis for Claims Collection and the Ita Nia Rai project
The constitution of Timor-Leste in Article 54 guarantees the right to private property for all Timorese citizens.
The terms of the Ita Nia Rai program’s cooperation with the government were made concrete in a Memorandum of Understanding between USAID Timor-Leste and the Ministry of Justice, signed on 13 June 2008.
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USAID Mission Director Mark White and Minister of Justice Dr. Lúcia Lobato shake hands after signing a Memorandum of Understanding. |
The legal basis for the collection of land claims are outlined in a Decree by the Minister of Justice, no. 229/2008 [.pdf 96KB], also called the Decree on the Cadastre. Decree 229/2008 of 1 July 2008, authorizes the National Directorate for Land, Property and Cadastral Services (DNTPSC) and the USAID-funded “Ita Nia Rai” program to undertake a nationwide, systematic data collection. Information gathered from the survey will officially compose the National Property Cadastre, a comprehensive database or register of all the claims to land ownership in the country. The Decree establishes the rules and procedures for a systematic collection of claims, and also establishes that the database will be open to the public, guaranteeing transparency and free access to the information collected.
Draft land law
On Friday, 12 June 2009, the Minister of Justice launched the public consultation for the Draft Law on the Special Regime For Attributing Property Rights. Through 21 October 2009, the public will have a chance to review and comment on the draft law.
The draft law is available through the Ministry of Justice website or can be downloaded below.
In addition the Ita Nia Rai project has made available several supporting documents including: Unofficial Guiding Notes that provide an overview and summary of the contents of the law (Tetun) and a Community Guide Book that provides a summary of the purpose and proposals of the draft Law in simple terms (Tetun).
The Ita Nia Rai project has also created a Facilitator's Guide (Tetun) that provides some guidelines for civil society organizations wanting to carry out consultations, and gives examples and questions that could be used to get community feedback about certain aspects of the draft Law.
Downloads
- Decree No. 229/2008 by the Minister of Justice (Portugese) [.pdf 96KB]
- Draft Law on the Special Regime For Attributing Property Rights (Released 12 June 2009)
- Second Draft on the Special Regime for Attributing Property Rights (released 22 September 2009)
- NEW! Third Draft on the Special Regime for Attributing Property Rights
*Mac users please note that for unresolved reasons the Community book does not display properly in Preview and must be opened in Adobe PDF reader to display the full contents.
Other Links
- Constitution of Timor-Leste
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