Housing rights

International call for cases of evictions for tourism

Rose Bridger Housing rights, land rights , , , , , ,

The scale of forced evictions is shocking, threatening more than 70 million people worldwide. Eviction for tourism projects – including hotels, theme parks, resorts, cruise ship ports and airports – is a growing problem that is gaining recognition. Individuals and communities who are affected are invited to submit cases to an important international event which will make recommendations for effective actions and help build solidarity across the globe.

The International Tribunal on Evictions (ITE) has issued an International Call for Cases of Evictions due to Tourism. Any individual or community that has been evicted or is facing the threat of eviction for tourism development is invited to submit their case of eviction or displacement. The deadline for submissions is 15th July 2017. To submit a case of eviction please complete the online form. The selected cases will be examined at the sixth session of the ITE, which will specifically focus on cases of eviction and displacement for tourism development, to be held in Venice, Italy, from 28 to 30 September 2017.

The ITE is a peoples’ and opinion tribunal established in 2011 by the International Alliance of Inhabitants and civil society organizations to practically and interactively end forced evictions around the world, is calling on the international community to report cases of evictions and displacement in the context of tourism development. The ITE’s call for action reads:

“Is your home threatened with destruction because developers want to build a hotel? Do they want to clear your community, your neighbourhood, and your land for a resort, a golf course, a stadium, a port,  or an airport for tourism? Are you and your community threatened by the precariousness of rental contracts resulting from AirBnB? Tourism development is attacking your rights where you have chosen to live in peace and dignity!”

Photo: International Tribunal on Evictions (ITE)

At the ITE a jury consisting of representatives of civil society, international organizations and academics will select the cases and evaluate the claims in the light of  international legal instruments relating to enforcement of economic, social and cultural rights, with particular regard to the right to housing and land security. The ITE verdict will take the form of recommendations drafted by a jury of international experts, and will serve as a road map for the cases judged and as a reference point for building international solidarity. Recommendations will be made to stakeholders, including the United Nations, governments, the economic and institutional actors responsible for the evictions, and will be monitored on regular basis.

An article on the ITE website, Why the ITE Session on Tourism? Growing human rights violations caused by over-tourism, provides useful background information on the problems host communities have contend with due to the current trajectory of rapid tourism growth.  Globally, tourist numbers reached 1,235 billion in 2016 and the the number of forced evictions for this industry is growing. Entire communities are evicted for infrastructure to support mobility for tourism – ports, roads and airports. Indigenous communities are evicted from forests and coastal ecosystems under the pretext of environmental preservation or preventing natural disasters. Urban residents are displaced for gentrification schemes and escalation of rentals of private homes for tourism pushes up rental costs for residents. Authorities often view tourism as an engine of development and disregard human rights.

It is fitting that the ITE is to be held in Venice; this unique city has been dubbed the ‘global capital of resistance to tourism evictions‘. Massive tourism development has been the key factor in reducing the number of inhabitants from 175,000 in 1953 down to just 54,000 in 2017. Meanwhile, Venice is undergoing continued tourism pressure, with 9 million overnight tourists and 24 million commuter visitors in 2016. The fishing island of Pellestrina is a particularly striking example, where landlords no longer rent to residents but only to tourists. It is encouraging that, countering this negative trend, determined and vibrant civil society movement has emerged thoughout the city, organizing daily activities to support resistance against evictions for tourism projects. The ITE session will include visits to a number of islands and districts of “resistance Venice”.

ITE

Taoyuan Aerotropolis case presented at East Asia Tribunal on Evictions

Rose Bridger Housing rights , , , , , , , , , , , ,

From 2nd – 4th July, about 100 people gathered in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital city, to participate in the East Asia Regional Tribunal on Evictions. Representatives from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines attended and presentations about cases of forced displacement were made before a panel of five jurors.  Taoyuan Aerotropolis, a massive planned development around Taoyuan Airport, Taiwan’s main airport on the outskirts of Taipei, was one of the eviction cases presented. Most of the 3,700 hectares of land earmarked for expropriation for the aerotropolis is fertile farmland and 46,000 people face loss of their homes and farmland.

