Livewire – Amnesty International blogging for human rights

Par Bridget Burrows, chargée de campagne régionale sur les bidonvilles en Afrique au sein d’Amnesty International.

De N’Djamena à Harare, du Caire à Accra, de Port Harcourt à Nairobi, des habitants de quartiers informels et des personnes touchées par les expulsions forcées se sont mobilisées par milliers du 17 au 25 mars pour réclamer la fin des expulsions en Afrique, à l’occasion d’une semaine d’action organisée par des militants du droit au logement avec Amnesty International et des organisations partenaires locales.
Continuar leyendo ‘En images : «Nous vivons ici», déclarent des milliers de militants à travers l’Afrique’ »

Por Bridget Burrows, activista del Programa Regional sobre asentamientos precarios en África de Amnistía Internacional.

Desde Yamena hasta Harare, pasando por El Cairo, Accra, Port Harcourt y Nairobi, miles de habitantes de asentamientos precarios e informales y personas afectadas por desalojos forzosos se movilizaron entre el 17 y el 25 de marzo para pedir el fin de los desalojos forzosos en África, durante una semana de acción organizada por activistas defensores del derecho a la vivienda en colaboración con Amnistía Internacional y otras organizaciones locales asociadas.

Los actos también se celebraron a lo largo de la semana en Togo, Malí, Senegal y Burkina Faso, donde miles de personas manifestaron su apoyo y solidaridad.

Sakwa Frank, habitante del asentamiento informal de Mathare en Nairobi, Kenia, comentó esto sobre la semana de movilizaciones:
“Fue increíble ver a todos aquellos habitantes de asentamientos informales, incluso de Ghana, Nigeria y Zimbabue, a quienes nuestros gobiernos han desatendido durante tanto tiempo, bien informados y manifestándose de forma pacífica para recordar que ‘aquí vive gente’ y pedir que se respeten sus derechos.”

Entra en la galería de imágenes para ver algunas de las exitosas campañas que se celebraron a lo largo de la semana de movilizaciones, y une tu voz a la de los habitantes de todo África mediante la firma de la petición.

By Bridget Burrows, Africa Regional Campaigner Slums, Amnesty International,

From N’Djamena to Harare, Cairo to Accra, Port Harcourt to Nairobi, thousands of residents of slums and informal settlements and people affected by forced evictions mobilized from 17-25 March calling for an end to forced evictions in Africa, in a week of action organized by housing rights activists with Amnesty International and local partner organizations.

Events were also organized in Togo, Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso, in which thousands of people showed their support and solidarity during the week.

Sakwa Frank, a resident of Mathare informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, had this to say about the week:

“It felt so great seeing so many residents of informal settlements, even from Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, who have been neglected by our governments for so long, standing up well-informed and peacefully to say ‘people live here’ and demanding that their rights are respected.”

Check out the photo slideshow to see some of the inspiring campaigning that took place over the week, and add your voice to those of people across Africa by signing the petition

The Roma community forcibly evicted from Coastei Street has been living in the New Pata Rat area since December 2010. (c) Joshua Gross, Joshua Tree Photography

By Creta Ernest & Fekete Petru members of the Coastei Street community,

Support the call for justice of the Roma community forcibly evicted from Coastei Street by taking action

It’s been over a year 76 families, the majority Roma, were forcibly evicted from the centre of the city of Cluj-Napoca in Romania. Over half of the families were re-housed in new housing units on the outskirts of the city in the New Pata Rat area, close to a garbage dump and a former chemical waste dump, in inadequate housing conditions. The rooms are overcrowded, they do not provide protection from damp and mould and the sanitation facilities are inadequate. 36 families, including the authors of the blog entry, were not provided with any alternative housing. Most of them had to construct improvised homes. They have no access to water, sanitation and electricity. With only a verbal agreement from the municipality and no formal title to the land, they live in a fear of eviction and of losing their homes again. Two young Roma who experienced the eviction shared it with us their story during the recent mission to Cluj-Napoca.

“The forced eviction from Coastei Street nr. 18 started on 15 December 2010. We aim to be as brief as possible in describing the traumatising event which took place from 15 to 17 December 2010. Continuar leyendo ‘Roma community forcibly evicted from Coastei Street share their story’ »

A bulldozer parked just metres from the via Sacile camp is a reminder that the construction works will go ahead © Private

By Matteo de Bellis, Europe Campaigner at Amnesty International

“We know we have to leave because of the construction works, but they should give us a place to go, not just leave us in the street.”

Giovanni speaks to me while standing in front of a line of shacks, grouped in an area as small as a seven-a-side football pitch.
Continuar leyendo ‘“We’d like a place to stay” – Milan’s Roma face eviction’ »