By Priscila Néri | November 15th, 2011 Envelopes with letters and DVDs for the IOC- Photo courtesy of Vitor Peixoto
##Leia a carta-denúncia em português aqui e veja os vídeos aqui##
We’ve joined forces with our local partners in Rio and Amnesty International to call on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to address the complaints of hundreds of poor families that have been (or are at risk of being) forcibly evicted from their homes under the pretext of the XXXI Summer Olympic Games to be held in Rio in 2016.
On November 11th, our partners, after several attempts, hand-delivered a letter and video-dossier on recent forced evictions to members of the IOC’s Rio 2016 Coordination Commission, who were visiting Rio for a periodic project review. The letter – co-signed by Amnesty, WITNESS, Comitê Popular Rio da Copa e Olimpíadas, Conselho Popular do Rio de Janeiro, and Movimento Nacional de Luta pela Moradia – calls on the IOC to meet [...]
Continue reading Join the Call: No More Evictions for Rio 2016 Olympics
By Priscila Néri | October 20th, 2011 Sometimes, quite a bit. Did you know that in Beijing alone, over 1.25 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes to make way for Olympics-related development in the lead-up to the 2008 Games? Organizations like the Center on Housing Rights & Evictions have long documented some of the most egregious abuses, noting that the pattern of displacement has repeated itself in most of the cities that have hosted major global sporting events. Not surprisingly, poor communities and ethnic minorities often pay the heaviest price (see South Africa during the 2010 World Cup and India during the 2010 Commonwealth Games for more recent examples).
Here at WITNESS, we started working on this issue in Brazil last year, when activists were beginning to organize their strategies to resist the onslaught of evictions planned around 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. In the 12 cities chosen to host events across Brazil, thousands of families are [...]
Continue reading What do the World Cup and Olympics Have to do with Human Rights Violations?
By Ryan Schlief | October 3rd, 2011 As I shared in an earlier post, Global Networks Unite on Forced Evictions, WITNESS, our partner the Habitat International Coalition and 6 other networks working on housing and land rights have organized World Habitat Days – six weeks (16 September – 31 October) to bring attention and activism to forced evictions, land grabbing and activists at risk.
The United Nations has designated today, October 3rd, as World Habitat Day, where it has called for a focus on “Cities and Climate Change.” The coalition of networks, including WITNESS, has released a public statement in recognition of today, which highlights the six week campaign and calls for the inclusion of communities outside of cities also to be considered when addressing the effects of climate change.
For me, since the theme of six week campaign is “Resistances and Alternatives for the Right to Habitat” on World Habitat Day I am reflecting on the [...]
Continue reading World Habitat Day Is About People: Their Struggles, Their Strategies
By Ryan Schlief | September 18th, 2011 Riot police and security forces moved into the Boeung Kak area of Phnom Penh with batons and shields on Friday to forcibly evict families from their homes. In all eight homes were destroyed. Our partner in Cambodia, LICADHO, and LICADHO Canada, captured the attack on video, including the violent beating with a brick by police of a local activist. This video contains graphic and violent content.
We reported earlier our cautious optimism when the government announced that the remaining 779 families would be granted formal ownership of land near the lake. And indeed 96 of these families have been arbitrarily excluded from this resettlement plan and the government moved on Friday to force them out. Before Friday, the development company began to more aggressively flood the homes of the remaining 96 families.
Earlier last week, the Housing Rights Task Force, of which LICADHO is a member, issued a statement [...]
Continue reading Video Captures Police Destroying Homes, Beating Locals in Phnom Penh
By Ryan Schlief | September 16th, 2011 Today marks the first day of a six week period of focus on housing issues around the world called World Habitat Days. Collectively representing hundreds of organizations and thousands of activists, WITNESS, our partner the Habitat International Coalition, and 5 housing and land rights networks have organized the World Habitat Days to draw global attention and actions to housing issues around the world – as part of our larger focus on forced evictions.
The global theme, Right to Habitat: Resistance and Alternatives, will highlight the local resistance to forced evictions, alternatives being presented and collaborate action and research among the hundreds of members of these major networks. During the campaign, the participating networks will expose the causes and effects of forced evictions, the suffering and impoverishment of people affected by rural and urban habitat problems and create solidarity with activists for the right to habitat who have been victimized by [...]
Continue reading Global Networks and WITNESS Unite Against Forced Evictions
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