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Att: Governador Provincial da Huíla
Sr. Isaac Maria Francisco dos AnjosRe: Forced eviction of
more than three thousand families in Lubango – seven or more deaths to be
confirmed – and other violent and illegal evictions and demolitions in Angola
COHRE, Christian Aid and OMCT and our Angolan partners are gravely concerned about the reported forced eviction of more than three thousand families and demolition of houses in Lubango city, Huíla province, since beginning of March 2010. 7 deaths were reported during the demolition of houses. Many evicted families and their belongings were left in the open–air where bad weather is damaging their property; and / or several families are sharing a tent.
There is no water, sanitation, food, medical facilities, and schools, giving rise to a humanitarian emergency. At night the evicted are robbed by bandits due to lack of police protection. According to citizens affected by the eviction they will not receive any compensation from the government for damages caused or assisted with building materials for reconstruction. During the eviction process, His Excellency the provincial Governor of Huila interfered with the media, forbidding them to cover and report the eviction events.
The international community has indicated forced evictions as a gross violation of human rights, particularly affecting the right to adequate housing. In its General Comment No. 4, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that “the instances of forced eviction are prima facie incompatible with the requirements of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). COHRE, Christian Aid and OMCT remind the provincial Government of Huíla, the Administration of Lubango and all relevant authorities in Angola that as a State Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, it is bound to comply with the State Party obligations contained within this international treaty, including the obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to adequate housing enshrined in Article 11.
COHRE, Christian Aid and OMCT would like to remind the Angolan authorities that in terms of international human rights law, for evictions to be considered as lawful, they must satisfy legal requirements as articulated in General Comments numbers 4 and 7 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Evictions should not result in rendering individuals homeless or vulnerable to the violation of other human rights. Where those affected are unable to provide for themselves, Angola government must take all appropriate measures, to the maximum of its available resources, to ensure that adequate alternative housing, resettlement or access to alternative land able to support the community livelihood, as the case may be is available.
State authorities need to provide housing, food water and sanitation facilities for the evicted families as dialogue platforms are made available with Angola civil society organisations and community groups, on compensation and other ways of enabling the families to restart their lives in environment they feel comfortable with.
The State of Angola must ensure that further forced evictions will stop until basic standards, legislation and rules on carrying out an eviction can be put into practice in all the territory and protection is ensured to all Angolan Citizens.
Requests for further information or
electronic replies should be sent to salih@cohre.org.
Sincerely,
Salih Booker, Executive Director, Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions
Paul Valentin, Director, International Department, Christian Aid
Eric Sottas, Secretary General, World Organisation Against Torture
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