DOCSLIB.ORG

Successes Strategies: Responses to Forced Evictions

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

SUccesses STRATEGIes: responses to forced evictions COHRE 2 0 0 8 Research and publication of this report was supported by Cordaid SUccesses STRATEGIes: responses to forced evictions COHRE 2 0 0 8 ii Successes and Strategies: responses to forced evictions Centre on Housing Rights & COHRE Global Forced Evictions Evictions (COHRE) Programme (GFEP) COHRE International Secretariat (Postal address) PMB CT 402, 83 Rue de Montbrillant Cantonments, 1202 Geneva Accra SWITZERLAND (visitors address) No. 17 Fifth tel.: +41.22.7341028 Crescent Street fax: +41.22.7338336 Asylum Down e-mail: [email protected] Accra web: www.cohre.org GHANA tel.: +233.21.238821 COHRE Women & Housing Rights fax: +233.21.231688 Programme (WHRP) e-mail: [email protected] 8 N. 2nd Avenue East Suite 208 COHRE Americas Programme (CAP) Duluth, MN 55802 Rua Jeronimo Coelho 102, Sala 21 USA Porto Alegre, CEP 90010-240 tel./fax: +1.218.7331370 BRAZIL e-mail: [email protected] tel./fax: +55.51.32121904 e-mail: [email protected] COHRE ESC Rights Litigation Programme (LP) CAP - US Office 8 N. 2nd Avenue East 8 N. 2nd Avenue East Suite 208 Suite 208 Duluth, MN 55802 Duluth, MN 55802 USA USA tel./fax: +1.218.7331370 tel./fax: +1.218.7331370 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] COHRE Right to Water Programme COHRE Asia & Pacific Programme (RWP) (CAPP) 83 Rue de Montbrillant (Postal address) P O Box 2061 1202 Geneva Phnom Penh 3 SWITZERLAND (visitors address) No. 9A, Street 420 tel.: +41.22.7341028 Sangkat Boeung Tra Beak, fax: +41.22.7338336 Chamkarmon e-mail: [email protected] Phnom Penh CAMBODIA tel.: +61.3.94177505 fax: +61.3.94162746 e-mail: [email protected] Successes and Strategies: responses to forced evictions iii CAPP - Sri Lanka Office COHRE Africa Programme 106 1/1 Horton Palce (Postal address) PMB CT 402, Colombo Cantonments SRI LANKA Accra tel: +94.11.269.3143 (visitors address) No. 17 Fifth e-mail: [email protected] Crescent Street Asylum Down Accra GHANA tel.: +233.21.238821 fax: +233.21.231688 e-mail: [email protected] © Copyright 2008 The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Geneva, Switzerland Successes and Strategies: Responses to Forced Evictions ISBN: 978-92-95004-53-5 All rights reserved The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions is registered in Brazil, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the US as a not-for-profit organisation. Copies are available from COHRE International Secretariat (see contact info. above) Prepared by: Richard Pithouse, COHRE Global Forced Evictions Programme Graphic design and Print: Wits Associates - Sri Lanka iv Successes and Strategies: responses to forced evictions v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Defining forced evictions and security of tenure 2 1.2 Key causes of forced evictions 2 1.3 The cost of forced evictions 3 1.4 Forced evictions and international law 5 1.5 The scale of the problem 9 1.6 Resisting forced evictions 9 1.7 Housing crisis in the cities 10 1.8 The crisis in rural communities 14 1.9 Key solutions for avoiding forced evictions 15 1.9.1 Legislation and policy 15 1.9.2 Providing housing to the poor 16 1.9.3 Community organisation and NGO strategies 16 1.9.4 Land sharing 17 1.9.5 Invoking international and regional legal remedies 17 1.10 This report 18 vi Successes and Strategies: responses to forced evictions 2 HALTING EVICTIONS 21 2.1 Colombo. Sri Lanka 21 2.1.1 General background 21 2.1.2 Tamils evicted in Colombo 23 2.1.3 Responses 24 2.1.4 Results 28 2.2 Motala Heights, Durban. South Africa 29 2.2.1 General background 29 2.2.2 Threatened evictions in Motala Heights 33 2.2.3 Responses 36 2.2.4 Results 43 2.3 Vila União, Municipality of Almirante Tamandaré. Brazil 43 2.3.1 General background 43 2.3.2 Threatened evictions in Vila União 50 2.3.3 Responses 51 2.3.4 Results 51 2.4 General lessons 52 2.4.1 Media support 52 2.4.2 Litigation 53 2.4.3 Expropriation of land 54 Successes and Strategies: responses to forced evictions vii 3 COMMUNITY-DEVELOPED ALTERNATIVES TO FORCED EVICTION 57 3.1 Pom Mahakan. Thailand 57 3.1.1 General background 57 3.1.2 Responses 58 3.1.3 Results 63 3.2 Group 78, Bassac. Cambodia 64 3.2.1 General background 64 3.2.2 Responses 70 3.2.3 Results 73 3.3 General lessons 75 3.3.1 Counter proposals 75 3.3.2 A multi-pronged approach 77 4 NATURE RESERVES AND PEOPLE 79 4.1 Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Botswana 79 4.1.1 General background 79 4.1.2 Responses 82 4.1.3 Results 85 4.2 Makuleke. South Africa 88 4.2.1 General background 88 4.2.2 Responses 89 viii Successes and Strategies: responses to forced evictions 4.3 General lessons 95 4.3.1 Need for a paradigm shift 96 4.3.2 Lacking political will 98 4.3.3 NGO support 98 5 PREVENTION: URBAN PLANNING WITH COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT 