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The Egyptian Center For Housing Rights |
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World Organisation Against Torture
Force eviction and house demolitions are the most dramatic violation of the human right to adequate housing in Egypt. These evictions and demolitions occur on a large scale and mostly affect poor communities. As a consequence, they deepen the crises in living conditions faced by poor peoples and at the same time fail to provide or enable alternative solutions, that could take into account the social dimensions of the housing problem and its causes. Indeed, the most demonstrative government response to the housing crisis of the poor majority of Egyptians is to demolish their simple houses and leave them prey to homelessness, disease and deepening impoverishment. While each case of State-sponsored and State assisted house demolition or forced eviction presents its own peculiarities, they also assume a certain number of similar characteristics. This repetition of specific features, presented below, shows a pattern with respect to the manner in which these policies are being enforced. Some forced evictions and house demolitions are carried out in flagrant violation of existing laws and judicial rulings. Such practices demonstrate the contempt of central and local Executive Authorities for the court, to which peaceful and law-abiding citizens resort for protection against injustice. Many of the forced evictions and house demolitions are enforced without prior notification to the victims. As a consequence, many of them were taken by surprise and had no time to oppose the evictions through legal ways, to save their property or to find alternative housing. In many cases, the citizens are forced in police stations after the evictions or demolitions to sign false statements stipulating that they received prior notification. If the y refuse to sign these false statements, they are subjected to beating, humiliation and threats to be framed for crimes they did not committed.. House demolitions or forced evictions are being performed, in many cases, without providing suitable alternatives or compensation, even when legal guarantees so provide. As a consequence, the victims are being deprived of their livelihood and shelter. Even in the cases where the government concedes to compensate or provide alternative housing, this usually occurs many time after the demolition or eviction took place, engendering consequent suffering. Alternative housing is usually located far from work and lacking in services, rendering life in the new units unsustainable. In cases of monetary compensation, the government assesses the value without consulting the residents. Compensation is so trivial that it does not allow citizens to obtain alternative housing, even in shantytowns. The government terrorizes citizens through the police to accept the inadequate compensation or face further wrath of State power. Eviction is enforced using bulldozers and Central Security personnel armed with sticks, firearms and, in some cases, tear gas bombs, resulting in numerous violations of human dignity and safety of the person. These range between verbal abuse using foul-mouthed insults and degradation, beating, detention, the dispossession and destruction of property, withholding medical treatment to injured persons, the denial of any social support to citizens after demolitions or evictions. These forms of deprivation jeopardize the dignity and lives of citizens, including their children, when they are left to eek out a living in the street. As highlighted by these characteristics, the house demolitions and forced evictions carried out by the Egyptian Central Security personnel present similar elements as the one listed by the ECHR in its jurisprudence. Indeed, such policies leave the victims in serious destitution and deprive them from their livelihood, shelter and belongings, with no available recourses. Moreover, the way demolitions and evictions are being carried out, in many cases without prior notification and in front of the victims, using force, ill-treatment, humiliation, threats and without adequate precautions being taken to secure the victims’ safety also constitute additional factors of suffering. These different elements highlight the degree of suffering, both physical and psychological, brought by these policies. The following cases, only a few select examples of patterned and constant practice, demonstrate the extent of violations to which citizens are unduly subjected. 2.1. Evictions and Demolitions despite Court Order to Desist The demolition of seven buildings in Ain Helwan (Cairo) In June 1998, seven buildings were demolished in the area of Arab Ghoneim, in Ain Helwan (Cairo) on the pretext of widening the street. Confrontations took place between the police and citizens because the latter had obtained a court ruling to stop the demolition order. The citizens were not provided with alternative housing or compensation. Moreover, no medical attention was given to a number of citizens who were wounded as a result of the confrontation. The demolition of 65 houses in al-Arish (Sinai) In November 2001, the al-Arish City Council chairman issued an order to demolish 65 houses in the “25th of April Area.” He personally led a force that included police forces and bulldozers. The citizens had filed a challenge against the demolition order with the Ismailia Administrative Court and obtained a court ruling to stop the demolition, pending settlement of the lawsuit in the 28 November 2001 session. The City Council chairman, nonetheless, preemptively demolished the homes in advance of the court's impending decision. People had invested all what they had to build their homes, all of which, along with their personal security and stability were lost in the demolition. Lost too was their faith in law: despite a court ruling to stop the demolition, officials nonetheless destroyed