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United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement

Youth for Unity andVoluntary Action

Housing and LandRights Network

Handbook on UN Basic Principles and Guidelineson Development-based Evictions and Displacement

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HaNDBook oN

United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on

Development-based Evictions and Displacement


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CoNTENTS

Introduction 3

Summary: 21 United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement

Full Text: 30United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement


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Introduction

The Right to Adequate Housing is a Human Right

While the majority of the world lives in some form of dwelling, around half the world’s population does not enjoy all the entitlements necessary for housing to be considered adequate. It has been well established in international human rights law and its interpretation that housing is not just a physical structure of four roofs and a wall. It is a much broader concept, which encompasses various material and non-material elements of adequacy, which are necessary to create a safe and secure place to live in. Furthermore, adequate housing is not merely a desired goal; it is a basic human right of all human beings. This has been affirmed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which recognizes the right to adequate housing as an integral component of the human right to an adequate standard of living.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states, under article 25.1, that:“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

On the basis of the provisions established in the UDHR, the right to adequate housing was elaborated and reaffirmed in 1966 by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which in Article 11.1 declares that:“The State Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.”

The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on adequate housing has defined the human right to adequate housing, as:


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“The right of every woman, man, youth and child to gain and sustain a safe and secure home and community in which to live in peace and dignity.”1

The human right to adequate housing is integral to the realisation of the right to live with dignity, and is inextricably linked to other human rights such as the rights to food, work, health, water, land, and security of the home and person.

Though India has ratified several international human rights instruments, which mandate the guarantee and protection of the human right to adequate housing of all, this basic human right is essentially still not enjoyed by a large number of Indians – both in urban and rural areas.

according to Census 2001 data, 23.1% of India’s total urban population of 286 million lived in slums. The actual figure is likely to be much higher since only 607 cities were covered in this pilot effort. The Committee on Slum Statistics/Census, National Buildings organization, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty alleviation, estimated the country’s slum population in 2001 as 75.26 million; which constituted 26.31% of the urban population of the country. The Committee further acknowledged, that as per the UN population report, by mid-year 2011, India’s urban slum population is estimated at 158.42 million. The majority of the population in the large metropolitan cities lives in slums and informal settlements. according to both civil society and government estimates, around 60% of the population of Mumbai and 50% of Delhi’s population lives in slums and informal settlements. If those living in sub-standard housing are also taken into account, the number will increase. This indicates that a large percentage of the country’s urban population has little or no access to adequate housing and basic amenities.

The Government of India’s new scheme for housing for the urban poor—Rajiv Awas Yojana—asserts in its Preamble:That about a quarter of the country’s urban population lives in notified and non-notified slums – higher in the metros, is an indication of the iniquitous and exclusionary urban planning system,


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urban land management practices and land legislation that have not been able to adapt themselves to the pace or profile of indigenous urban growth; or to create space within the formal system of planned living and working spaces to accommodate the informal working classes.2

The situation with regard to housing and living conditions in rural areas is even more dismal.

Lack of affordable housing, basic services, and legal security of tenure, are critical issues related to housing in India. The National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy, 2007, also acknowledges that, “quality of housing stock in slums is extremely poor. an important reason for this is insecurity of tenure.”3 At the end of the Tenth Five-Year Plan, the national urban housing shortage was 24.7 million dwelling units while for the Eleventh Plan period (2007–2012) it is estimated to be 26.53 million.4 This is compounded by the fact that 99% of the housing shortage pertains to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Low Income Groups (LIG).5 The total rural housing shortage for 2007–2012 has been projected as 47.43 million, of which 90% accounts for below poverty line (BPL) families.6

Protection of the Human Right to Adequate Housing in India

The Constitution of India is firmly grounded in the principles of liberty, fraternity, equality and justice. While the right to housing is not explicitly laid out as a fundamental right, it is encompassed within the fundamental rights and directive principles provided for by the Constitution.

