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Harare, 26th June 2005: Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, the United Nations
Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Human Settlements Issues in
Zimbabwe arrived in Harare on Sunday 26th June 2005 and was met by representatives
of the Zimbabwean government and Mr. Agostinho Zacarias, the UN Resident/Humanitarian
Coordinator.
Mrs. Tibaijuka, who is Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, the UN agency
responsible for human settlements and slum upgrading, is in the country
to assess the scope and extent of the recent mass evictions, known as
Operation Murambatsvina, known as ‘Operation restore order’.
Though there are as yet no accurate figures available, with a reported
estimated population of at least 200,000 people who are affected, the
Special Envoy is expected to assess the humanitarian needs and the impact
on the affected populations. She has also been asked to assess the adequacy
of the Government’s arrangements for the displaced and its capacity,
and those of the humanitarian community, to address the basic needs of
the affected population.
Mrs. Tibaijuka is expected to meet President Robert Mugabe sometime this
week. According to newspaper reports, President Mugabe has welcomed the
arrival of the Special Envoy saying that it will enable the world body
to understand and appreciate the spirit behind the operation. Newspaper
reports also announced that Murambatsvina was to wind up and be replaced
by a new one known as Operation Garikai under which the government aims
to provide residential and business accommodation to deserving people
under a comprehensive reconstruction programme.
Speaking to journalists at Harare airport, Mrs. Tibajuka said that she
was in Zimbabwe as a result of a mutual agreement between the Secretary-General
and the President of Zimbabwe. She stated that she expected to meet all
the different stakeholders and the people who had been affected before
presenting her report.
Mrs. Tibaijuka is accompanied by an 8 person team which includes Alioune
Badiane, the Director of UN-HABITAT’s regional office for Africa
and the Arab States, Nicholas You, Special Adviser to the Executive Director
on Strategic Planning; Sandra Baffoe-Bonnie, who is a human settlement’s
legal affairs officer; Sharad Shankardass, spokesperson and Nelly Kangethe,
personal assistant to the Executive Director.
The UN-HABITAT team has been joined by Mari Yamashita, political affairs
officer in the UN’s Department of Political Affairs in New York
and Alf Blikberg, Humanitarian Affairs officer from the UN Office for
the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Background to UN-HABITAT
UN-HABITAT is the agency within the UN that has been charged with the
responsibility for managing human settlements development. In a world
which is becoming increasingly urbanised, with 50 percent of the population
already living in cities, one of the challenges facing the international
community is the well being of almost 1 billion poor people who are currently
living in slums and squatter settlements without adequate shelter or basic
services. UN-HABITAT has therefore been involved with advising governments
on how best to manage slum upgrading and sustainable urban development.
In managing the urgent shelter needs of the urban poor, UN-HABITAT helps
international governments implement the Habitat Agenda which promotes
every citizen’s right to the city. The Habitat Agenda which was
signed by over 140 governments aims to promote inclusive cities that also
incorporate the needs of the poor into plans for urban development. The
agenda builds on the right to adequate housing enshrined in the International
Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights.
UN-HABITAT argues that forced evictions pose one of the main barriers
to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals targeted at the significant
improvement of millions of slum dwellers by the year 2020. UN-HABITAT
believes there is a great advantage in adopting a policy that promotes
dialogue to give room to all protagonists to find solutions that are in
the best interest of all, rich and poor alike. In addition UN-HABITAT
has always reminded governments of their obligations and requested them
to fully comply with those international agreements they have entered
into.
Unfortunately the practice of forced evictions continues in a number
of countries where the rights of citizens are too often ignored –
more particularly the rights of those who do not have the capacity or
voice to speak for themselves. These practices of forced evictions are
worsening the lives of millions of urban poor each year and are considered
unnecessary especially as there is considerable international evidence
that it is possible to arrive at innovative negotiated solutions that
meet the needs of all the parties concerned.
To access The Global Campaign for Secure Tenure and the International
Advisory Group on Forced Evictions, please click on the following link:
http://www.unhabitat.org/campaigns/tenure/taskforce.asp
The Global Campaign for Secure Tenure and the International Advisory
Group on Forced Evictions
Through its Global Campaign for Secure Tenure, UN-HABITAT has been advocating
the end to forced evictions and requesting governments to dialogue with
stakeholders in finding alternative solutions.
