Documents

Here you find publications, articles, legislation and other kinds of documents related to the right to adequate housing.

‘Jumping the Queue’, Waiting Lists and other Myths: Perceptions and Practice around Housing Demand and Allocation in South Africa

Published in Friday July 5th, 2013

This report analyses perceptions and practice around housing demand and allocation in South Africa, looking at the policies and processes operating at national, provincial and local level. It attempts to unpack some of the complexity and provide recommendations to government departments at all levels.

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The Price of Steel: Human Rights and Forced Evictions in the POSCO-India Project

Published in Tuesday July 2nd, 2013

Worth approximately US$12 billion, the POSCO-India project represents the largest single foreign direct investment in India to date, and will require more than 12,000 acres of land, including approximately 4,000 acres for an integrated steel plant and captive port in an area that is home to forest-dwelling communities and a vibrant and sustainable local economy centered around betel leaf cultivation. For the past eight years, affected communities—including betel leaf farmers, fisherfolk, and Dalits—have effectively stalled the project and resisted their forcible evictions from lands they have cultivated for generations.

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Rapporteur holds activities on security of tenure and humanitarian aid

Published in Friday June 28th, 2013 In Collection

(Português) Nos dias 27 e 28 de junho, a Relatora Raquel Rolnik participa de atividades sobre segurança da posse no âmbito das questões de ajuda humanitária.

Land in the Struggle for Social Justice: Social Movement Strategies to Secure Human Rights

Published in Thursday June 27th, 2013

ESCR-Net, in collaboration with Terra de Direitos, is pleased announce the release of a new publication titled Land in the Struggle for Social Justice: Social Movement Strategies to Secure Human Rights. The publication documents the experiences of diverse social movements that have utilized the human rights framework in their struggles for access to and control over land, and the lessons they have learned.

Rapporteur hosts roundtable on security of tenure in Europe

Published in Wednesday June 26th, 2013 In Collection

On June 26th, Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik, in Geneva, an informal consultation on security of tenure with representatives of civil society organizations from several European countries.

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Experiences for strengthening security of tenure discussed during a consultation in Quito, Ecuador

Published in Tuesday May 28th, 2013 In Collection

On May 11, the Special Rapporteur promoted in Quito a consultation a consultation on the main land policy experiences and planning instruments in Latin America aimed at strengthening security of tenure.

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Land Rights and Ethnic Conflict in Burma

Published in Monday May 13th, 2013

Burma is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse countries. Ethnic minorities make up an estimated 30-40 percent of the total population, and ethnic states occupy some 57 percent of the total land area and are home to poor and often persecuted ethnic minority groups. Most of the people living in these impoverished and war-torn areas are subsistence farmers practicing upland cultivation. Economic grievances have played a central part in fuelling the civil war. While the central government has been systematically exploiting the natural resources of these areas, the money earned has not been (re)invested to benefit the local population.

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Unheard Voices: The Human Rights Impact of Land Investments on Indigenous Communitties in Gambella, Ethiopia

Published in Wednesday April 24th, 2013

Millions of acres of Ethiopia’s most fertile land are being made available to investors, often in long-term leases and at giveaway prices. Although proponents of these investments call them “win-win” deals, the reality proves much different. This briefing paper provides an overview of the human rights impacts of land investment and the villagization process on the indigenous Anuak community in Ethiopia’s Gambella region. The struggle of the Anuak in Gambella is emblematic of the struggles of other communities in Ethiopia that are being forcibly displaced to make way for largescale land investors.

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Nowhere to go: Forced evictions in Haiti’s displacement camps

Published in Wednesday April 24th, 2013

Three years after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, tens of thousands of people are still living in insecure and inadequate shelters. This report shows how Haiti’s post-quake reconstruction is failing to protect and fulfil the right to adequate housing. Amnesty International has documented a pattern of forced evictions of internally displaced families, which has involved the mass removals without notice.

Accountability in Africa’s land rush: what role for legal empowerment?

Published in Tuesday April 23rd, 2013

This report, commissioned by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and prepared by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), is a step towards answering questions on constraints and opportunities in the accountability of public authorities involved with large-scale land acquisitions. It takes stock of evidence about opportunities and challenges affecting the accountability of public authorities in large-scale land acquisitions, and about the role of legal empowerment as a citizen-driven pathway to greater accountability.

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