Join us for the Land Rights and COVID-19 webinar and discussion series, which is presented by Land Portal, Landesa, the Global Protection Cluster HLP AOR and GIZ, with organizing support from Cadasta Foundation, Environmental Peacebuilding Association, LANDac, New America, PlaceFund and the UK's Department for International Development (DFID).
Nairobi, 14 May 2020 – As COVID-19 spreads around the world, billions of people have been told to stay at home, practice physical distancing, wash their hands regularly and wear masks. However, these simple preventive public health measures are almost impossible to follow for those who are homeless, or who live in unsafe or overcrowded conditions.
April 30, 2020 (Ezega.com) -- The Addis Ababa City Government has demolished dozens of homes belonging to day laborers over the past three weeks, rendering at least 1,000 people homeless amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
Most of those whose homes have been destroyed recently lost their jobs due to the ongoing COVID-19 shutdowns told Amnesty International that they are now also having sleepless nights as authorities repeatedly confiscate tarpaulin or plastic sheeting they are using to shelter against heavy rains.
NAIROBI/ADDIS ABABA, April 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Scores of Ethiopian families are at risk of contracting the new coronavirus after authorities demolished their makeshift houses and left them homeless, human rights groups said on Wednesday.
Authorities in the capital began destroying the informal settlements near Bole International Airport in February.
Our urban land pages have been filled with the struggles of people living in townships and informal settlements during the pandemic. One of the controversial state responses to Covid 19 has been to propose the ‘thinning’ of densely settled areas in a bid to slow the speed of community viral transmission. These plans have been met with scepticism by residents of informal settlements who argued that such measures, taken without adequate consultation, would meet with resistance and be destined for failure.
She was moving slowly, but she needed to speed up. Her blue sandals clicked on the hardwood floor, echoing off the empty green walls of the two-bedroom rent-controlled apartment in Northwest Washington where she had spent the past 40 years of her life. Reluctantly, she spun from one room to the next, packing boxes, folding sheets, unfolding sheets, opening cupboards, closing cupboards, doing a mental inventory.
Bangkok, Thailand - As an outspoken community rights activist in a country with one of the worst records of enforced disappearances in the region, Eakachai Itsaratha long understood that one day he too would become a target.
Nearly five years into the implementation of the ground breaking global commitments of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the time is upon us to consider what has been accomplished so far and to set the tone for action that will enable the world to meet its ambitious goals.
The Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture released its final report recently which expresses support for expropriation without compensation in certain circumstances.
Chairperson Vuyokazi Mahlati highlighted the need to come up with a solution to the issue of land in SA as soon as possible.
“The urgency and constitutional imperative of land reform in SA can neither be taken lightly nor postponed,” Mahlati said.
Reclamation of forest lands, especialy from the possession of poor Adivasi encroachers, has been a messy business as seen during eviction of Guthikoyas in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district in September 2017 and Kolams in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district on June 12. It is quite evident that lack of clear guidelines for resuming encroached forest lands had the Forest Department evict the encroachers rather ‘crudely’ resulting in a sudden upheaval in their lives which includes loss of shelter and livelihood.
