Forced Evictions and Human Rights

HIC

How People Face Evictions

The How People Face Evictions
report documents the experiences of local groups who have faced or who
are facing evictions around the world, from Buenos Aires to Istanbul.

Prominent activists and researchers from the Development Planning Unit,
University College London (UCL) and BSHF brought these local groups
together to reflect upon and share people-based initiatives and
experiences of struggles against eviction.

The How People Face
Evictions report gives a voice to those who are active on the ground,
looking in particular at how local groups go about securing the rights
to adequate housing, legal security of tenure and freedom from arbitrary
destruction and dispossession.

Click here to download the report.

How land and housing evictions violate rights

The How People Face Evictions report was launched at the UCL Institute for Human Rights on 5 May 2011.

A
lively panel discussion on Forced Evictions and Human Rights brought
together experts from the legal, development and planning fields.


Some key issues raised during the discussion include:

• The impact of the threat of eviction on livelihoods, as well as the impact of the eviction and resettlement.

• The intangible nature of some of the impacts of eviction on the communities affected.

• The standard-setting role of international law and its limitations in this context.


The progressive nature of socio-economic rights (like the right to
adequate housing) as a justification for slow progress in this area.


• The gender aspect of forced evictions and their disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable.

• The law as a framework for carrying out evictions rather than as a tool to resist them.

The panellists at the event were:

• Professor Yves Cabannes – UCL Development Planning Unit, co-author of report
• Silvia Guimarães Yafai – Building and Social Housing Foundation, co-author
• Cassidy Johnson – UCL Development Planning Unit, co-author
• Malavika Vartak – Amnesty International
• Cesare Ottolini – International Alliance of Inhabitants and Zero Eviction Campaign
• Saladin Meckled-Garcia – UCL Institute for Human Rights
• George Letsas – UCL Institute for Human Rights