7 OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The right to adequate housing (Art.11.1): forced evictions : . 20/05/97. CESCR General comment 7. (General Comments) Convention Abbreviation: GENERAL be protected CESCR COMMENT by law against unfair eviction from their homes or land". In the Habitat Agenda Governments committed themselves to “protecting all people from, and providing legal protection and 7 redress for, forced evictions that are contrary to the law, taking human rights into consideration; [and] when evictions are unavoidable, ensuring, as appropriate, that alternative suitable solutions are {Sixteenth session, 1997)* 1. In its General Comment No. 4 (1991), the Committee observed thatall persons should possess a degree of security of tenure which guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats. It concluded that forced evictions are prima facie incompatible with the requirements of the Covenant. Having considered a significant number of reports of forced evictions in recent years, including instances in which it has determined that the obligations of States parties were being violated, the Committee is now in a provided”. The Commission on Human Rights has also indicated that “forced evictions are a gross violation of human rights".* However, although these statements are important, they leave open one of the most critical issues, namely that of determining the circumstances under which forced evictions are permissible and of spelling out the types of protection required to ensure respect for the relevant provisions of the Covenant. 3. The some use of the respects, term “forced problematic. This evictions” is, in expression seeks as to convey a sense of arbitrariness and of illegality. To many observers, however, the reference to “forced evictions” is a tautology, while others to the implications of such practices in terms of the obligations contained in the Covenant. have criticized the expression “illegal evictions” on the ground that it assumes that the relevant 2. law provides adequate protection of the right to housing and conforms with the Covenant, which is by no means always the case. Similarly, it has position to seek The recognized to provide international further clarification community has that the issue of forced evictions long Is a serious one. In 1976, the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements noted that special attention should be paid to “undertaking major clearance operations should take place only whenconservation and rehabilitation are not feasible and relocation measures are made”.’ In 1988, in the Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 43/181, the “fundamental obligation [of Governments] to protect and improve houses and neighbourhoods, rather than damage or destroy them” was recognized.? Agenda 21 stated that “people should * Contained in document E/1998/22, annex IV. 1 Report of Habitat: United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, Vancouver, 31 May - 11 June 1976 (A/ CONF. 70/15), chap. Il, recommendation B.8, para. C (ii). Report of the Commission on Human Settlements on the work of its eleventh session, Addendum (A/43/8/ Add.1), para. 13. 2 22 — CHRP ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS HANDBOOK been suggested that the term “unfair evictions” is even more subjective by virtue of its failure to refer to any legal community, framework at all. especially in the The international context of the Commission on Human Rights, has opted to refer to “forced evictions”, primarily since all suggested alternatives also suffer from many such defects. The term “forced evictions" as used throughout this general comment is defined as the permanent or temporary removal against their will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/ or land which they occupy, without the provision of, 3 4 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, Vol. | (A/ CONF.151/26/Rev,1(vol.l), annex Il, Agenda 21, chap. 7.9 (b). Report of the United Nations Conference on Settlements (Habitat |!) (A/CONF.165/14), Agenda, para. 40 (n). 5 Som sSlOn para. 1. on Human annex Rights Il, The resolution Habitat 1993/77,