12.4 States should establish guidelines that ensure the effectiveness of all relevant housing, land and property restitution procedures, institutions and mechanisms, including guidelines pertaining to institutional organization, staff training and caseloads, investigation and complaints procedures, verification of property ownership or other rights of possession, as well as decision-making, enforcement and appeals mechanisms. States may integrate alternative or informal dispute resolution mechanisms into these processes, insofar as all such mechanisms act in accordance with international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law and related standards, including the right to be protected from discrimination.287 As discussed in Section III, while some local mechanisms are working to resolve land conflicts in western Côte d’Ivoire, the Ivorian government has inadequately supported them, leading to uneven results. Moreover, the Ivorian government’s failure to demarcate village boundaries has facilitated much of the chaos around land sales in western Côte d’Ivoire. While this failure long predates the Ouattara government, current Ivorian authorities need to quickly make a priority of demarcating village boundaries. Civil and Economic Rights Related to Property In addition to rights of returning refugees and displaced persons, civil and economic rights guaranteed under both regional and international treaties place an obligation on the Ivorian government to guarantee the protection of property rights, including by ensuring the swift restitution of land and other property seized illegally. Article 14 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, to which Côte d’Ivoire is a state party, guarantees both the individual and collective right to property.288 In all cases of illegal occupation of land in western Côte d’Ivoire—whether the buyer obtained the land through an illegal sale or through force—the rightful owner has been denied this right. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to which Côte d’Ivoire is a state party, provides for the rights to food and an adequate standard of living.289 In general, states must progressively realize the fulfillment of these 287 Ibid., Principle 12. 288 ACHPR, art. 14. 289 ICESCR, art. 11. 93 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | OCTOBER 2013