The fundamental rights provided for by the Constitution of India include:

• Equality before the law – Article 14;

• Non-discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth – Article 15 (1);


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• Special provisions in favour of women and children based on the principle of protective discrimination – Article 15 (3);

• Equality of opportunity in matters relating to employment or appointment of any office under the State – Article 16;

• Freedom to move freely throughout the territory of India – Article 19 (1) (d);

• Freedom to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India – Article 19 (1) (e);

• Right of all citizens to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business – Article 19 (1) (g); and,

• Right to life and personal liberty – Article 21.

all these rights are linked to the protection and guarantee of the human rights to adequate housing and land.

The Supreme Court of India has held that the right to adequate housing is a fundamental human right emanating from the right to life protected by article 21 of the Constitution (“No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”). There have been several important court judgments that have clearly established the relation between the right to housing and the right to life as guaranteed by article 21.7

In the case of U.P. Avas Evam Vikas Parishad vs. Friends Coop. Housing Society Ltd. (1996),8 the Court stated:The right to shelter is a fundamental right, which springs from the right to residence under article 19 (1)(e) and the right to life under article 21.

In 1981, the Supreme Court of India, in the case Francis Coralie vs. Union Territory of Delhi,9 stated:We think that the right to life includes the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it, namely, the bare necessaries of life such as adequate nutrition, clothing and shelter over the head and facilities for reading, writing and expressing oneself in diverse


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forms, freely moving about and mixing and commingling with fellow beings.

In the case of Chameli Singh and Others vs. State of Uttar Pradesh (1996),10 the Court has given a clear understanding of the right to life:Right to life guaranteed in any civilized society implies the right to food, water, decent environment, education, medical care and shelter. These are the basic human rights known to any civilized society. all civil, political, social and cultural rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Conventions or under the Constitution of India cannot be exercised without these basic human rights.

The judgement also clearly defines the right to shelter and adequate housing. It states:Shelter for a human being, therefore, is not a mere protection of his life and limb. It is home where he has opportunities to grow physically, intellectually and spiritually. Right to shelter, therefore, includes adequate living space, safe and decent structure, clean and decent surroundings, sufficient light, pure air and water, electricity, sanitation and other civic amenities like roads etc. so as to have easy access to his daily avocation. The right to shelter, therefore, does not mean a mere right to a roof over one’s head but right to all the infrastructure necessary to enable them to live and develop as a human being. Right to shelter when used as an essential requisite to the right to live should be deemed to have been guaranteed as a fundamental right… Want of decent residence therefore frustrates the very object of the constitutional animation of right to equality, economic justice, fundamental right to residence, dignity of person and right to live itself.

The Supreme Court of India has also defended the right to livelihood and pronounced it as indivisible from the right to shelter. This was established in the case Olga Tellis vs. Bombay Municipal Corporation (1985):Eviction of the petitioners from their dwellings would result in the deprivation of their livelihood. article 21 includes livelihood and so


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if the deprivation of livelihood were not affected by a reasonable procedure established by law, the same would be violative of article 21… The right under article 21 is the right to livelihood, because no person can live without the means of living, i.e. the means of livelihood. If the right to livelihood were not to be recognized as part of the Constitutional right to life, the easiest way of depriving a person of his right to life would be to deprive him of his means of livelihood to the point of abrogation… There is thus a close nexus between life and means of livelihood. and as such that which alone makes it possible to live, leave aside what makes life liveable, must be deemed to be an integral component of the right to life.

In 1990, in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation vs. Nawab Khan Gulab Khan and Others case, the apex court directed the state to construct affordable houses for the poor:The State has the constitutional duty to provide shelter to make the right to life meaningful.

Significantly, in 1990, the Supreme Court of India also recognised the right of children to adequate housing. In the case Shantistar Builders vs. Narayan Khimalal Totame, the Court observed:The Constitution aims at ensuring the full development of every child. That would be possible only if the child is in a proper home.13

Judgements of the High Court of Delhi in the cases Sudama Singh and Others vs. Government of Delhi and Anr. (2010),14 and P.K. Koul vs. Estate Officer and Anr. and Ors. (2010),15 extensively cite international law and national case law protecting the right to housing.