In furtherance of these efforts an International Advisory Group on Forced
Evictions was established to assist member states to monitor, and identify,
and if so requested, promote alternatives to forced evictions. This group
presented its first report in April 2005. This report highlighted the
fact that around the world there are about 6 million people who are being
evicted or threatened with evictions.
In its 2004 report, the Advisory Group documents cases of 15 countries
from Thailand, Pakistan, Kenya, United States of America, UK, Uganda,
Ghana, the Philippines, Indonesia, Argentina, Peru, Senegal, Greece, and
Brazil, where evictions are ongoing or threatened. While detailed figures
are indicated in the report, it is worth noting that in some cases, the
numbers reach staggering proportions: Pakistan: approx 250,000, Kenya:
approx 186,175, Ghana: 30,000, Quilombo Community, Brazil: approx 1,350,
Senegal: approx 22,750.
Recent reports of large scale of evictions taking place in Zimbabwe,
where homes are being demolished and burnt, indicate that 200,000 people
have been rendered homeless and many more have lost their livelihoods
as a result of a decision by the Government to engage the “Murambatsvina”
( or “drive out trash”) operation. Though the Government has
pointed out that these evictions are part of a larger process of relocation
that is providing the displaced people with alternative solutions, there
is concern that the evictions have impacted gravely on the social and
economic lives of the poor. This has led to call to halt them by Miloon
Kothari, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Housing Rights.
A similar spate of evictions in Mumbai, which according to announcements
by the authorities is being “modernised”, has left 90,000
shanties demolished, and 350,000 people homeless. This was described by
Human Rights Observers as the “worst cases of forced evictions anywhere
in the world”.
UN-HABITAT also notes with concern that in Pakistan, the building of
the Lyari Expressway, is threatening 250,000 families; in the State of
Para in Brazil, there is the imminent risk of evictions of thousands of
families and in Accra, Ghana, there are pending evictions of traders and
residents of informal housing along the railway lines. In some of the
Tsunami stricken areas after the suffering endured by the residents from
this unprecedented natural disaster, the authorities were preventing displaced
persons from re-entering previous settlement under the guise of future
risk of another Tsunami.
The report also documented many innovative solutions, which have been
tried and succeeded in addressing the issue of forced evictions by proposing
alternatives agreeable to all parties.
The Advisory Group fielded a mission to Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)
in March 2005, at the requests of the Municipalities of Boca Chica and
Caleta where more than 200,000 people are under the threat of evictions.
The consultations yielded positive results including the willingness of
the Government of the Province of Santo Domingo to engage in international
exchanges of proper practices on forced evictions, setting up a multi-party
Parliamentary Commission to formulate a legal framework to eliminate the
practice of forced evictions, and agreement by mayors to petition the
National Government and Congress to stop forced evictions until the law
to safeguard land occupation if developed.
In Italy, the private sector lease accounts for the majority of evictions.
The Advisory Group was invited in February 2005 by the Municipal Administration
and the Tenants Union to visit the city and discuss the high volume of
urban evictions. After several meeting and discussion the mission obtained
some commitments from the authorities including an unofficial but clear
commitment by the Prefecture to observe a 12 month moratorium on evictions
and evacuations, the signing of a declaration to achieve zero evictions
plan at local and national levels, and the commitment to organise a training
course on Article 11 of the Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights for magistrates, workers and associations in the housing sector
with possible help from UN-HABITAT.
In Kenya, in 2003, a plan to evict informal settlers along rail and road
servitudes in Kibera had the potential of affecting 300,000 people. In
Kenya, UN-HABITAT using patient dialogue with all partners including representatives
of NGOs and faith based organisations, managed to solve the crisis and
the government agreed to a moratorium that enabled all parties to work
towards long-term solutions.
Despite these positive outcomes, evictions unfortunately continue to
take place at an alarming scale. From the beginning of the year, UN-HABITAT
has registered several cases of violent forced evictions targeting the
most vulnerable populations. As in other cases, UN-HABITAT is requesting
all parties concerned to consider alternative policies and is offering
the services of the International Advisory Group on Forced Evictions to
assist in finding long-term solutions.
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