Kathmandu: Monitoring by a delegation consisting of representatives from Amnesty International Nepal, the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), JuRI-Nepal, the Community Self-Reliance Service Centre (CSRC), and Nepal Mahila Ekta Samaj from July 12-14, 2024, in Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City, Bhajani Municipality, Godawari Municipality, and Bhimdatta Municipality in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts have found that victims of forced eviction of long-settled landless people and informal settlers are in dire conditions.
Members of the delegation comprised of Raju Prasad Chapagain, an independent expert, Nirajan Thapaliya from Amnesty International Nepal, Krishna Bahadur Bishwakarma from Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), Bishnu Prasad Pokhrel from JuRI- Nepal, Sushma Neupane from Community Self-Reliance Centre (CSRC) and Basanti Sunar from Nepal Mahila Ekta Samaj.
The delegation found that nine out of the 13 families forcibly evicted from their homes in the old airport area of Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City, as well as more than a hundred families evicted from the community forest and surrounding areas at the behest of the Bhajani Division Forest Office, are facing severe humanitarian crises. These crises include homelessness, food insecurity, and health issues, as these families have no alternative housing options and are currently living in makeshift tents in the same areas. The majority of those forcibly evicted are from Dalit and Tharu indigenous communities.
Among the victims are postpartum and pregnant women, school-going children, senior citizens and people with disabilities, who are being forced to endure severe mental distress and suffering, so much so that the residents were not even given a chance to secure their grains, clothing, children’s books, uniforms, bags, medicines for the sick and disabled, and important legal identification documents, all of which were reported to have been destroyed.
“As always, I went to school early that day. When I came back home, our house was completely destroyed. My books, notebooks, and uniforms were all buried under the rubble,” a schoolgirl shared her grief with the delegation. “Since then, I haven’t been able to study or do my homework. Where will we go now? Where will we live? What will we eat? How will I study? Aren’t we citizens? Isn’t the State ours?”
The evictions took place when many of the working-age men and women were away at work, leaving only women, children, the disabled, and the elderly in the settlements, causing additional distress to the victims. In Bhajani, with no other housing alternative, the landless people are taking shelter in the same area they were evicted from. Despite their dire situation, the District Forest Office was found to have proceeded with fencing and tree plantation work within the eviction areas.
During the monitoring, the delegation received multiple complaints against these officials by the affected people. According to the people met, the officials were arbitrarily arresting and detaining some of them to silence and pressurise them to leave from the area. They were also forcing them to sign documents under duress and were threatening to file criminal charges.
In Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City too, the citizens who had been evicted reported repeated threats from the municipal police to vacate the area. They were found to be in severe mental distress and in an extreme form of livelihood crisis. The people met by the delegation said that they had been living there since 2002 and 2007 and had received identification documents as “landless squatters” on the recommendation of the local government. Some had even obtained documents certifying the boundaries of the land plot that they had been residing on. It was also noted that they possessed documents of various services and facilities, such as water, electricity supply, and waste collection, provided by the local government all indicating that their land and housing tenure were recognised by the state.
During the on-site monitoring, the delegation also had a meeting with 19 families who belonged to Dalit and Badi community in Chaukidanda of Godawari Municipality who were forcibly evicted by Municipal Government last year. The delegation found that they were experiencing severe humanitarian crises due to homelessness. It was found that neither the local government nor any other government agency has fulfilled their responsibility to provide safe housing and other appropriate protections for them.
Additionally, complaints were received from landless and informal settlers (92 families) in Gauradevi, Ward No. 18 of Bhimdatta Municipality in Kanchanpur District, stating that they are facing continued threats of forced evictions.
Preliminary observation and recommendations of the delegation are as follows:
• Responsible authorities have failed to adhere to any legal requirements prior to, during, and after the eviction process, except for unilaterally issuing the periodic notices to vacate the settlements. It is the State’s duty to protect its citizens from disasters and to rescue those affected by disasters, not cause distress to the lives of its citizens. Human habitation is protected under both national and international law, and no one should be evicted from their homes without providing them with an alternative. The State, as the guardian of its people, bears the ultimate duty to safeguard its citizens’ lives and livelihoods and any action it takes that creates humanitarian crises, not only in the time of peace but also in the times of conflict or state of emergency, is inexcusable. Forced evictions without an alternative constitute serious violations of human rights. Such actions, whether carried out by the State or non-state actors, are punishable offences under the law.
• To look at evictions simply as an act of demolishing homes and removing infrastructures without regard for human diversity, sensitivity, and human necessities within settlements is absolutely wrong. We urge the newly constituted Government to make its first cabinet decision to ensure that no landless community is evicted without an alternative in the future. We also urge the government to frame the necessary policies, programs, and guidelines in coordination with the provincial and local level bodies and to promptly implement them.
• Protection of public property and environmental conservation is certainly important. This also is a legal duty of all tiers of the government. However, this issue must not be understood in isolation. It must be understood in relation to human rights and social justice.
• Central to human rights is the respect for “human dignity” of every individual. An activity carried out in such a way as to undermine human dignity cannot be justified under any circumstances. Where fundamental rights are at stake, decisions must be based on the holistic interpretation and understanding of laws. It is not permissible to carry out such an act as to deprive people of their housing and livelihood on the basis of an isolated understanding and interpretation of the Forest Act, the Local Administration Act, the Local Government Operation Act or of any other legal provisions.
• Without the security of housing, a peaceful and dignified human life is unimaginable. The State cannot move away from its duty to ensure safe housing, prioritizing those who are unable to secure it due to extreme poverty, landlessness, unemployment, natural disasters, violence, discrimination, and exclusion and other multifaceted reasons.
• Forced eviction without alternatives violates several provisions of the Constitution of Nepal, including Article 16 (Right to Live with Dignity), Article 18 (Right to Equality and Nondiscrimination), Article 25 (Right to Property), Article 36 (Right to Food), Article 37 (Right to Housing), Article 40 (The Land and Housing Rights of Dalits ), Article 42 (Right to Social Justice), Article 43 (Right to Social Security), and the constitutional commitments reflected in the preamble such as “socialism,” “sustainable peace and development,” and “the building of equitable society”.
• Section 3(1) and (3) of the Right to Housing Act, 2018, made the implementation of the constitutional guarantees towards the right to adequate housing makes it mandatory for all three tiers of the government to respect, protect, and fulfil people’s right to housing. Section 3 (b) of the Act recognizes the right to “protection from risks associated with living in housing insecurity”. Forced eviction without alternatives creates life-threatening risks due to housing insecurity. In addition, Section 5 (4) guarantees that the eviction process will only take place only after prior consultation, adequate notice, proper identification of individuals or families to be evicted, presence of an authorized official at the time and place of eviction, due consideration of the appropriate timing and special attention to the elderly, sick and persons with disability, children, helpless, incapacitated and pregnant individual. However, the evictions carried out in such a way as to create the risk of homelessness has violated these legal protections.
• Under Section 7 of the Act, it is the State’s primary duty to ensure housing provisions for those who are unable to arrange their housing on their own. Even if it may not be possible to fulfil this responsibility right away, the State should not intervene to further aggravate the situation of its citizens residing on public or governmental land as a strategic option of their livelihood. Section 40 (E) of the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act, 2018 has criminalized the act of forced eviction and thereby depriving them of the means of livelihood. Moreover, Section 42 of the same act stipulates that those committing such crimes may face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to five lakhs. In the context of the above-mentioned incidents of forced evictions carried out without providing any alternatives, all concerned are advised to be aware and responsible as this may draw punitive measures.
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