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Africa: Forced Evictions
AfricaFocus Bulletin
Oct 6, 2006 (061006)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"Forced evictions are one of the most widespread and unrecognised
human rights violations in Africa," - Kolawole Olaniyan, Director
of Amnesty International's Africa Programme. According to research
by Amnesty International and the Geneva-based Centre on Housing
Rights and Evictions (COHRE), more than three million Africans have
been forcibly evicted from their homes since 2000.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains press releases on the report,
from COHRE and from Amnesty International, as well as an appeal
earlier this year to African housing ministers meeting in Nairobi.
For additional background on this issue, and earlier case studies
of this issue in Kenya, South Africa, West Africa, and Zimbabwe,
see the COHRE website (http://www.cohre.org). For additional reports
on evictions in Zimbabwe, see earlier AfricaFocus Bulletins at
http://www.africafocus.org/country/zimbabwe.php On Angola, see the
Amnesty International report from 2003, at
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engAFR120072003
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++++++++
Africa: Forced evictions reach crisis levels
4 October 2006
http://www.cohre.org
Research conducted by Amnesty International and the Geneva-based
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) reveals that the
practice of forced evictions has reached epidemic proportions in
Africa, with more than three million Africans forcibly evicted from
their homes since 2000. The two organizations today called on
African governments to halt forced evictions and abide by their
international human rights obligations.
"The figures are truly staggering and clearly indicate that forced
evictions are one of the most widespread and unrecognised human
rights violations in Africa," said Kolawole Olaniyan, Director of
Amnesty International's Africa Programme.
Although the practice of forced eviction has been recognised as a
gross violation of human rights under international law and, in
particular, by the African Commission, governments throughout
Africa continue to forcibly evict hundreds of thousands of people
from their homes each year. Many of these evictions are often
accompanied by further rights violations, including the use of
excessive force by those carrying out the evictions, such as
arbitrary arrests, beatings, rape, torture and even killings.
Jean du Plessis, Executive Director (Acting Interim) of COHRE,
said, "Many African governments justify forced evictions on the
grounds that they are essential for 'development' and therefore, in
the interests of the general public good. However, development that
leads to forced evictions is fundamentally counterproductive
because forced evictions create homelessness, destroy property and
productive assets, and obstruct access to potable water,
sanitation, healthcare, livelihood opportunities and education. By
carrying out forced evictions, African governments are pushing
people into poverty -- not pulling them out of it."
Kolawole Olaniyan of Amnesty International said, "By failing to
bring an end to the practice of forced evictions, African leaders
are violating their obligations to protect human rights and
undermining their expressed commitments to development imperatives
such as the Millennium Development Goals and NEPAD."
Examples of forced evictions from across the continent are as
numerous as they are distressing. Some recent examples include:
An estimated two million people have been forcibly evicted from
their homes and many thousands have been made homeless since 2000
in Nigeria.
More than 12,000 people were forcibly evicted from Dar Assalaam
camp in Sudan in August 2006. The majority of the evictees had been
previously displaced through conflict in Sudan and settled in camps
in or around the capital Khartoum. Authorities have forcibly
evicted thousands of people from these camps, resettling them in
desert areas without access to clean water, food and other
essentials. Currently, there are over four million internally
displaced persons in Sudan.
The government of Zimbabwe staggered the international community in
2005 when, in a military style operation, it forced an estimated
700,000 people from their homes, their businesses or both. To date,
the government has not taken any effective action to address the
plight of those displaced.
In Luanda, the capital of Angola, at least 6,000 families have been
forcibly evicted and had their homes demolished since 2001. Many of
these families, who have received no compensation, had their
property stolen by those carrying out the forced evictions and
remain homeless.
In Kenya approximately 70,000 people have been forcibly evicted
from their homes in forest areas since 2005, while at least 20,000
people have been forcibly evicted from neighbourhoods in or around
Nairobi since 2000.
In Ghana over 7,000 people were made homeless when they were
forcibly evicted by the Game and Wildlife Division from the Digya
National Park in March and April 2006. The eviction was halted in
April only after a boat carrying over 150 evictees capsized,
causing the death of at least 10 people. Those remaining in the
park still live under threat of forced eviction. Some 800 people
also had their homes destroyed in Legion Village, Accra in May
2006, while approximately 30,000 people in the Agbogbloshie
community of Accra have been threatened with forcible eviction
since 2002.
At least 300 families in Equatorial Guinea have been forcibly
evicted from their homes since 2004, when the government embarked
on a programme of urban regeneration in Malabo and Bata. These
families had title to their property. Thousands more remain at
risk.
Africa: Forced evictions reach crisis levels
Amnesty International Press Release
http://www.amnesty.org
AI Index: AFR 01/009/2006 (Public)
News Service No: 255
4 October 2006
For interviews or additional information please contact:
Deanna Fowler Eliane Drakopoulos
COHRE Amnesty International
Tel: +41 22 734 1028 Tel: +44 20 7413 5564
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]
[press release same as above]
Background
The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (African
Commission), in a landmark decision on forced evictions in Nigeria
in October 2001, found that the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights guaranteed the right to adequate housing, including
the prohibition on forced eviction (see SERAC and CESR v. Nigeria,
ACHRP 2002). In this case, the African Commission incorporated the
substance and jurisprudence of international human rights law on
the prohibition of forced eviction into the implied right to
adequate housing in the African Charter. However, this important
decision has not yet been reflected in the jurisprudence throughout
the continent nor in governments' practices.
Under international human rights law, including the African
Charter, which has been ratified by member states of the African
Union, evictions can only be considered as lawful if they are
deemed necessary in the most "exceptional circumstances". If such
"exceptional circumstances" exist, then certain procedural
protections and due process requirements have to be adhered to,
including that States must ensure, prior to any planned evictions,
and particularly those involving large groups, that all feasible
alternatives are explored in consultation with affected persons.
