Achieving Housing for All
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions www.cohre.org
Art. 25 (1): Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services...
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
They say home is where the heart is…
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Solving the global housing rights crisis
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What has COHRE achieved so far?
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From the slums... to the UN... and back again...
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COHRE Offices
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International Secretariat
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Africa
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Americas
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Asia-Pacific
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Forced Evictions
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Housing and Property Restitution
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Litigation
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Right to Water
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Women and Housing Rights
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Media and Communications
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Planned Projects
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Everyone has a role to play in ensuring housing for all
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Help COHRE achieve real change
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Institutional Donors
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Individual Donors
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Board of Directors and Advisory Board
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COHRE’s Financial History 1994 - 2005
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About COHRE
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THEY SAY HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS…
For just a moment, we ask you to reflect on a simple question:
What does your home mean to you? What does the place you call home provide for you? Is it privacy, comfort or prestige? Is it financial and physical security? Perhaps your home provides you with a place of peace, of dignity and of solace, or a place to protect your loved ones and the possessions you hold dear?
Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a shack within one of the world’s 250,000 slums? What would life be like without electricity or running water in your home? What if there simply was no option to have a toilet in your house? What if garbage removal services never came to your neighbourhood?
Whatever it is, everyone – including you – has a special place in their heart for their home. In one way or another, our homes are hallowed places; somewhere we can feel dignified, safe and secure.
And what if this was the best housing you could get, because everywhere else housing was far beyond your economic means? Now, imagine this: you are asleep in the safety of your home. Without warning the door is smashed in – armed thugs hustle you from your house without the chance to take even a few simple belongings. Outside the streets are swarming with police and you can only watch as your home is bulldozed to the ground. All around you the same thing is happening to your neighbours and soon the community you once lived in is no more.
At the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), we believe everyone, everywhere has a right to feel just as you do about where they live, whether they are rich, poor or middle class. But in today’s world billions of people live in squalid slums and lack legal protection against eviction and access to clean water in their homes. Well over 100 million are estimated to be homeless on any given night.
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Scenes such as this occur every day somewhere in the world - this is the brutal reality of forced eviction. COHRE’s research shows that over 7 million people each year are forcibly evicted from their homes – a figure that is, sadly, almost certainly underestimated. When we combine the reality of life in the slums with the violence of forced eviction, we believe we can unfortunately speak without exaggeration of a global housing rights crisis.
SOLVING THE GLOBAL HOUSING RIGHTS CRISIS
To address the global housing rights crisis, COHRE fights to keep people housed when they are threatened with forced eviction and creatively applies human rights laws to ensure housing access and housing justice for all. COHRE supports the establishment of new institutions, laws and remedies to protect the rights of those living in slums and confronts discrimination in the housing and property sectors that forces people into housing poverty.
COHRE gives new life to housing rights standards at all levels. It does this by enforcing existing laws recognising housing rights and, when needed, acting as the driving force behind new international housing rights standards. Building this legal framework has enabled COHRE’s team of expert staff to more effectively pursue its efforts on behalf of slum dwellers and the homeless around the world.
Every day, throughout the world COHRE develops and proposes realistic and practical solutions to the global housing rights crisis and constructively offers these to Governments, policy-makers and the UN to act upon.
In partnership with a worldwide network of grassroots and non-governmental organisations, activists and affected communities, COHRE leads the global fight to prevent forced evictions, improve living conditions in slums, make the UN and other institutions work harder for the world’s poor and protect the rights of women and children to housing.
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WHAT HAS COHRE ACHIEVED SO FAR?
Since its establishment in 1994, COHRE has: Raised Global Awareness of Housing Rights by publishing over 100 innovative reports on housing rights, forced evictions, housing and property restitution, litigation, the right to water, women’s inheritance rights, country-specific themes and many other issues. COHRE’s website (www.cohre.org) receives over 1.5 million unique hits each year. Empowered Grassroots Groups with the tools needed to fight housing rights violations by delivering over 150 training programmes to thousands of participants in the global South, free of charge. COHRE’s worldwide network spans over 4,000 grassroots groups, NGOs and individuals in 130 countries. Prevented Planned Forced Evictions by using rights-based strategies to keep people housed. COHRE has helped to stop many planned largescale forced evictions in countries such as the Dominican Republic, Uganda, Ghana, Zambia and Thailand. If these and other planned evictions had been carried out hundreds of thousands of families would have been added to the world’s homeless and displaced populations. Promoted Residential Justice by advocating for the right of all refugees and internally displaced persons to return to and recover their original homes in Albania, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Iraq, Kosovo, Palestine/Israel, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Timor Leste.
