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Sudan
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Housing Rights Awards 2004
Recipients
Housing Rights Violator Award 2004
Sudan
Sudan is Housing Rights Violator for its persistent, systematic and unjustified violation of the housing rights of its citizens, including IDPs in Darfur and Khartoum, and for its ongoing failure to apply international and regional human rights standards.
The Sudanese Government’s support for the Janjaweed militia’s campaign against ‘black Africans’ – attacking and burning villages, killing thousands of civilians, raping women and looting property – is in clear breach of international law. This scorched earth policy, which has led to the mass displacement of more than 1.6 million people from their lands and homes in Darfur, is clear evidence of its complete disregard for human rights including the right to adequate housing.
In November 2004, the Sudanese Government forcibly relocated more than 30,000 IDPs from the El Geer camp in Nyala, South Darfur, to a location known as Sherif, which is ill-equipped to accommodate them. Massive human rights violations, including violations of the right to housing, also continue in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. In 2004, Sudanese Government demolished more than 13,000 houses, schools and health facilities, forcing thousands of IDPs to seek shelter in temporary dwellings and creating a homelessness crisis in the capital.
United States of America
The USA is named as a Housing Rights Violator for its failure to protect the rights of millions of homeless people within its borders and the criminalisation of homelessness in many of the fifty states. Outside of the country, military offensives and indiscriminate bombing campaigns in Iraq have left thousands of Iraqis homeless. Within the United Nations, the US continues to stand alone in its continued opposition to the very existence of housing rights in international human rights law.
Russia
Russia has been named one of three Housing Rights Violators of 2004 for the forced repatriation of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Chechnya, the forced closure of camps housing Chechen IDPs in Ingushetia and for failing to halt the rapid growth in homelessness in Russia’s cities.
The forced repatriation of Chechen IDPs through the use of constant harassment and threats, the reduction of humanitarian assistance and the cutting of gas and electricity supplies to camps is in breach of Russia’s international legal obligations. Russia’s practices have forced thousands of Chechen IDPs to return to Chechnya, despite having no homes to go back to. More than 90% the Chechen capital, Grozny, remains in ruins. Despite this, Russian authorities significantly accelerated the forced repatriation of IDPs to Chechnya from Ingushetia in late 2002, and have since closed all six IDP camps there. The last IDP camp in Ingushetia was closed in June 2004.
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Housing Rights Protector Award 2004
Municipality of Sao Paulo, Brazil
The Municipality of Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been awarded the 2004 Housing Rights Protector Award for its Bairro Legal (Legal Neighbourhood) Programme, an initiative providing security of tenure and improved living conditions for hundreds of thousands of its residents.
Approximately 30% of Sao Paulo’s 10 million residents live on land to which they do not possess legal title. Most of those who purchased land during the 1970s, under a scheme in which land was parcelled into lots and sold to low-income families, were not provided with legal title to their land. Most of the lots sold to low-income families without legal title (known as informal land allotments) are situated in areas lacking basic services such as access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities. Residents of these informal settlements have in many cases been forced to build wells on land contaminated by sewage, because previous local governments in Sao Paulo ignored their responsibilities to provide basic infrastructure in these areas, due to their “informal” status.
The Bairro Legal Programme’s mandate includes: providing legal assistance and support for the titling or regularisation of informal land allotments; protecting communities from forced evictions; mediating in land disputes and conflicts; and improving living conditions in informal land allotments through the provision of basic amenities such as clean drinking water, adequate sanitation facilities and other essential services to residents.
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| Rajeev John George |
Housing Rights Defender Award 2004
Rajeev John George
Rajeev John George, a 34-year old housing rights activist from Indore, India, was the recipient of the 2004 Housing Rights Defender Award.
The award recognises Rajeev’s outstanding contribution to the struggle for the right to adequate housing in India. He has worked tirelessly for over 12 years mobilising communities against forced evictions and empowering urban poor leaders to advocate for the housing rights of their communities. One of Rajeev’s most significant contributions towards the realisation of housing rights in India has been his highly innovative strategies in developing pro-poor interventions in the City Master Plans of Indore and Hyderabad.
Deenbandhu, the non-governmental organisation founded by Rajeev John George, surveys land throughout Indore and prepares detailed maps of all urban poor settlements. The survey results are transferred into a digital format known as GIS (Geographical Information System), which uses satellite images to cross-check and extend land-based mapping techniques. The mapping techniques used by Deenbandhu have helped to identify locations designated for the relocation of slum dwellers but illegally occupied by influential groups, in violation of the City Master Plan.
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| Acceptance Speech Rajeev John George |
Winner of the 2004 Housing Rights Defender Award
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In memory of Rajeev John George
1970 – 2005
“Our people do get arrested... but eventually the authorities will have to negotiate with us, because our struggle continues in spite of all oppressions”
COHRE was shocked and saddened by the untimely death of Rajeev George, Convenor of the National Forum on Housing Rights in India and a co-founder of Deenbandhu (Friends of the Poor), a community organisation based in Indore and well known for its innovative approaches to preventing forced evictions and developing pro-poor interventions in city Master Plans.
Rajeev, who was just 34, was widely admired by housing rights activists around the world for his passionate sense of justice and his creative solutions to the problems of the urban poor.
He received COHRE’s Housing Rights Defender Award in 2004 in recognition of his outstanding commitment to the realisation of housing rights for all people, and his groundbreaking work using satellite images and GIS technology to accurately map slum areas and identify relocation sites.
COHRE’s Executive Director, Scott Leckie, said “Rajeev was an inspiration to housing rights activists throughout India, the Asian region and the world.
He combined dedication, intelligence, moral strength and real humility with great personal charm. He will be sadly missed by all of us at COHRE and his many friends in the housing rights field”.
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