Every year millions of people are forcibly evicted, leaving them homeless and, in the process, entrenching patterns of poverty, discrimination and social exclusion. International law explicitly recognises the right to adequate housing. It furthermore clearly prohibits illegal and arbitrary forced eviction, and has repeatedly declared this practice to be a gross and systematic violation of human rights. Nevertheless forced evictions continue to take place in virtually all countries of the world. In the overwhelming majority of these cases, the evicted people receive no relocation assistance or compensation, and end up even poorer than before.

Since its formation in 1994, the issue of forced evictions has been central to the work of COHRE. Working with a growing network of organisations and groups around the world, COHRE helped to place this critical issue firmly on the international agenda, and began to develop approaches and strategies to counter the trend. In 2003 COHRE established the Global Forced Evictions Programme (GFEP), which is aimed at the more systematic monitoring, preventing and remedying of forced evictions throughout the world. The programme uses a multi-faceted approach to effectively monitor and take action on pending, present and past forced evictions.

Some of COHRE’s activities on forced evictions include:

• Initiating and supporting NEW INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS condemning the practice of forced evictions such as General Comment No. 7 (1997): The Right to Adequate Housing (Art. 11.1 of the Covenant): Forced Evictions;
• GLOBAL MONITORING of the scale, frequency and scope of forced evictions, and regular publication of the results (in e.g. the quarterly COHRE Evictions Monitor and bi-annual Global Forced Eviction Survey);
• NETWORKING with local, national, regional and international organisations and groups with a view to monitoring and preventing forced evictions; eg. Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR), Shack Dwellers’ International (SDI), Environmental Development Action (ENDA), Centre for Public Interest Law, Ghana (CEPIL);
• Initiating and participating in expert groups and meetings on forced evictions (e.g. the Expert Group meeting on development-based displacement; and the UN-Habitat Advisory Group on Forced Evictions);
• Conducting INVESTIGATIONS into specific forced evictions (recent examples include Ghana, Indonesia, the Philippines, Colombia, Nicaragua, Kenya, Ireland and South Africa);
• Initiating and participating in CAMPAIGNS against forced evictions;
• Assisting specific communities to take legal and other action to PREVENT threatened forced evictions;
• Working with local groups to DEVELOP VIABLE ALTERNATIVES to threatened forced evictions;
• TRAINING of activists, lawyers, judges, government officials and community leaders in using effective legal and other strategies to prevent and remedy forced evictions;
• Coverage of forced eviction stories by local, national, regional and international MEDIA.

Click here to go to COHRE's Global Forced Eviction Survey page in the online library.

Click here to go to COHRE's Evictions Monitor page in the online library.