IHL and refugee law and related standards.”47 On the right to housing and property restitution, Section II of the Restitution Principles states: • • All refugees and displaced persons have the right to have restored to them any housing, land and/or property of which they were arbitrarily or unlawfully deprived, or to be compensated for any housing, land and/or property that is factually impossible to restore as determined by an independent, impartial tribunal. States shall demonstrably prioritize the right to restitution as the preferred remedy for displacement and as a key element of restorative justice. The right to restitution exists as a distinct right, and is prejudiced neither by the actual return nor non-return of refugees and displaced persons entitled to housing, land and property restitution. 48 Accordingly, property confiscation is deeply connected to international refugee law, for in some cases, it constitutes a violation of the right to reparations (return, property restitution and compensation). The Commission on Human Rights has also stated that violating the property rights of displaced persons “undermine the principle of the right to return.”49 The UN Sub-Commission further asserted “that the adoption or application of laws by States which are designed to or result in the loss or removal of tenancy, use, ownership or other rights connected with housing or property, the active retraction of the right to reside within a particular place, or laws of abandonment employed against refugees or internally displaced persons pose serious impediments to the return and reintegration of refugees and internally displaced persons and to reconstruction and reconciliation.”50 47 UN Commission on Human Rights, Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Principles on housing and property restitution for refugees and displaced persons, E/CN.4/ Sub.2/2005/17, 28 June 2005, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/protection/idps/50f94d849/ principles-housing-property-restitution-refugees-displaced-persons-pinheiro.html [accessed 18 September 2017]. 48 Ibid. 49 UN Commission on Human Rights, Res. 1996/71. 50 UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Resolution 1998/26 on Housing and Property Restitution in the Context of the Return of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons , 1998/26, 26 August 1998,  available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3dda64517. html [accessed 25 August 2017]. 22