América do Sul e Central

As Brazil Marks One-Year Countdown to 2014 World Cup, Thousands Cope with Forced Evictions

Published in Thursday June 13th, 2013 In Mobilisation and agenda

170,000 Brazilians are at risk of losing—or have already lost—their homes in forced evictions tied to preparations for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. While mega-events such as the World Cup are a driver of forced evictions, the phenomenon is not limited to Brazil or to major sporting events: an estimated 15 million people across the globe are forcibly uprooted from their homes each year as a result of on-going physical abuse, threats and intimidation and often without consultation and compensation.

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Will Brazil be left counting the cost of hosting the World Cup and Olympics?

Published in Thursday June 13th, 2013 In In the media

BRIC countries have tried to use these mega-events to boost development by accelerating investments in infrastructure and lifting services, governance and local business to international standards. However, the cost to the public purse and the communities affected can be enormous, prompting criticism that the money would be better spent at grassroots level, on improving health and education, rather than on awarding prestige projects to construction companies.

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Once Unsafe, Rio’s Shantytowns See Rapid Gentrification

Published in Friday June 7th, 2013 In In the media

(Português) The locals are being priced out of the market. Rents have gone up, and those who can’t afford to pay are leaving the neighborhood to other, more dangerous favelas. The residents are not being allowed to enjoy the new security. All the new restaurants and hotels are for the foreigners — not for the locals. Hear the story here.

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Horto Resists: Historic Community in Jardim Botânico Fights to Remain

Published in Monday June 3rd, 2013 In Social movement news

As the rain started to pour on Tuesday evening, May 28th, around 80 residents from the Horto community protested at the gates of Rio’s Jardim Botânico (Botanical Gardens) where the opening of world famous photographer Sebastião Salgado’s latest exhibition was taking place. Undeterred by the ensuing downpour, residents and supporters banged drums and held their banners high. “To brand as invaders the people who built this park is inhuman” read one held at the entrance to the famous visitor attraction.

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Public Domain

Published in Tuesday May 28th, 2013

Vidigal, Vila Autódromo, Providência, the port region of Rio and the surroundings of the Maracanã stadium have been recognized as some of the most affected by real estate speculation, a phenomenon in which housing prices are increasing due to preparation for the major world events to be hosted in Rio. As a result of the rising prices, Rio residents, primarily the poorest residents are being forced to move to distant suburbs that lack infrastructure and services and are dominated by heavily armed militia.

Eu, Favela

Published in Monday May 20th, 2013

With the recent implementation of the Pacifying Police Units (UPP) in several favelas in Rio de Janeiro, the gentrification process can already be observed, due to the vergitinous real estate valuation and to the rise in costs of infrastructure. Testimonies from residents of Chapéu Mangueira, a community in the Leme neighborhood, question the consequences of the current government’s policy, alerting the population so that the favela culture is not lost.

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Global Land Forum forges international agreement on territorial development

Published in Friday May 17th, 2013 In Social movement news

As the global population continues to grow and the demand for food and the land to produce it on increase in lock step, the International Land Coalition brought together 273 people from 47 countries in Antigua, Guatemala from April 23-27 to discuss territorial governance and food security in the context of rapid urbanisation and shifting patterns of land use throughout the developing world.

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Land disputes spark eviction fears in Haiti displacement camps 3 years after quake

Published in Tuesday May 14th, 2013 In In the media

The camp residents managed to protect their homes the day they were menaced but they also brought to life a far-reaching problem. In the few weeks since the confrontation, their plight has become a symbol for what many say is the growing use of threats and sometimes outright violence to clear out sprawling displaced person camps, where some 320,000 Haitians still live.

The standoff set off a chain of events that left several shelters burned and a camp resident dead. It occurred a little more than a week before the human rights group Amnesty International issued a report on the jump in camp evictions in Haiti over the past year.

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Chile’s social housing policy: creating socioeconomic ghettos?

Published in Wednesday May 8th, 2013 In In the media

Bajos de Mena — a housing project built on the periphery of Santiago between 1994-2004 — is currently the focus of a recently announced multimillion dollar government project to regenerate deprived areas. Despite having a population of more than 120,000, Bajos de Mena lacks a police or fire station, schools, good transportation links or even a supermarket. Housing vulnerable families from across the region, it has also become a hotbed of deprivation, social problems and crime. To understand how a project, which cost millions to build less than 20 years ago, once again requires such a huge investment, it is necessary to examine Chile’s unique social housing policy.

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Special Rapporteur sends 19 communications during the second semester of 2012

Published in Tuesday April 30th, 2013 In Dialogue with countries

Check the communications sent by the Special Rapporteurs, as well as the answers received from the Member States, referring to the second half of 2012.