their homes and belongings. Demolition of 76 Homes at Khaddariya, Sharqiya Governorate On 5 November 2001, police forces of the Sharqiya Security Directorate, Central Security Forces and Special Forces accompanied by nine bulldozers and five armored cars equipped with tear bomb launchers demolished 76 houses at the Khaddariya village under the pretext of enforcing an agricultural-land construction ban. This operation, which affected 76 families was punitive, arbitrary and disproportionate in character: Citizen Gamal Muhammad Sayid Ahmad narrowly escaped with his life when security forces initiated the demolition of his house, knowing that he was inside. In other incidents, police forces beat citizen Marghany Abdel-Badie Ammar and broke his teeth. Thereafter, the police detained him and his son in the police station for some 12 hours, until 1:00 AM of the next day (about 12 hours). A number of citizens suffered health problems as a direct result of the cruel execution of the demolition orders. One such case is that of Mrs. Awatif al-Sayid Mutawally, who, upon witnessing the destruction of her only home, suffered a blood pressure crisis on the spot. 150 Homes Demolished in Munsha'at al-Awqaf, Tanta Center, Gharbiya Governorate In mid-June 2002, local authorities demolished 150 houses at Munsha'at al-Awqaf village, claiming that the homes were constructed on agricultural land. This is despite the fact that thirty of the 150 affected families obtained court rulings acquitting them of the allegation, and thus a canceling the demolition orders. This phenomenon is especially prevalent in the Gharbiya Governorate, which had lost a bid for a territorial extension in desert lands. Moreover, the Central Government refused to modify the planning scheme for villages and cities, allowing for natural growth, thus obliging citizens to build on agricultural land. Some estimates show that the Governorate authorities demolished about 15,000 houses allegedly constructed on agricultural land during the period from September 2001 to June 2002. 1.2. Arbitrary and Disproportionate Demolitions accompanying the Misuse of Legal Pretexts Demolishing the fawakhir of Old Cairo Cairo Governorate agents destroyed the residential community around the fawakhir (ceramics workshops) in Old Cairo under the premise that the workshops were unlicensed. With dubious legal grounds, gratuitously cruel treatment has led to the suffering of hundreds of Egyptian citizens. The long-concealed plans for the clearance of established fawakhir community has since been revealed as a touristic development attraction called "The Journey of the Holy Family." In January 1997, a police force accompanied by bulldozers demolished houses sheltering 75 poor families without warning, without a chance to move their belongings, and with complete disregard to any human considerations. In the operation, police forces also destroyed 42 shacks. It resulted in the death of a girl child under the ruins, as well as the destruction of all the property of these poor families. Officials had deceived the occupants of these houses when they earlier declared that they would demolish only the workshops. However, the occupants were surprised with the bulldozers demolishing their houses as well. This led to sharp confrontations between the citizens and the police forces, providing support to the destruction. The latter used tear gas bombs and arrested 72 citizens for about two months. However, the governor denied that any homes were demolished and announced that these citizens, therefore, were not entitled to any alternative housing, not even to tents. However, a Ministry of Social Affairs committee verified the evidence that the Governorate forces demolished houses sheltering 75 families. Moreover, thirty-four of these families had documents proving that they paid revenue tax to the state, effectively acknowledging their tenure. The Ministry committee recommended that these people shall be moved to shelters. However, implementation of the ministerial recommendations was deferred to the local authorities, who were also the party authoring the violations. The citizens did not obtain any compensation or alternative housing. The Demolition of 25 Houses in al-Duweiqa (Cairo) on Mothers’ Day without prior warning, police arrest a woman and her two-hour-old baby girl, beat a 70-year-old man This case involves 32 families living in 25 houses against which the municipality ordered demolition on the grounds that they were recently built on State-owned land. This order contradicted the tenure status established in official documents proving that these families have lived in the mentioned houses for periods ranging between 8 and 15 years. The following conditions characterize this case: Four months after great pressure was put on the Minister of Housing -including a letter sent by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to adequate housing- new units were given to the victims in Badr City, a new city located 48 kilometers away from Cairo. They had to pay 1500 LE in advance and then 78 LE on a monthly basis. While these costs exceeded their financial capacities, the new units were also lacking all services and were located far from their workplace, with transportation costs being extremely expensive. The legal context of this case suggests no situation requiring the use force against the citizens or demolition of their houses. Neither the criteria of necessity nor proportionality in the police’s use of force have been respected. The legal pretext for the demolition itself is false. The operation stands as an illegal and gratuitously punishing use of arbitrary power and physical force, resulting in destruction, dispossession and personal injury without remedy. Those inhabitants should have been entitled legally to continue living on the same land where their houses once stood, and should be entitled to adequate compensation.
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