Provided Free Legal Advice to thousands of slum dwellers and homeless people on how to enforce human rights standards, which positively affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. COHRE now regularly files cases and submits legal briefs in courtrooms around the world. Made the United Nations Work for the Poor by contributing significantly to the work of many UN human rights bodies, giving direct access to the UN for victims of housing rights violations and pressuring the UN to enforce decisions on countries found to have violated housing rights. Created New International Laws and Institutions and fundamentally reshaped the international legal framework on these issues by proposing and securing the adoption of over 50 new standards on housing rights and forced evictions, in the process strengthening the rights of disadvantaged people throughout the world. Placed New Issues on the Global Human Rights Agenda by fighting for the right not to be evicted from one’s home, the rights of refugees and displaced persons to reclaim their former homes, the right of women to inherit property, and the human right to water.
“COHRE’s work on the right to housing sets the gold standard for work on economic, social and cultural rights and is a model and inspiration for all who seek to respond to the unnecessary suffering of human beings with action that improves their lives.” Larry Cox, Ford Foundation
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FROM THE SLUMS... TO THE UN... AND BACK AGAIN...
COHRE’s Unique Blend of Advocacy, Research, Litigation and Partnerships COHRE works throughout the world to create conditions in which people of all nations can enjoy access to a safe, affordable and secure home. COHRE believes there is nothing inevitable about the massive scale of housing deprivation existing today and that achieving housing rights for everyone, everywhere is a realistic and attainable goal - but only if the UN and Governments take housing rights seriously.
COHRE works with and supports hundreds of NGOs and community-based organisations in the developing world. At the same time, COHRE is also able to influence governments and UN bodies with its detailed background research and acknowledged legal expertise. COHRE’s ability to work simultaneously in the world’s slums and in the corridors of the UN, parliaments and courtrooms everywhere is perhaps its greatest strength. COHRE’s unique formula of combining involvement in grassroots and community-driven campaigns with legal strategies, fact-finding, advocacy and lobbying of the UN and other institutions, will continue to provide an effective vehicle for change. COHRE pursues its objectives through 9 regional and thematic programmes delivered from 12 offices worldwide.
COHRE works to protect the rights of many often marginalised groups: slum dwellers, the urban and rural poor, tenants, landless peasants, communities threatened with forced eviction, refugees and internally displaced persons, the homeless, women and children unable to enjoy equal access to housing rights, ethnic and other minorities, people with disabilities, and victims of natural disasters.
“COHRE is regarded as one of the leading human rights organisations working for the promotion and protection of housing rights. COHRE empowers traditionally marginalised groups with the necessary legal tools to help fight against forced evictions. This has prevented thousands of people from losing their homes throughout the world.” Thomas Hammarberg, Secretary-General, Olaf Palme International Centre and former Secretary-General of Amnesty International
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Duluth - USA Porto Alegre - Brazil Oxford - UK Rotterdam - Netherlands Accra - Ghana Geneva - Switzerland
COHRE OFFICES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
7. Pietermaritzberg - South Africa 8. Colombo - Sri Lanka 9. Bangkok - Thailand 10. Phnom Penh - Cambodia 11. Melbourne - Australia 12. Auckland - New Zealand
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INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT COHRE’s International Secretariat (IS) coordinates the organisation’s activities worldwide. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, close to the UN’s European Headquarters and supported by offices in Bangkok, Rotterdam and Auckland, the IS oversees COHRE’s global housing rights campaigns and plays a key role in ensuring that COHRE’s efforts are effective, efficient and transparent.
COHRE’s International Secretariat: • • • • • • • •
coordinates emergency responses to threatened forced evictions develops COHRE-wide plans of action and implementation strategies handles financial administration, auditing and budget preparation manages regional and thematic programmes liaises with UN agencies, donors and media organisations coordinates COHRE’s global network of partners distributes COHRE’s publications and other materials oversees COHRE’s global fundraising efforts
Working with the UN
COHRE works closely with many UN agencies and human rights bodies by proposing concrete solutions to specific problems and developing innovative approaches to housing rights issues. Decisions at the UN level often play an important role in changing government policy or legislation, while providing support to groups and communities fighting forced evictions and other housing rights violations. COHRE regularly provides direct access to the UN for groups from the developing world and has close relations with diplomatic representatives from most of the 191 UN Member States.