SEA_7191Presentation of Taoyuan Aerotropolis case to the East Asia Regional Tribunal on Evictions, Photo by Coulloud, Creative Commons License

Other eviction cases highlighted at the ITE-EA included: informal settlements in Taipei; eviction of Shinjuku Kasumigaoka-cho public housing complex under the Olympic 2020 Stadium Project in Tokyo; the Yongsan Tragedy in Seoul; eviction of rooftop tenants in Hong Kong, the 25 year struggle of the Pom Mahakan community in Bangkok; the Kampung Gatco community in Sembilan, Malaysia and the Sitio San Roque case in Quezon, the Philippines.

SEA_7219Panel of jurors at the eviction tribunal, Photo by Coulloud, Creative Commons License

The ITE East Asia meeting was part of preparations for the fifth International Tribunal on Eviction (ITE) session, which is slated to be held in mid-October in Quito, Ecuador as part of the United Nations Habitat III conference on housing and sustainable urban development. Fittingly, the first day of the tribunal was held at the former site of the Huaguang community, in the heart of Taipei, where a disadvantaged neighbourhood was demolished in 2013 in to make way for an upmarket development. The government defined people who had been living in the Huanguang community for decades as ‘illegal residents’ and pressured them to leave by imposing fines and lawsuits on them. Forced evictions began without a relocation plan, leaving many residents homeless. Ketty Chen, a political scientist and academic, has posted a moving account of a two-day protest, by residents and supporters, attempting to block excavators from entering the site for the fourth wave of evictions.

On the final day of the ITE East Asia tribunal event, on Monday 4th July, more than 200 people marched through Taipei to the Presidential Office to protest forced evictions. The route of the march, beginning at the site of the former Huaguang community, is shown here. Along the way they stopped outside the Transportation Ministry to protest the Taoyuan Aerotropolis, the Tainan underground rail plan and other land expropriation projects. The draft recommendations of the tribunal showed that the number of people affected by forced eviction in the cases that had been considered added up to a total of nearly 1 million.
SEA_8617March against forced evictions in Taipei, Photo by Coulloud, Creative Commons License

As they marched through Taipei demonstrators demanded that the government initiate discussions on housing rights, pay special attention to eviction cases nationwide and adopt recommendations passed at the International Tribunal on Evictions’ (ITE) meeting. Some of the protesters threw shoes at signs, an expression of anger that the Presidential Office, claiming a full schedule, refused to send representatives to meet with them. More photos of the march have been posted by the Taiwan Alliance of Anti-Forced Eviction.

In May 2016 several legal academics pointed out legal flaws in the proposed hearing procedures for land expropriation for Taoyuan Aerotropolis, expressing doubts over provision of information to residents in order for them to exercise their rights, and whether their opinions would be incorporated in the decision-making process. A few days before presenting the Taoyuan Aerotropolis case at the evictions tribunal, on 21st June, groups opposing the project requested that the government stop land expropriation and review the Environmental Impact Assessment of the planned third runway, which is integral to the project. Land expropriation for the new runway would entail the forced relocation of 20,000 people.

The third runway  also raises safety and environmental concerns. The site is exposed to strong winds and its location, close to the sea with soft, sandy soil, would require extensive land filling operations in order to bear the weight of aircraft. The proposed third runway location poses a risk of bird strikes and  is very close to a fuel depot holding up to 130,000 kilolitres of fuel. Opponents of Taoyuan Aerotropolis have accused authorities of circumventing the law by proceeding with the land expropriation for the third runway, and beginning construction of basic infrastructure, before completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

Video recordings of the East Asia Regional Tribunal on Evictions have been published online, with some sections translated into English. Presentation and discussion of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis case is in the first recording beginning at 1 minute 39 seconds. Unfortunately translation into English is not audible for most of this segment. A second section of the event recording is available here.