News

Villagers threatened with eviction

Published in Wednesday March 13th, 2013 In In the media

Resettled villagers in the Chitora area of Ward 1 in Shurugwi North are set to lose their farmland and livelihoods over their political affiliation. The area is home to hundreds of people given the relatively fertile farmland by the government. However, according to sources, MDC members have been threatened with eviction by their rivals in Zanu (PF).

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Lagos, Nigeria: Where housing is a luxury

Published in Wednesday March 13th, 2013 In Social movement news

Lagos has over 10 million inhabitants – most of whom are constantly struggling for adequate housing. With an ever-increasing population, a decent place to live has become a luxury for Lagos’s poor majority. Click here to watch a newsclip from YouTube featuring Friday Ogunyemi and the aftermath of the forced eviction.

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Mortgage settlement helps lenders more than homeowners, critics say

Published in Tuesday March 12th, 2013 In In the media

Government-directed settlements with major lenders have provided billions of dollars in relief to struggling homeowners caught up in the “robo-signing” debacle of the financial crisis. But those big mortgage servicers appear to be benefiting as well, getting credit in those settlements for forgiving debt that they likely would never have collected anyway.
The banks, meanwhile, say they are providing meaningful relief to customers through debt forgiveness, modified loans and short sales. But some critics believe lenders are not paying a stiff-enough price for botching millions of foreclosures across the country.

Japan commemorates 2011 great temblor amid slow reconstruction

Published in Tuesday March 12th, 2013 In In the media

Japan on Monday commemorated the second anniversary of 2011 devastated earthquake and tsunami which destroyed the country’s northeast region, while reconstruction programs in the disaster-hit regions are slow and face serious difficulties.
In the National Theatre in central Tokyo, the government held a memorial ceremony Monday afternoon, with attendance of Emperor Akihito, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and people who lost their families in the catastrophe.

Domestic Violence, Housing, and a Human Rights Win for U.S. Women

Published in Monday March 11th, 2013 In In the media

March 8 is International Women’s Day, and it’s especially timely for us in the U.S. this year. The recent enactment of legislation reauthorizing and strengthening the Violence Against Women Act is a landmark event for women, and especially low-income women, in the U.S.

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Thousands protest in Japan on eve of Fukushima nuclear disaster anniversary

Published in Monday March 11th, 2013 In In the media

Thousands of anti-nuclear protesters have gathered across Japan. The rallies come on the eve of the two-year anniversary of an earthquake and tsunami that caused the Fukushima disaster.
Tens of thousands of people converged on central Tokyo’s Hibiya Park Sunday in opposition to nuclear power. Activists and scholars gave talks and musicians performed before sign-carrying crowds that marched through the government district of Kasumigaseki to parliament.

Some Fukushima evacuees won’t go home

Published in Monday March 11th, 2013 In In the media

Two years after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, many of the inhabitants of affected areas are reluctant to return despite expensive decontamination efforts. An earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, 20 kilometers away. There were explosions in several reactors and a blanket of radioactive particles settled over the region like an invisible cloak. After farming the land here for generations, the inhabitants of the valley were forced to evacuate the region.

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Japan marks second anniversary of tsunami

Published in Monday March 11th, 2013 In In the media

Japan has marked the second anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that claimed some 19,000 lives. Anti-nuclear activists protested to demand an end to atomic power in light of the Fukushima disaster.

Restituting the land to the Endorois People: a 40-year process

Published in Saturday March 9th, 2013 In Social movement news

In November 2012, members of the Adjudication Working Group at ESCR-Net facilitated a strategic meeting with leaders of the Endorois community in Kenya, focused on advancing full implementation of the unprecedented recommendations issued by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights regarding the evictions. The meeting brought together human rights lawyers, activists, and academics from Kenya, South Africa and the US with expertise on enforcement of court decisions.

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“Don’t finance forced evictions”

Published in Friday March 8th, 2013 In Social movement news

Right now, over 1,000 people in Lagos, Nigeria, are under threat of being kicked out of their homes with nowhere to go. One mass eviction has already happened, and more could happen any day. People in this situation recently won unexpected support from the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Raquel Rolnik. She criticized her colleagues at the World Bank for failing to bring its safeguarding policies for loans to fund development projects in line with international human rights standards.

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