For a year and a half, Haitians, under the scarce protection of makeshift plastic shelter, have battled storms and sun, physical assault and food insecurity. Moreover, they’ve had to fight for their shelter itself – for the right to remain in the camps they’ve been obliged to call home. People left homeless by the earthquake have no other lodging beside camps. Yet faced with the inaction of the UN and large foreign NGOs in relocating displaced people and providing proper shelter, landowners, the government, and police increasingly resort to pushing people out of their camps and off the land. The mayor of Delmas (a section of Port-au-Prince), Wilson Jeudy, has taken a hostile stance against camp residents, announcing in May his intention to evict all camps from public spaces. After a violent camp eviction on May 23, he said “This is a public place… It can’t remain privatized by a group of people.” He further commented that the departure of camp residents from public spaces would render these areas “clean.”
In response, some camp organizations and grassroots groups have joined forces to demand the right to housing and an end to forced evictions. The International Alliance of Inhabitants, a global network of groups focused on housing rights, is currently mobilizing around World Habitat Days to raise awareness about the housing crisis more globally (read more here) and a number of Haitian groups are planning related activities on October 1-3, including a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Port-au-Prince.
Add your voice to this campaign in urgent support of two camps in Delmas that are currently facing eviction: Camp Mosayik and Camp Palais de l’Art. Their plight has been highlighted in the action alerts below which were originally posted by Amnesty International, and later by the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Find out how you can help pressure authorities to ensure that the fundamental right to housing is not taken away from these communities.
I. Urgent Action: Fear of Eviction for Two Hundred Families
Click here for original Amnesty International action alert.
Two hundred families have been threatened with eviction from their makeshift camp in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Amnesty International is concerned that they may be forcibly evicted at any time, without receiving alternative adequate accommodation.
Families living in a makeshift camp called Camp Mosayik in the Delmas municipality of the capital Port-au-Prince have been threatened with eviction. On the afternoon of 9 September four people claiming to represent the Delmas municipal authorities arrived at the camp. They proceeded to mark several shelters on the perimeter of the camp for demolition on 13 September. They subsequently told residents that the entire camp would be demolished on that day. No court order for the eviction or any other legal notice was presented. The eviction threat could also affect the neighbouring camp, called Camp Mormon. An Amnesty International delegation in Haiti was informed by the Delmas municipal authorities that they had not sent anyone to the camp to inform of evictions and believed that the individuals must be criminals looking to seize the land.
The residents of Camp Mosayik staged a demonstration on 13 September in order to protest against the recent eviction threat. Although the eviction did not occur that day, the families live in constant fear that at any moment their meagre shelters and possessions could be destroyed through an eviction process.
In May 2011, more than 300 families were forcibly evicted from two makeshift camps in the municipality of Delmas by local municipal authorities who were accompanied by officers from the Haitian National Police.
Thousands of homeless Haitians were forced to settle on vacant plots of land in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in 2010, including several hundred families in Delmas municipality which is now Camp Mosayik. The residents live in improvised shelters, and the camp has poor sanitary conditions and no running water.
Please write immediately in French or your own language:
- Urge the authorities to ensure that residents of Camp Mosayik and Camp Mormon are not evicted without due process, adequate notice, consultation and that all of those affected have access to adequate alternative accommodation;
- Urge them to comply with the precautionary measures issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights which call for a moratorium on all evictions from Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and the transfer of anyone unlawfully evicted to places with minimum sanitary and security conditions;
- Remind them that UN Guiding Principles on Internally Displaced Persons state that such persons have the right to an adequate standard of living, including basic shelter and housing and protection against arbitrary displacement.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 27 OCTOBER 2011 TO:
Mayor of Delmas
Wilson Jeudy
Rue Charbonnière
Delmas 33, Haiti
B.P. 13399
Email: wilsonjeudy@yahoo.fr
Salutation: Monsieur le Maire / Dear Mayor
President
Monsieur Michel Martelly
Palais National
Rue Magny, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Fax: + 1 202–745-7215 (via Haiti embassy in the USA)
Email: communications@presidentmartelly.ht
Salutation: Monsieur le Président/ Dear President Martelly
And copies to:
Association of human rights lawyers
Bureau d’Avocats Internationaux
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
E-mail: avokahaiti@aol.com
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION: Fear of Eviction for Two Hundred Families
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This is not the first time the families in Camp Mosayik have received eviction threats. In March 2011, a lawyer claiming to represent the owner of the land visited the camp accompanied by police officers and informed the residents they had to leave immediately, despite not presenting a court order. No evictions took place at the time but the threat persists until now.
In May 2011 more than 300 homeless families were forcibly evicted from two makeshift camps in the municipality of Delmas by local municipal authorities who were accompanied by officers from the Haitian National Police. These families were among hundreds of thousands who had been left homeless by the January 2010 earthquake and who had no alternative but to make their own shelters wherever they could.
At the time, the Mayor of Delmas stated that within the next three months he intended to “evacuate” everyone in public places in the municipality of Delmas, in order to help Haiti’s efforts to attract tourism and investment in the country. The Mayor of Delmas ordered the eviction of all the families in these camps without prior notification or consultation with those affected. Municipal workers and police officers accompanying the Mayor pulled down and tore the tents and tarpaulins of the families. By the time the authorities arrived, some residents had already left for their daily activities and when they returned they found their frail shelters destroyed. Their personal belongings were seized or destroyed during the operation.