In the case, Sudama Singh and Others vs. Government of Delhi and Anr. (2010),16 the High Court of Delhi clearly lays down that rehabilitation and protection of human rights of evicted communities is a duty of the state. In particular the Court asserted:23. (…) The denial of the benefit of the rehabilitation to the petitioners violates their right to shelter guaranteed under article 21 of the Constitution. In these circumstances, removal of their


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jhuggies without ensuring their relocation would amount to gross violation of their Fundamental Rights.

The High Court of Delhi, in the case P.K. Koul vs. Estate Officer and Anr. and Ors. (2010),17 affirmed:49. (…) right to residence and to settle in any part of the country is assured to every citizen as a fundamental right under article 19(1)(e) of the Constitution of India. (Ref: 1997 (11) SCC 121 ahmedabad Municipal Corporation vs. Nawab Khan Gulab Khan & Ors.) The right to shelter springs from this right and has been considered to be an integral part for a meaningful enjoyment of right to life under article 21 of the Constitution of India. (Ref.: 1995 Suppl. 3 SCC 456: AIR 1996 SC 114 U.P. avas Evam Vikas Parishad & anr. Vs. Friends Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. & Anr.) 52. It has been observed by the Supreme Court in (2003) 6 SCC 1 kapila Hingorani vs. State of Bihar that indisputably, the state parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights were to take appropriate steps to ensure realisation of this thought. So far as the present case is concerned, this covenant specifically states the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living, including housing. 56. It is essential to note that in fact no new right is being created, recognized or reiterated by the international instruments or the said guidelines. The right to shelter of every person has been recognized as an essential concomitant of right to life under article 21 of the Constitution of India. It would clearly be covered under the definition of a “human right” under Section 2(1)(d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, which includes rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity. The right to shelter, an essential part of right to life, would therefore also be a statutorily recognized right under Section 2(1)(d) of the Act of 1993 and enforceable as such also.

Several national policies also recognise the need of the Indian government to provide improved housing and shelter. The core focus of India’s National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy, 2007, is the, “provision of ‘affordable Housing for all’ with special emphasis on vulnerable sections of society such as Scheduled


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Castes/Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes, Minorities and the urban poor.”

The Policy recognises the obligation of the government to provide housing to its citizens:The new Urban Housing and Habitat Policy lays emphasis on Government retaining its role in social housing so that affordable housing is made available to EWS and LIG of the population as they lack affordability and are hopelessly out priced in urban land markets.18 This Policy takes note of the substantive gap between demand and supply both for housing and basic services. This Policy seeks to assist the poorest of poor who cannot afford to pay the entire price of a house by providing them access to reasonably good housing on rental and ownership basis with suitable subsidization. The Policy seeks to enhance the supply of houses especially for the disadvantaged, duly supplemented by basic services.19

Protection of the Human Right to Adequate Housing under International Law

The obligation of States to take steps towards the realisation of the human right to adequate housing for all is laid down in a number of international legally binding human rights instruments. They include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 25.1), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 11.1), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 27.3), the non-discrimination provisions found in article 14.2 (h) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and Article 5 (e) of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in Article 17 protects the right to adequate housing by affirming that: “1. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation. 2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”


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The right to adequate housing is also guaranteed in article 43.1 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990); article 21 of the Convention Related to the Status of Refugees (1951); and Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2007).

The Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959), International Labour Organization (ILO) Recommendation No. 115 on Worker’s Housing (1961), Declaration on Social Progress and Development (1969), Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements (1976), Declaration on the Right to Development (1986), Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements (1996), and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), all contain provisions protecting the right to adequate housing. Several regional instruments also provide the legal basis for the progressive realisation of the human right to adequate housing.

