ISLAMABAD, Oct 10: The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has called for easy access to credits to the people living in the earthquake-hit areas.

Speaking at a seminar on “Earthquake Rehabilitation: Reiterating Right to Land and Housing” organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with Sungi Development Foundation, Kilian Kleinschmidt, a senior official of UNHCR, said it was a high time for a strong and effective advocacy with the government and policy makers for the recognition of these people as citizens and as citizens their right to shelter.

He said it was basic responsibility of the government to provide shelter, sustained economic and social development and to ensure access to opportunities to all its citizens on equal basis.

Mr Kleinschmidt stressed that even the poorest of the poor should be given an opportunity to acquire land and use the property as a leverage for access to credit.

He said one must be specific while dealing with terms like, land rights, tenancy rights and land entitlements. He said that unfortunately there was no clarity at community level and as well as policy level about these widely used terms. The official stressed upon preparing a proper analysis of the land right and tenancy and devising functional meaning of these terms. He said that according to their survey out of 5,600 families 3,320 considered themselves as landless while 1,942 landowners.

Mr Kleinschmidt stressed the need to understand the context and background of the situation in order to do effective advocacy as land rights, ownership and management varied from country to country. “And we have not been able to understand the exact situation as for as the case of Pakistan was concerned,” he added.