Furthermore, and in any event, eviction shall not result in
rendering individuals homeless or vulnerable to the violation of
other human rights. Governments are legally obligated to ensure
that adequate alternative housing and compensation for all losses
is made available to affected persons.
The Millennium Development Goals, as set out in the United Nations
Millennium Declaration, were adopted by the General Assembly of the
United Nations on 18 September 2000. Goal 7, Target 11 calls for
governments to "[h]ave achieved by 2020 a significant improvement
in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers".
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is a vision
and strategic framework for Africa's development. Its stated
primary objectives include, among others: "to eradicate poverty"
and "to place African countries, both individually and
collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development". One
of its stated principles is: "Ensuring that all Partnerships with
NEPAD are linked to the Millennium Development Goals and other
agreed development goals and targets".
A Joint Appeal to African Ministers on urban housing
Amnesty International
AI Index: AFR 32/002/2006
3 April 2006
The African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development
(AMCHUD) meets from 3-4 April 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss
strategies for the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals
relating to slums. In light of the ongoing and growing crisis in
urban housing in Africa, Amnesty International, the Centre on
Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Kenya National Commission on
Human Rights (KNCHR) and Hakijamii Trust are calling on the
ministers to adopt concrete and human rights-based strategies that
ensure the poorest members of African cities can live in human
dignity.
In Africa, the process of urbanisation is faster than in any other
region of the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 72 percent
of the urban population live in slums while in North Africa the
figure is 28 percent. In addition to appalling health conditions
and lack of access to basic services such as water and sanitation,
those living in slums and informal settlements are regularly
exposed to forced evictions. Forced evictions - that is those
carried out without sufficient justification, consultation on
alternatives to eviction, due process of law, and assurance of
adequate alternative accommodation - have been recognised by the UN
Commission on Human Rights to be a gross violation of a range of
human rights, including the right to adequate housing.
On World Habitat Day on 3 October 2005, the UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan stated that the 'build-up of slums and informal
settlements occurs in large part because of policies and
exclusionary practices that deny public services and basic
facilities -- including water, sanitation, health and education --
to informal settlements' and that 'evictions and demolitions are
not the answer to the challenges of rapid urbanization. We must
have pro-poor, participatory urban development - with respect for
human rights and in accordance with international law.' These
challenges and strategies were recognised by AMCHUD in its 2005
Durban Declaration and Enhanced Framework of Implementation and
Related Outputs.
The ministerial meeting in Nairobi provides a good opportunity for
African states to pronounce themselves opposed to forced evictions,
to develop strategies to tackle housing problems in a manner which
respects human rights and to learn best practices from each other.
For example, Kenya is adopting guidelines to prevent and remedy
forced evictions; Botswana has developed a system of certificates
of occupancy to ensure secure tenure for residents of informal
settlements; South Africa has developed the Prevention of Illegal
Evictions Act, which provides for a rights-based approach to
evictions and has enabled activists to challenge forced evictions
in the courts.
At the same time, across Africa hundreds of thousands of people
each year are forcibly evicted, in many cases being left homeless,
losing their possessions without compensation and/or being forcibly
displaced far from sources of employment, livelihood or education,
all in violation of international law, including the African
Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Forced evictions in Angola
since 2003 have led to displacement of over 5000 households and the
further displacement of hundreds of internally displaced persons
(IDPs), and have been accompanied by excessive use of force and
grave violations of human rights. Since 2000, forced evictions in
Nigeria have left over 2 million people destitute and resulted in
serious violations of many other human rights, including rights to
health, education and the right to be free from cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment. In Zimbabwe, a government campaign of mass
forced evictions in urban areas during 2005 destroyed communities
countrywide and pushed the country deeper into humanitarian crisis.
In the last year in Kenya, tens of thousands of dwellers, including
indigenous peoples, were violently evicted from forests without
resettlement while many informal settlements in Nairobi have been
subject to intermittent demolitions. In Sudan, mass forced
evictions, including of IDPs, in and around Khartoum are of
concern: in August 2005, residents of Shikan camp were forcibly
displaced to Fateh III, which lacked even minimum levels of
essential services. Further relocations, many likely to involve
forced evictions, are scheduled to take place in the near future,
as the government has announced the re-planning of all 'illegal'
settlements.
Drawing on the positive examples and lessons learned across Africa,
Amnesty International, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions,
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and Hakijamii
Trust are looking to the Ministers gathered in Nairobi with the
support of UN-Habitat to commit to a positive human rights-based
approach to urban housing that implements the Durban Declaration
and Enhanced Framework, including by making concrete commitments
to:
- Develop a human rights based framework for upgrading slums and
informal settlements which secures opportunities for genuine
community participation and forms part of a plan to achieve
progressively the full realisation of the right to adequate housing
for all.
- Develop guidelines and laws to prevent and remedy forced
evictions and declare a moratorium on all evictions from slums and
informal settlements until such time as human rights based housing
legislation and policies are adopted.
- Develop innovative communal and individual land tenure schemes
that guarantee a degree of security of tenure to all immediately
and establish and implement plans to provide affordable serviced
land for low-income housing development.
- Prioritise the poor and other vulnerable groups, including those
living in informal settlements, in the allocation of financial,
technical and other resources for the progressive fulfilment of
housing and related rights, including the provision of sufficient
safe and affordable water, sanitation and other essential services.
- Allow rapid and unimpeded access to victims of forced evictions
by local and international humanitarian organisations where the
state is unable or unwilling to provide humanitarian assistance.
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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