There are currently 680,000 persons living in more than 1,000 camps in Haiti and 70 per cent of these face threats or imminent eviction, in most cases without due legal process. According to figures from the United Nations, since the January 2010 earthquake, 67,162 people have been affected by evictions, and the number of camps under threat of eviction have risen from 87 in July 2010 to 348 camps in July 2011, an increase of 400 per cent.
On 18 November 2010 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued precautionary measures calling on the Haitian authorities to adopt a moratorium on all evictions from camps housing people internally displaced after the January 2010 earthquake. The precautionary measures also called for anyone who is unlawfully evicted to be transferred to places with minimum sanitary and security conditions. States are obligated to adopt and implement the precautionary measures issued by the Commission.
II. Urgent Action: Eviction Threat for Makeshift Camp in Haiti
Click here for original Amnesty International Action Alert.
Over 300 people who have been living in a makeshift camp in the capital of Haiti since their homes were destroyed in the earthquake in January 2010 have been threatened with forced eviction. Amnesty International is concerned that if evicted they may not receive alternative adequate accommodation and will be forced to live on the streets.
People living in a makeshift camp called Palais de l’Art in the Delmas municipality of the capital Port-au-Prince are facing imminent forced eviction. The owner of the land where the camp is located - in the car park of the Palais de l’Art events centre - told the residents on 9 September that they would be evicted ten days later. The owner did not present a court order for the eviction or any other legal notice at that time. During a visit to the camp on 17 September an Amnesty International delegation were told by the owner that he would return in two weeks time to “kick them out”. The 112 families – approximately 330 people – have lived in the camp since being left homeless after the devastating January 2010 earthquake. They have not been offered alternative accommodation and if evicted will be forced to live on the streets.
The camp was subject to threat of eviction last year. The Ministry of Interior reached a deal with the landowner which gave him compensation for allowing the displaced persons to remain on site for six months. Now that the six months has come to an end, the landowner wants his land returned. In June, he locked the entrance gate to the camp for several days, forcing the residents of the camp to climb over a five-foot-high wall in order to enter and leave the property. He also disabled a water storage cistern leaving the camp’s inhabitants without water.
Like thousands of homeless Haitians who were forced to settle on vacant plots of land in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in January 2010, the families now living in Camp Palais de l’Art live in improvised shelters with poor sanitary conditions and no running water. They do not wish to remain on the land but want to be provided with adequate alternative accommodation so they can finally start rebuilding their lives after the earthquake.
Please write immediately in French or your own language:
- Urge the authorities to ensure that residents of Camp Palais de l’Art are not evicted without due process, adequate notice, consultation and that all of those affected have access to adequate alternative accommodation;
- Urge them to comply with the precautionary measures issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights which call for a moratorium on all evictions from Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and the transfer of anyone unlawfully evicted to places with minimum sanitary and security conditions;
- Remind them that UN Guiding Principles on Internally Displaced Persons state that such persons have the right to an adequate standard of living, including shelter, housing and protection against arbitrary displacement.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 31 OCTOBER 2011 TO:
Minister of Justice a.i.
Jean-Max Bellerive
Ministre de la Justice
Ministère de la Justice
18 Rue Charles Summer, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Email: secretariat.mjsp@yahoo.com
Salutation: Monsieur le Ministre / Dear Minister
Director of political affairs and human rights, Ministry of the Interior
Pierre Canisius Guignard
Directeur des affaires politiques et des droits humains,
DMinistère de l’Intérieur Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Email: pedro_ht@yahoo.fr
Salutation: Monsieur le Directeur / Dear Director
Copies to :
amnesty.international.caribbean@gmail.com
(These will be collected and distributed to relevant parties)
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION: Eviction Threat for Makeshift Camp in Haiti
ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONThere are currently 680,000 people living in more than 1,000 makeshift camps in Haiti following the earthquake in January 2010. According to figures from the United Nations, since the earthquake 67,162 people have been affected by evictions and the number of camps under threat of eviction has risen from 87 in July 2010 to 348 in July 2011. This is an increase of 400 percent.
Many of the camps under threat of eviction are located in the municipality of Delmas in Port-au-Prince. In May more than 300 homeless families were forcibly evicted by from two makeshift camps in the municipality of Delmas by local municipal authorities who were accompanied by officers from the Haitian National Police. These families were among hundreds of thousands who had been left homeless by the January 2010 earthquake and who had no alternative but to make their own shelters wherever they could.
At the time, the Mayor of Delmas stated that within the next three months he intended to “evacuate” everyone in public places in the municipality of Delmas, in order to help Haiti’s efforts to attract tourism and investment in the country. The Mayor of Delmas ordered the eviction of all the families in these camps without prior notification or consultation with those affected. Municipal workers and police officers accompanying the Mayor pulled down and tore the tents and tarpaulins of the families. By the time the authorities arrived, some residents had already left for their daily activities and when they returned they found their frail shelters destroyed. Their personal belongings were seized or destroyed during the operation.
Several hundred families living in Camp Mosayik and neighbouring Camp Mormon, both in Delmas, are also currently under threat of eviction without having been offered alternative accommodation.
On 18 November 2010 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued precautionary measures calling on the Haitian authorities to adopt a moratorium on all evictions from camps housing people internally displaced after the January 2010 earthquake. The precautionary measures also called for anyone who is unlawfully evicted to be transferred to places with minimum sanitary and security conditions. States are obligated to adopt and implement the precautionary measures issued by the Commission.
Photo Caption: Razor wire and glass installed by the landowner in Camp Palais de l'Art in June 2010. Photo: International Action Ties
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