The scope of the right to adequate housing, guaranteed by article 11.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, was defined by the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in its General Comment 4. In order for housing to be adequate, it must, at a minimum, include the following seven core elements:

• Legal security of tenure;

• Availability of services;

• Affordability;

• Accessibility;

• Habitability;

• Location; and,

• Cultural adequacy.

These elements of adequacy have further been expanded by civil society organizations as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, to include:


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• Physical security;

• Participation and information;

• Access to land, water and other natural resources;

• Freedom from dispossession, damage and destruction;

• Resettlement, restitution, compensation,

• Non-refoulement and return;

• Access to remedies;

• Education and empowerment; and,

• Freedom from violence against women.21

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in May 2008, in its Concluding observations on India, called upon the Indian government to: 71. The Committee recommends that the State party take immediate measures to effectively enforce laws and regulations prohibiting displacement and forced evictions, and ensure that persons evicted from their homes and lands be provided with adequate compensation and / or offered alternative accommodation, in accordance with the guidelines adopted by the Committee in its General Comment No. 7 on forced evictions (1997). The Committee also recommends that, prior to implementing development and urban renewal projects, sporting events and other similar activities, the State party should undertake open, participatory and meaningful consultations with affected residents and communities. In this connection, the Committee draws the attention of the State party to its General Comment No. 4 on the right to adequate housing (1991) and further requests the State party to provide information in its next periodic report on progress achieved in this regard, including disaggregated statistics relating to forced evictions.

article 51 (c) of the Constitution of India calls for the state to: Foster respect for international law and treaty obligations in the dealings of organized people with one another.

The Government of India, in its pledge (related to India’s


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membership at the UN Human Rights Council) sent to the President of the UN General assembly in February 2011,22 also affirmed:4. (…) the Supreme Court’s far-reaching judgment in the Vishakha v. State of Rajasthan (1997) case, in which the Court ruled that the provisions of international human rights instruments to which India is a Party may be read into the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Indian Constitution, even in the absence of relevant enabling domestic legislation.

In the case, Kapila Hingorani vs. State of Bihar,23 the Supreme Court of India highlighted the importance of respecting international law while interpreting the Constitution and domestic law:24. The International Covenants and Declarations as adopted by the United Nations have to be respected by all signatory States and the meaning given to the above words in those Declarations and Covenants have to be such as would help in effective implementation of those rights. The applicability of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the principles thereof may have to be read, if need be, into the domestic jurisprudence.

Forced Evictions Violate the Human Right to Adequate Housing

around the world, the last few years have witnessed an unprecedented rise in forced evictions. a multitude of factors, including large infrastructure and so-called ‘development’ projects in both rural and urban areas, such as those related to dams, mines, and ports; urban renewal and expansion; city “beautification”; sports and other mega events; and industrial development, including the takeover of farmland; real estate speculation; privatisation; and environmental conservation projects, are leading to the forced eviction of individuals and communities from their homes and habitat. In the absence of adequate rehabilitation, this has exacerbated homelessness and resulted in loss of livelihoods.

Forced evictions also constitute violations of a range of other


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internationally recognized human rights such as the human rights to security of the person and security of the home. In several cases when accompanied with violence and a lack of due process, they violate related human rights to health, food, water, livelihood, education, freedom from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and freedom of movement.

The United Nations addressed the issue of forced evictions in its Human Rights Commission resolution 1993/77, which affirmed that forced evictions are prima facie violations of the human right to adequate housing, and are a contributing factor to the phenomenon of homelessness.

General Comment 7 adopted in 1997 by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) reaffirmed this and defined forced eviction as the, “[p]ermanent or temporary removal against the will of individuals, families or communities from their homes or land, which they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection.”24

General Comment 7 of CESCR also encourages State Parties to ensure that “legislative and other measures are adequate to prevent, and if appropriate punish, forced evictions carried out without appropriate safeguards by private persons or bodies.”