Displacement and the Olympic Games
The IS is currently coordinating an innovative research project examining forced evictions resulting from the Olympic Games and other large international events. Over 700,000 people were displaced for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, while at least 300,000 have already been evicted to make way for the 2008 Olympic venues in Beijing. The project looks at practical ways to avoid the negative housing impacts of such events in the future.
Work at the European Level
While most of COHRE’s work focuses on the developing world, Europe also faces serious housing rights challenges. Roma communities in many countries live in appalling conditions and are regularly threatened with forced evictions. Ongoing or recent conflicts continue to seriously impede the enjoyment of housing rights. COHRE’s European activities address these issues through partnerships with local NGOs, training activities, litigation and fact-finding. Main Office: Geneva, Switzerland Support Offices: Bangkok, Thailand; Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Auckland, New Zealand Email: cohre@cohre.org
“When one sees the consequences of forced evictions, displacement and the wanton destruction of people’s homes, this underscores again for me the importance of what COHRE fights for: the protection of housing rights. That is why I strongly support COHRE’s work - it is the only NGO which has put housing rights firmly in the international spotlight.” Hans Docter, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Sudan
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AFRICA COHRE’s Africa Programme (CA) is coordinated from Accra, Ghana where it is seeking to broaden housing rights protections throughout the continent. CA is currently fighting to prevent the eviction of 30,000 Accra residents and to change urban renewal plans in Johannesburg which would leave many inner-city residents homeless. In Nigeria and Zimbabwe, CA is working to prevent large-scale evictions and to ensure the adoption of new policies on eviction in line with international standards. A case filed by COHRE against ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region of Sudan is pending before the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights.
COHRE Africa focuses on three key areas of work: Fact-Finding Missions In recent years, CA has led fact-finding missions to examine housing rights conditions in Gambia, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. Fact-finding reports outlining specific recommendations to the governments concerned have been widely distributed and discussed with public officials. As a result of these missions, several national housing rights movements are beginning to emerge in these and other countries.
Capacity-Building Building the capacity of grassroots organisations and working with slum dwellers form an integral part of CA’s focus. Strong partnerships have been built with dozens of NGOs in the region to sustain eviction-monitoring projects initiated by COHRE. CA has ongoing activities with slum dweller and urban poor communities in Kibera (Kenya), Agbogbloshie (Ghana), Harare (Zimbabwe), Johannesburg (South Africa) and in several other countries.
Building a Housing Rights Culture CA is the only group in the region regularly disseminating information about housing rights and protection against forced evictions. CA provides legal support, technical assistance and training to specialised groups, communities and NGOs promoting housing rights and anti-eviction campaigns and seeks to ensure housing rights are included in national development programmes, reconstruction efforts and legislation across the continent.
Office: Accra, Ghana Email: cohreafrica@cohre.org
“The Centre on Public Interest Law (CEPIL), a community-based legal aid organisation in Accra, Ghana, has had the opportunity to work closely with COHRE. Our relationship with COHRE is a model for successful partnerships between organisations working at the domestic and international levels. Using COHRE’s advice, CEPIL recently prevented the forced eviction of 8,000 people in east-central Ghana.” Charles Ayamdoo, CEPIL
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AMERICAS COHRE’s Americas Programme (CAP) has been active in the region since 1998. CAP works closely with national governments, UN bodies such as UN-Habitat LAC (Brazil) and several Special Rapporteurs, and community-based groups concerning housing and land rights in countries throughout the region, including Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ecuador, Nicaragua and the US. CAP also works in close partnership with indigenous and African-descent communities such as the Quilombos in Brazil.
COHRE Americas Programme focuses on two key activities: Legal advocacy and assistance CAP provides legal assistance to communities, governments and human rights organisations in many countries. In Guatemala, CAP is seeking reparation payments for victims of the 1981 Chixoy Dam massacre. In Brazil, CAP is working to strengthen enforcement of the City Statute, widely hailed as one of the world’s best examples of housing rights legislation. In both Colombia and Nicaragua, CAP is assisting local groups to bring housing rights cases before the courts.