101 5.1 Máximo Tajes. Uruguay 101 5.1.1 General background 101 5.1.2 Responses 102 5.1.3 Results 104 5.2 Naga City. Philippines 105 5.2.1 General background 105 5.2.2 Response 106 5.2.3 Results 113 5.3 General lessons 115 5.3.1 Innovative win-win solutions 116 5.3.2 Popular organisations and popular participation 117 in decision making ix AcKNOWLEDGEMENTS The principle author of this report was Richard Pithouse, a COHRE consultant with the Africa Programme. Deanna Fowler and Malavika Vartak of COHRE’s Global Forced Evictions Programme (GFEP) contributed to the writing of the report. Thanks to Natalie Bugalski of COHRE Asia and Pacific Programme and Daniel King of the Cambodian Legal Education Center (CLEC) for information on Group 78; Leticia Osorio and Ignacio Lorezo of COHRE Americas Programme for information on Máximo Tajes; Vinicius Gessolo from NGO Terra de Direitos (Land of Rights) for Vila Uniao; Nilanka Nanayakkara for information on the Colombo case study; and Kate Tissington of GFEP for information on Botswana and Makuleke. Thanks to Robert Furlong for editing this report, and to Hannah Neumeyer of COHRE Asia Pacific Programme for kindly assisting with final proof reading and layout. x Successes and Strategies: responses to forced evictions 1 1 INTroDUCTION The forced eviction of individuals and communities from their homes and lands is a growing global phenomenon affecting millions of people in both rural and urban areas. In a majority of cases, it is the poor and other oppressed groups that are forced to give up their homes and lands and thus pay the price for development strategies that rarely benefit them. Forced evictions are therefore not only profoundly unjust and illegal, but are also counterproductive to human development. There is, however, a growing wealth of positive innovations in the work of community organisations, social movements, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and local governments where forced evictions are being averted and viable alternatives are being developed. This report aims to draw on that wealth of experience to create a useful resource for people – be they in government, NGOs, community organisations, or social movements – wanting concrete information about how forced evictions can be avoided and security of tenure achieved. The report explains and briefly assesses nine case studies from eight countries in order to provide a variety of recent examples of successful strategies developed by a range of social actors in different circumstances. Successes and Strategies: responses to forced evictions 1.1 Defining forced evictions and security of tenure The term ‘forced evictions,’ as defined in General Comment No. 7 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, is “the permanent or temporary removal of individuals, families and/or communities against their will from the homes and/or land that they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection.”1 Therefore, any action that results in the removal of people from their homes or land against their will, without adequate notice, access to legal remedy, and adequate compensation or rehabilitation, is considered a forced eviction. Forced evictions are most common, but not limited to, situations where dwellers do not enjoy security of tenure. Security of tenure can be defined as freedom from fear of forced eviction. Security of tenure is not restricted to ownership but includes full legal protection against arbitrary eviction for all occupiers, including tenants. It is best guaranteed via specific legislative interventions but also by policy decisions against forced evictions. The declaration of moratoriums on forced evictions or the declaration of areas as ‘eviction-free zones’ can be effective in granting security of tenure. 1.2 Key causes of forced evictions Forced evictions are a result of a variety of processes that disadvantage certain sections of society. Research by COHRE around the world has revealed the following causes of forced evictions to be the most common: • tenure insecurity/absence of formal tenure rights; • authoritarian top-down planning; 1 ‘General Comment 7: The right to adequate housing (art. 11 (i) of the Covenant): Forced Evictions’, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1997, available at: http:// www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(symbol)/CESCR+General+Comment+7.En?OpenDocument, last accessed 1 December 2008. Introduction • development and infrastructure projects; • large international events, such as major sporting events, conferences, etc.; • urban redevelopment and ‘beautification’ initiatives; • property market forces and ‘gentrification’; • absence of State support for the poor; • political conflict, ethnic cleansing, and war.
Recommended publications
  • Tenure and Vulnerability: the Effects of Changes to Tenure Security on the Identity and Social Relationships of the Urban Poor