The authorities carrying out forced evictions especially violate people’s entitlements to security of tenure and freedom from forced evictions; access to, and benefit from public goods and services; information, capacity and capacity building; participation and self-expression; rights to resettlement and adequate compensation for violations and losses; and physical security and privacy. all are elements of the human right to adequate housing as recognized in international law.

as a result of forced evictions, people are often left homeless and destitute, without means of earning a livelihood and, in practice, with no effective access to legal or other remedies. Forced evictions are often associated with physical and psychological injuries to those affected, with a particular impact on women,


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children, persons already living in extreme poverty, indigenous peoples, minorities and other marginalised groups.

Indian case law has also recognised the violation of human rights inherent in the act of forced evictions.

The High Court of Delhi, in the case Sudama Singh and Others vs. Government of Delhi and Anr. (2010),25 clearly stated:44. (…) Considerations of fairness require special concern where these settled slum dwellers face threat of being uprooted. Even though their jhuggi clusters may be required to be legally removed for public projects, but the consequences can be just as devastating when they are uprooted from their decades long settled position. What very often is overlooked is that when a family living in a jhuggi is forcibly evicted, each member loses a “bundle” of rights – the right to livelihood, to shelter, to health, to education, to access to civic amenities and public transport and above all, the right to live with dignity. 57. This Court would like to emphasise that the context of the MPD [Master Plan of Delhi], jhuggi dwellers are not to be treated as “secondary” citizens. They are entitled to no less an access to basic survival needs as any other citizen. It is the State’s constitutional and statutory obligation to ensure that if the jhuggi dweller is forcibly evicted and relocated, such jhuggi dweller is not worse off. The relocation has to be a meaningful exercise consistent with the rights to life, livelihood and dignity of such jhuggi dweller.

In the case, P.K. Koul vs. Estate Officer and Anr. and Ors., (2010),26 the High Court of Delhi, commented on the rise in forced evictions in Delhi: 194. Experience and examples abound in this city and the aforenoticed judicial precedents of forcible evictions relating to slums and jhuggi dwellers. Defenceless and disadvantaged citizens are forcibly evicted from their shelters which are then destroyed. and then, the long arm of the state, gives a hyper technical interpretation to legal definitions, takes the shield of statutory provisions and implements what is touted as the “rule of law” in removal of “encroachments” by the disadvantaged. others illegal constructions and deviants are “regularized” or “compounded” (…)


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UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement

The UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, in collaboration with the German Federal Foreign Office and the German Institute for Human Rights, co-organized an International Workshop on Forced Evictions in Berlin in June 2005, for the purpose of elaborating guidelines aimed at assisting States and the international community in developing policies and legislation to address forced evictions. The Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement (henceforth UN Guidelines) are the result of this workshop and subsequent consultations.27 In June 2007, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing presented the UN Guidelines to the UN Human Rights Council, which formally acknowledged them in December 2007.28

Highlights of the UN Guidelines

These basic principles and operational guidelines offer several prescriptions, based on experiences gathered worldwide since 1997.

The UN Guidelines address the human rights implications of evictions induced by ‘development’ projects and related displacement in urban and/or rural areas. They represent a further development of the Comprehensive Human Rights Guidelines on Development-based Displacement (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/7, annex). They are based on international human rights law, and are consistent with General Comment 4 (1991) and General Comment 7 (1997) of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2), the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law, adopted by the General assembly in its resolution 60/147, and the Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/17 and add.1).


