Forced Out of Their Homes: The Plight of Piacenza’s Displaced Residents
Forced Out of Their Homes:
Many people, whether refugees, asylum seekers, displaced residents or those who are homeless, have been subjected to the practice of forced eviction. The practice of eviction can be a human rights violation as it violates the right to housing, to security, and the right to privacy. In addition to the rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international human rights law and humanitarian law require States to take measures to prevent and limit forced evictions.
The obligation of States to ensure respect for the right to adequate housing includes the development of laws and regulations that prohibit and control forced evictions. These regulations should ensure the greatest possible security of tenure to occupiers, conform to applicable human rights standards and are designed to control strictly the circumstances under which evictions may be carried out.
Forced evictions often occur as a result of conflict, particularly during armed conflicts, and internal strife, including ethnic and communal violence. They also occur during development projects such as dams or other infrastructure.
Forced Out of Their Homes: The Plight of Piacenza’s Displaced Residents
There is no one clear definition of forced displacement, but it is generally agreed that it is the removal or relocation of a person from their home or land and associated connections. It can also refer to people who are fleeing from economic hardship, or who have been driven from their home because of development-based projects (such as the Three Gorges Dam in China).
Despite the fact that forced evictions are widespread and a common practice, the human rights community remains concerned with this form of discrimination. This is reflected in the fact that forced evictions have been consistently found to violate a number of international human rights standards, including those contained in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
The International Covenant on the Rights of the Child requires that children must be free from ill-treatment and maltreatment, including sexual abuse and exploitation. It also requires that children must be protected from arbitrary or unlawful interference with their privacy, family life and correspondence, as well as from attacks on their honor and reputation.
Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights complements this provision by recognising that the right to a home “neither should be interfered with nor violated by any means or procedures, unless the situation so demands” and that the State’s obligation “is not qualified by considerations relating to its available resources.” It should be noted that forced evictions are likely to be in violation of the right to adequate housing, given the fact that they often involve the destruction of housing.
It is important to note that a significant proportion of the global population of forcibly displaced people at the end of 2018 were from Syria, followed by Iraq, Yemen, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Other major displaced populations were from Afghanistan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Nigeria. In addition, the number of persons displaced by political and ethnic violence grew significantly.