    Tenure and Vulnerability: the Effects of Changes to Tenure Security on the Identity and Social Relationships of the Urban Poor

    TENURE AND VULNERABILITY: THE EFFECTS OF CHANGES TO TENURE SECURITY ON THE IDENTITY AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS OF THE URBAN POOR BY KAMNA PATEL A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM OCTOBER 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Directed by the Millennium Development Goal to improve the lives of at least 100 million ‘slum’ dwellers by 2020, national governments and development agencies are driving policy to upgrade and formalise informal settlements. This study is an investigation into the effects of in situ upgrade and formalisation on the vulnerability and resilience of the urban poor in Durban, South Africa. The study examines the relationships between tenure and vulnerability by identifying and exploring how changes to tenure security, introduced through the upgrade process, affect individuals’ exposure to risk and ability to cope, and the ways in which identity and social relations influence those effects. The data are drawn from twenty-four ethnographies of residents living in three low income settlements in/around Durban each at different stages in the upgrade process.
  • Urban Land Tenure, Tenancy and Water and Sanitation Services Delivery in South Africa

    Urban Land Tenure, Tenancy and Water and Sanitation Services Delivery in South Africa

    URBAN LAND TENURE, TENANCY AND WATER AND SANITATION SERVICES DELIVERY IN SOUTH AFRICA SIBANDA, DARLINGTON (2841632) A THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR PHILOSOPHIAE (PHD) IN LAND AND AGRARIAN STUDIES SUPERVISOR: PROF M. ISAACS PHD THESIS PRESENTED TO THE INSTITUTE FOR POVERTY, LAND AND AGRARIAN STUDIES (PLAAS): FACULTY OF ECONOMIC AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE 2017 i DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my late parents, Magaret and James Makaya Nyama who planted and natured the seeds of hard work and diligence from a very early age. May your souls rest in peace. ii http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ DECLARATION I declare that Urban Land Tenure, Tenancy And Water And Sanitation Services Delivery In South Africa is my own work, and that it has not been submitted for any degree or examination in any other university, and that all the sources I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by complete references. Full Name: Darlington Sibanda Date: Signature: iii http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To successfully complete Ph.D. studies, one gets support from several people. While l won’t be able to exhaust the list, l will mention just a few. Firstly, l would want to thank God for guiding me through my studies. This work would not have been possible without the help of Professor Isaacs, who took over after Dr Tapela could not continue due to ill-health. The amount of work we had to catch up in such a short space of time was incomparable.
  • Commercialization, Domestication, and Resistance in New York City from Melville to Mckay

    Commercialization, Domestication, and Resistance in New York City from Melville to Mckay