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In particular, the UN Guidelines:

• Define the practice of forced evictions (paragraphs 4-8);

• Lay down stringent criteria under which displacement can occur in ‘exceptional circumstances,’ with ‘full justification’ and procedural guarantees (paragraph 21);

• Enumerate detailed steps to be taken by states to protect human rights prior to, during, and after evictions (paragraphs 37-58);

• Call for comprehensive ‘eviction-impact assessments’ to be carried out prior to displacement (paragraphs 32, 33, 42);

• Call for provision of compensation, restitution and adequate rehabilitation consistent with human rights standards (paragraphs 42, 60-63, 69, 70);

• Provide useful guidance on other phenomena that lead to displacement such as ethnic and armed conflict, and natural and human-induced disasters, including climate change induced displacement (paragraphs 52, 55);

• Establish a ‘right to resettle’ consistent with the right to adequate housing for displaced communities living in adverse conditions (paragraphs 16, 52-56);

• Establish a ‘right to return’ (paragraphs 64-67);

• Call on states, in pursuance of an ‘immediate obligation’ to guarantee security of tenure to all those currently lacking titles to home and land (paragraphs 23, 25);

• Provide a strong gender perspective, including protection and entitlements to women (paragraphs 7, 15, 26, 29, 33, 34, 38, 39, 47, 50, 53, 54, 57 and 58);

• Protect children’s right to adequate housing (paragraphs 21, 31, 33, 47, 50, 52, 54, 56);

• Emphasise the differential nature of impacts of evictions on marginalised groups and communities, including indigenous peoples, minorities, historically discriminated groups, persons with disabilities, and older persons, and call for the protection of their human rights (paragraphs 21, 29, 31, 33, 29, 38, 39, 54, 57);

• Protect the rights of human rights defenders (paragraph 22);


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• Call for protection of related human rights: - Human right to work/livelihood (paragraphs 43, 52, 63); - Human right to land (paragraphs 16, 22, 25, 26, 30, 31, 43,

56, 60, 61, 63, 71); - Human right to food (paragraphs 52, 57); - Human right to health (paragraphs 16, 54-57, 63, 68); - Human right to education (paragraphs 16, 52, 57, 60, 63);

• Stress the obligations of non-state actors (paragraphs 11, 71-73);

• Call for states to take intervening measures to ensure that market forces do not increase the vulnerability of low income and marginalized groups to forced eviction (paragraphs 8, 30).

Potential Uses of the UN Guidelines

The UN Guidelines aim to minimise displacement and call for sustainable alternatives, wherever possible. In the event that displacement is inevitable, the UN Guidelines lay down certain non-negotiable human rights standards that must be respected and upheld in all circumstances.

The UN Guidelines could serve a range of purposes:

• Improve practices and policies of all actors responsible for displacement and rehabilitation: This includes local government officials, municipal authorities, corporate sector representatives, and law enforcement agencies, including police officials. The UN Guidelines could be used to ensure that the operations of these actors do not violate any human rights but instead incorporate human rights standards.

• Generate awareness among the displaced and those facing threats of eviction as well as civil society groups working on their behalf. When affected people are aware of their human rights and of the responsibilities of governing agencies, they are better equipped to demand their human rights and ensure their implementation.

• Monitor governance as well as practices of all involved parties (including the corporate sector, public sector, and


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government) with the aim of ensuring compliance with local, national and international law.

• Influence law and policy reform: The UN Guidelines could be incorporated into national laws, policies, administrative decisions and court judgements,29 related to housing, development, displacement, and rehabilitation, to ensure the operationalisation of just practices that uphold the human rights of affected people.

• Strengthen and contribute to the work of the UN human rights system, including standard-setting (for example on land and human rights);

• Provide guidance to planners in order to ensure that both urban and rural planning is equitable, participatory, balanced, and based on human rights standards, and also incorporates the needs of marginalised sections of society.

• Promote the development of tools (as called upon by the UN Guidelines) to conduct ‘eviction impact assessments,’ with the aim of both preventing evictions and providing just compensation, rehabilitation and restitution after an eviction.30

• Assist law enforcement agencies (including the judiciary and human rights institutions at the state, national and regional level) in interpreting and implementing national and international law with a view to minimising displacement and enforcing adequate and just rehabilitation.

• Promote accountability of both government and non-government agencies.

• Promote human rights education, including through publication, dissemination, and translation into local languages.

