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New Video the Government of Rio de Janeiro Doesn’t Want You to See
Roughly 170,000 people are either at risk, or have already been subjected to, forced evictions throughout the 12 Brazilian cities gearing up to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.
Priscila Néri
December 14, 2011
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What do the World Cup and Olympics Have to do with Human Rights Violations?
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?
Priscila Néri
October 20, 2011
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World Habitat Day Is About People: Their Struggles, Their Strategies
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.
WITNESS
October 3, 2011
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Video Captures Police Destroying Homes, Beating Locals in Phnom Penh
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.
WITNESS
September 18, 2011
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Threats Increase Against Monk Fighting Forced Evictions in Cambodia
Since 2009, our partner organization in Cambodia, LICADHO, has been using video to document forced evictions and land-grabbing. We met the Venerable Loun Sovath, a Buddhist monk, through our work with LICADHO. His tireless campaigning for those at risk of forced eviction in Cambodia, has repeatedly put him at risk.
WITNESS
June 27, 2011
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What do we wish each other on Human Rights Day 2010?
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is profiling over a dozen human rights defenders, including the Venerable Luon Sovath, on Human Rights Day, 10 December, this year.
WITNESS
December 9, 2010
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Video Documents Land-Grabbing in Rural Cambodia
In an earlier post, I shareda clip from a video advocacy training in Cambodia. The first practical training exercise took place in Siem Reap province, where one of the trainees, the Venerable Luon Sovath, grew up.
WITNESS
October 15, 2010
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Video Training Targets Forced Evictions in Cambodia
In Cambodia, WITNESS has focused the past two years on supporting LICADHO's efficacy to produce and strategically distribute advocacy videos on forced evictions in the name of development - the same subject as our new global campaign.
WITNESS
October 7, 2010
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Today is World Habitat Day
For the month of October, in conjunction with the Housing and Land Rights Day (World Habitat Day) on 04 October and our global campaign, WITNESS will feature advocacy videos used around the world in campaigns against forced evictions in the name of development.
WITNESS
October 4, 2010
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Outsourcing our food: “Land grabs” and the food on your plate
This week the World Bank is hosting an online consultation with global civil society based on its controversial report released last week: “Rising Global Interest in Farmland: Can It Yield Sustainable and Equitable Results?"
WITNESS
September 16, 2010
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Forced evictions in focus at the Americas Social Forum
More than 15,000 Indigenous people at risk of being forcibly removed from their lands to make way for the construction of the Inambari Hydroelectric Center in Peru, a series of six dams in the Peruvian Amazon that will cost $15 billion dollars and, when ready, send approximately 80% of its energy to support large industries in neighboring Brazil.
Priscila Néri
September 6, 2010
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Indigenous Rights Protected After Indian Mine Stopped
Following years of controversy and activism, the Government of India on Tuesday rejected the proposed bauxite mining project in the eastern state of Orissa determining that the mine violates environmental and forestry laws and would lead to further abuses against the indigenous communities in the area.
WITNESS
August 25, 2010
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Forced Evictions in the Name of Development
In an earlier blog post my colleague Sam Gregory introduced our new focus on gender-based violence. Our second focus area is what is known as development-induced displacement, or the forced eviction of people and communities in the name of development.
WITNESS
July 14, 2010
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Groundbreaking Use of Video Helps Win Case for Indigenous Endorois People in Kenya
In 1973 the Kenyan Endorois community was evicted from their land. In 2009 their case was taken to court, and with the help of WITNESS, they produced a film about their story which ultimately helped lead to a decision requiring the government to restitute their lands with compensation.
WITNESS
February 10, 2010
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Kenya, Cambodia and Australia at the Hub – NOW!
Head on over to the Hub (once you’ve read these great posts from Matisse and Sam, of course) for this week’s Picks… and see the end of this post for further links and info. As well as images of continuing violence from the Rift Valley town of Naivasha, shot by our Kenyan partners Cemiride, we’ve […]
Priscila Néri
February 13, 2008