With the new housing code for the Russian Federation, the threat of eviction weighs heavily on tens of millions of people. Among those most at risk are residents in workers’ hostels, living “temporarily” in buildings that are unhealthy and that have been that way for 10, 20 or even 30 years. This violates the housing rights set out in article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ratified by the Russian Federation. Even the strong recommendations to the Russian Federation made by the 43rd session of the Committee for the rights of the United Nations.
It is for this reason that, since the Russian Social Forum, the residents of workers” hostels have mobilised to seek support for their struggle from social bodies, within the framework of the campaign “Zero Evictions”, the “World Zero Evictions Days 2006” and together with the campaign being conducted in Russia which has already been running for a number of months
A number of protests will be held starting on September 30th, in cities such as Moscow, Saint Petesburg, Ijevsk, Perm, Iaroslavl, Tomsk, Omsk, Nijevartovsk, Saratov, Oufa, and Ekaterinbourg.
The International Alliance of Inhabitants calls on all social organisations, political, professional, and local authorities, as well as the entire international community, to support these initiatives. It is a struggle which concerns all of us.
*** *** ***
Calling for Support for the Movement for hostels for workers in Russia
Most of our hostels were privatised illegally at the beginning of the 90’s, during a period of wild privatisations. As a result, we fell into the hands of the arbitrary new owners. These illegal privatisations are now impossible to challenge as the period for appealing to the courts has expired. A number of these hostels remained the property of the state, but the inhabitants of these municipal hostels have seen their rights refused, unlike those of other inhabitants; that is to say, they were refused the right to free privatization of their own homes or the right to municipal social housing.
We have nowhere to go, the only choice is to live with our families. Firstly they tried to trick us into giving up our council housing which we have the right to have. Sometimes they even try to evict us by force from our “temporary” housing where we have lived all our lives.
- Ensures that the housing rights set out in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are respected;
- Radically revises the new housing code, organising a broad national debate with all the parties concerned, in order to start new public policies for public social housing;
- Prohibits evictions;
- Transfers workers’ hostels to municipal property stock;
- Removes the the time limit for appeals to the courts against the illegal privatization of property in the early 1990s
- Bans all property deals concerning hostels for workers;
- Guarantees the rights of inhabitants of workers’hostels to social housing or free privatization of their hostel housing;
- Rehouses those inhabitants living in unhealthy hostels;
- Respects the rights of inhabitants’ committees to control their own housing conditions and the municipal tarifs.
>>> Show your solidarity by sending your signature to the Institute for Collective Action (who co-ordinate the Hostels Movement): info@ikd.ru and the International Alliance of Inhabitants info@habitants.org