• Mobilise national and international campaigns against forced evictions and to advocate for the recognition, realisation and protection of the human rights to adequate housing and land.

The UN Guidelines are being used increasingly around the world, by civil society and social movements, and at different levels of government and of law and decision-making. Two judgements of the High Court of Delhi in the cases Sudama Singh and Others vs.


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Government of Delhi and Anr.,31 and P.K. Koul vs. Estate Officer and Anr and Ors.,32 cite the UN Guidelines and call for the adoption of the human-rights based standards for rehabilitation that they propose.

The UN Guidelines are available in the languages of the UN (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian and Chinese), and have also been translated into several languages, including seven Indian languages (Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu), and khmer, Tajik, Serbian, and Portuguese.33 Local translations help grassroots groups and affected communities to understand the UN Guidelines and use them to advocate for and promote their human rights, including their rights to adequate housing, resettlement and rehabilitation.

Handbook on the UN Guidelines

This Handbook intends to introduce readers to the UN Guidelines, which hold the potential to serve as an important tool to prevent forced evictions and to ensure due process and adequate rehabilitation and resettlement based on human rights standards in the eventuality that evictions occur.

The Handbook first provides a summary of the UN Guidelines that includes their principle elements, and then presents the actual text of the UN Guidelines.

apart from intending to spread awareness on the UN Guidelines, this Handbook aims to encourage their use and adoption by various actors, including government officials, law and policy-makers, and the UN, with the goal of contributing to the process of human rights standard setting – at the local, national and international levels.

It is hoped that these UN Guidelines will be widely disseminated, translated in to as many languages as possible, used by relevant authorities, and incorporated into law and policy to ensure that human rights, in particular the rights to adequate housing, work, land, and security of the home and person, are respected, protected and fulfilled.


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Development-based Evictions and Displacement34

SUMMARY


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United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement

This summary highlights the key elements and principles of each section of the UN Guidelines and is intended to give readers a gen-eral overview. It is followed by the actual text of the UN Guidelines.


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End Notes

1 Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon kothari, E/CN.4/2006/41, 21 March 2006.

2 Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Rajiv Awas Yojana Guidelines, 2011.

3 National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy, 2007, § 1.15.

4 Report of the Eleventh Five Year Plan Working Group on Urban Housing, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty alleviation, Government of India.

5 National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy 2007, Government of India.

6 Report of the Eleventh Five Year Plan Working Group on Rural Housing, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.

7 This has been established in numerous Supreme Court decisions, including U.P. Avas Evam Vikas Parishad v. Friends Coop. Housing Society Ltd; Chameli Singh and others v. State of UP [(1996) 2 SCC 549 132]; Francis Coralie vs. Union Territory of Delhi (AIR 1981 SC 746, at 753); Shantistar Builders v. Narayan Khimalal Totame [(1990) 1 SCC 520]; Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corp. [(1985) 3 SCC 545]. Judgements that reaffirm the need to uphold international law and treaty obligations include: Madhu Kishwar v. State of Bihar [(1996) 5 SCC 125]; Gramaphone Co. of India v. B.B. Pandey [1984 (2) SCC 534], PUCL v. Union of India [1997 (3) SCC 433], and CERC v. Union of India [(1995) (3) SCC 42].

8 (1996) AIR 114 1995 SCC.

9 (1981) AIR SC 746 753.

10 (1996) 2 SCC 549 132.

11 (1985) 3 SCC 545.

12 (1997) 11 SCC 121.

13 (1990) 1 SCC 520.

14 Sudama Singh and Others vs. Government of Delhi and Anr., W.P. (C) Nos. 8904/2009, 7735/2007, 7317/2009 and 9246/2009, High Court of Delhi, February 11, 2010.

15 P.K. Koul vs. Estate Officer and Anr. and Ors., W.P. (C) No. 15239/2004 & CM No. 11011/2004, High Court of Delhi, November 30, 2010.