    ABSTRACT A (RE)CONCEPTION OF THE CITY: COMMERCIALIZATION, DOMESTICATION, AND RESISTANCE IN NEW YORK CITY FROM MELVILLE TO MCKAY James Baltrum, Ph.D. Department of English Northern Illinois University, 2014 Dr. Deborah DeRosa, Director This dissertation characterizes the historical changes that shaped nineteenth and twentieth century New York City by examining how Herman Melville, Stephen Crane, Edith Wharton, John Dos Passos, and Claude McKay expressed these changes in their literary works. I employ the ideological principles of scholars such as Henri Lefebvre, who viewed physical spaces including the modern city as socially constructed products, and the methodology of writers such as Michel Foucault, whose genealogical approach prompts an open-ended and multi-faceted analysis. Consequently, my argument shows how various economic, social, cultural, political, and technological developments worked with and against each other to shape (and reshape) people’s perceptions of New York City and how particular writers have work such perceptions into their literature. Starting in the 1850s with the American Renaissance and concluding in the late 1920s with the emergence of Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance, my dissertation focuses on Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (1856), Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) and George’s Mother (1896), Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth (1905), John Dos Passos’s Manhattan Transfer (1925) and Claude McKay’s Home to Harlem (1928). I focus on how the developments in the city influenced these authors to continually re-conceive New York City’s commercial and domestic social spaces from the 1850s through the 1920s. Likewise, each text illustrates how certain historical developments produced counter-cultural currents of resistance against hegemonic authorities in each author’s given era.

  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE The

    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE The Architecture of Homelessness: Space, Marginality, and Exile in Modern French and Japanese Literature and Film A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature by Jane Ramey Correia June 2011 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Michelle Bloom, Chairperson Dr. Heidi Brevik-Zender Dr. Sabine Doran Dr. James Fujii Copyright by Jane Ramey Correia 2011 The Dissertation of Jane Ramey Correia is approved: ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements I would especially like to acknowledge my dissertation chair, Michelle Bloom. Without her guidance, encouragement, insightful criticism, and kind prodding, this project would not have been completed. She has championed my studies from the beginning. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee, Drs. Sabine Doran and Heidi Brevik-Zender of UC Riverside and Dr. James Fujii of UC Irvine, for their time and help editing my chapters as well as for their encouragement and support. I am grateful to Dr. Theda Shapiro, who has been a wonderful mentor and helped guide my studies since I first came to UC Riverside in September 2003; Drs. John Ganim and Michael Foster, who early on assisted me in formulating my project around the topics of liminality and spatial studies; Dr. Thomas Scanlon, chair of my Comparative Literature Department, who afforded me numerous teaching opportunities as well as fellowships to aid in my writing; and Dr. Yang Ye, who gave me the wonderful experience of being a teaching assistant in his comparative world literature class. I also extend my appreciation to Cambridge Scholars Press who is currently publishing an earlier version of Chapter 4 of this dissertation and to Timo Trevisani for helping me translate a German passage by Walter Benjamin.
  • Xenophobia' and Collective Mobilization in a South African Settlement: the Politics of Exclusion at the Threshold of the State

    Xenophobia' and Collective Mobilization in a South African Settlement: the Politics of Exclusion at the Threshold of the State

    The London School of Economics and Political Science CITIZENSHIP, 'XENOPHOBIA' AND COLLECTIVE MOBILIZATION IN A SOUTH AFRICAN SETTLEMENT: THE POLITICS OF EXCLUSION AT THE THRESHOLD OF THE STATE Tamlyn Jane Monson A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology of The London School of Economics and Political Science for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy London, August 2015 Supervisor: Prof Chetan Bhatt Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). Certain findings from this study were published in the following format during the course of my studies, with authorization from the Research Degrees Unit at the London School of Economics: Monson, Tamlyn. 2015. Everyday politics and collective mobilization against foreigners in a South African shack settlement. Africa, 85(1), pp 131-153 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 103,026 words. 2 Citizenship, 'xenophobia' and collective mobilization in a South African settlement: The politics of exclusion at the threshold of the state Abstract This thesis develops a layered historical, ethnographic and theoretical analysis of ‘xenophobic' mobilisation and informal residence in South Africa.
  • Journals of Several Expeditions Made in Western Australia During The

    Journals of Several Expeditions Made in Western Australia During The

    This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you. Usage guidelines Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. We also ask that you: + Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for personal, non-commercial purposes. + Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us.