You and your family are asleep in the safety of your home, when the door is smashed in without warning. Armed thugs hustle you from your house without allowing you to take any belongings.The streets are swarming with armed police, and you watch as your home is bulldozed to the ground. The same thing is happening to your neighbours, and within a short space of time, the community in which you once lived is a wasteland. You receive no compensation for your loss, nor any offer of relocation to another site, and you cannot take your case to court, as the entire exercise has been sanctioned by government. Scenes such as these occur every day somewhere in the world. This is the brutal reality of forced eviction – an act that destroys the hopes and homes of millions of people every year.

The purpose of the COHRE Global Forced Evictions Project is to prevent, remedy and monitor forced evictions throughout the world. COHRE pursues this goal in cooperation with a growing international network of communities, organisations and institutions.

Under international human rights law, the practice of forced evictions is widely considered to "constitute a gross violation of human rights, in particular the right to adequate housing". Based on sustained field research and eviction prevention activities, COHRE estimates that annually well in excess of 5 million people are forcibly evicted, with the actual number likely to be much higher. Forced evictions thus represent one of the most widespread human rights and housing rights violations in the world today.

For the victims, the impact of forced eviction is almost always severe. This can include physical and mental trauma, homelessness, loss of wealth and assets in the form of dwellings and personal goods, loss of livelihood or employment, declining standards of health and education, and the destruction of community bonds. Evictions are often accompanied by extreme brutality, with victims, in many cases, arrested, beaten, tortured or even killed. Many evictions are carried out at short notice, without judicial sanction and may involve the uprooting of entire urban or rural communities.

Despite these facts, the practice of forced eviction usually receives little attention from the media or society at large. Evictions are typically seen as an unfortunate but necessary consequence of economic development, without which economic growth and modernisation would be jeopardised. In these circumstances, it is no exaggeration to speak of a global crisis of forced evictions, requiring urgent and concerted efforts from all sectors to change attitudes and practices.

In response to this critical situation, a large number of community groups and support organisations, such as COHRE, have begun organising themselves to combat the practice of forced evictions. These efforts need to be consolidated, extended and supported.

Please feel free to contact COHRE's Global Forced Evictions Programme if you have any comments or questions on this section or forced evictions generally.
evictions@cohre.org