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20 General Comment 4, ‘The right to adequate housing’ (Art. 11 (1) of the Covenant),’ United Nations Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, 1991.

21 These include the Housing and Land Rights Network (www.hlrn.org). See reports of the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing (http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/index.htm), in particular, see Questionnaire on Women and Housing, Annex 3, A/HRC/4/18, February 2007. (http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDoC/GEN/G07/106/28/PDF/G0710628.pdf?OpenElement).

22 United Nations General assembly, Document No. a/65/758, February 25, 2011.

23 (2003) 6 SCC 1.

24 General Comment 7, ‘The right to adequate housing (Art. 11.1 of the Covenant): forced evictions,’ United Nations Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, 1997.


26 P.K. Koul vs. Estate Officer and Anr. and Ors., W.P. (C) No. 15239/2004 & CM No. 11011/2004, High Court of Delhi, November 30, 2010..

27 Presented in the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, A/HRC/4/18, February 2007. available at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/annual.htm.

28 Human Rights Council Resolution 6/27, A/HRC/6/L.11/add.1, 19 December 2007. Available at: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/E/HRC/resolutions/A_HRC_RES_6_27.pdf.

29 The High Court of Delhi referred to the UN Guidelines in its judgements in the cases Sudama Singh and others v. Government of Delhi and others, February 11, 2010, and P.K. Koul vs. Estate Officer and Anr. and Ors., W.P. (C) No. 15239/2004 & CM No. 11011/2004, November 30, 2010.

30 For example, the Eviction Impact assessment tool being developed by Housing and Land Rights Network - Habitat International Coalition, in consultation with independent experts and the former UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing; forthcoming at www.hic-sarp.org



33 Translations in Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, oriya, and Urdu,


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available at: www.hic-sarp.org or by writing to: [email protected]; khmer translation and ‘United Nations Commentary and Guidelines on Eviction and Resettlement,’ Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Cambodia Country Office, December 2009, at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/docs/Handbook_Khmer.pdf;

Serbian translation at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/docs/Handbook_srpski.doc;

See website of the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing: http://www.righttohousing.org/ and http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Housing/Pages/ForcedEvictions.aspx. also see: Evictions in South Africa, Lilian Chenwi, Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape, august 2008.

34 Presented in the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, A/HRC/4/18, February 2007. available at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/annual.htm.

he right to adequate housing is an internationally recognized human right, integral to the realisation of several other human

rights, including the right to live with dignity, and the human rights to land, food, work, health, water, and security of the person and home. Around half the world's population, however, does not enjoy all the entitlements necessary for housing to be considered adequate.

Aggravating the dire global housing crisis is the unprecedented rise in forced evictions. In India, large infrastructure projects such as dams, ports, roads, and mining; urban renewal and expansion; city 'beautification'; sports and other mega events; Special Economic Zones; industrial development and takeover of agricultural land; real estate speculation; and privatisation, are some of the principal factors leading to the forced eviction of communities from their homes and habitats.

As a result of forced evictions, people are often left homeless and destitute, without means of earning a livelihood, and often with no effective access to legal or other remedies. Forced evictions violate a range of human rights and most severely impact women, children, persons living in poverty, indigenous peoples, minorities, and other marginalised groups.

This Handbook provides a summary and the actual text of the United Nations (UN) Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement, acknowledged by the UN Human Rights Council in December 2007.

The UN Guidelines aim to promote the right to adequate housing for people and communities threatened with evictions, to minimise displacement, and to promote sustainable alternatives, wherever possible. In the event that evictions are inevitable, the UN Guidelines lay down certain non-negotiable human rights standards that must be respected and upheld prior to, during, and after evictions.

The UN Guidelines have multiple uses and are aimed at improving practices and policies of all actors responsible for displacement and rehabilitation; generating awareness among the displaced and those facing threats of eviction as well as civil society groups working on their behalf; establishing standards for adequate rehabilitation; and promoting accountability of both government and non-government agencies and actors.

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