Training and education CAP provides training for communities, governments and NGOs in international human rights law. In Brazil, CAP works in partnership with the Federal Government and the National Forum of Urban Reform; in Colombia, with the Latin American Institute of Legal Alternative Services and the National Coordinating Agency of Displaced Persons; and in Nicaragua, with NGO Habitat and the Nicaraguan Council of Human Rights. Office: Porto Alegre, Brazil Email: cohreamericas@cohre.org
“If it wasn’t for the unending determination and obstinacy of COHRE and its crew, I am convinced that the Habitat Agenda would not have finally included housing as a human right.” Catalina Hinchey Trujillo, UN-Habitat (Rio de Janiero)
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ASIA-PACIFIC The Asia-Pacific region is home to nearly four billion people – over 60% of the world’s population. Despite recent economic growth in the region, over half its residents live in unsafe, insecure or unaffordable housing. Millions are forcibly evicted from their homes each year. The urban and rural poor often live without clean water, waste disposal, electricity and other basic amenities.
COHRE Asia-Pacific Programme (CAPP) pursues a four-pronged strategy: Building Capacity in Poor Communities CAPP works to strengthen local groups to better mobilise in support of housing rights. In Cambodia, CAPP is training local slum dwellers to better protect their housing rights. In Timor Leste and Bangladesh, CAPP is helping to organise the urban poor to enforce existing housing rights laws. In Indonesia, CAPP is working with local NGOs to protect the housing and land rights of the tsunami-affected people of Aceh.
Legal Advocacy CAPP works with local groups to examine relevant legislation and consider how best to apply international human rights law within national jurisdictions. CAPP also helps local groups to develop model national housing rights legislation incorporating human rights standards. Special attention is currently focused on housing rights conditions in Burma, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Fighting Forced Evictions CAPP supports local campaigns to end forced evictions throughout the region. In Cambodia, CAPP is lobbying the government to avoid large-scale forced evictions, while in India CAPP is supporting the work of local lawyers to bring forced eviction cases before the Supreme Court. In China, CAPP is investigating forced evictions carried out in connection with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Residential Justice CAPP is developing mechanisms to enable refugees to return to their original homes. In Burma, CAPP is researching the state of housing and land rights and proposing effective housing and land policies for consideration by the democratic opposition. And in Sri Lanka, CAPP is advocating for the rights of all internally displaced persons – whether caused by internal conflict or the tsunami – to return to their original homes. Main Office: Melbourne, Australia Field Offices: Colombo, Sri Lanka and Phnom Penh, Cambodia Email: cohreasia@cohre.org
“COHRE is a unique organisation in that it works at all levels – grassroots, national, regional and international – in carrying out its targeted advocacy work.” Anita Klum, Swedish NGO Foundation for Human Rights
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FORCED EVICTIONS COHRE’s Global Forced Evictions Programme (GFEP) works to monitor, prevent and remedy forced evictions throughout the world. GFEP pursues this goal in cooperation with a growing international network of communities and organisations including UN-Habitat’s Advisory Group on Forced Evictions. COHRE is the only international human rights organisation systematically monitoring the practice of forced evictions throughout the world. GFEP is currently focusing on forced evictions in Zimbabwe, Ghana, Sudan, South Africa, India, Indonesia and Thailand.
The GFEP pursues three main strategies: Monitoring GFEP has launched an ambitious forced evictions-monitoring initiative which includes research, fact-finding missions and information-sharing with a global network. All reports of actual and threatened forced evictions are entered into a database, published in the quarterly Evictions Monitor and analysed in COHRE’s bi-annual Global Survey series. GFEP aims to gather information widely, publicise violations and engage in combined activities to prevent forced evictions and develop alternatives.
Preventative Action GFEP works at many levels to prevent forced evictions around the world. This includes advice and training to local organisations, writing protest letters to governments, meeting with government and UN officials, conducting on-site investigations to inform arguments against forced eviction, convening meetings to discuss alternatives, submitting amicus curiae briefs to national and international courts, and supporting litigation in selected cases.
Lobbying and Advocacy
Through intensive lobbying, GFEP strives to influence key actors that are or might become involved in forced evictions, including governments and institutional donors, and to change policy and law on housing rights and evictions. GFEP also uses media outreach and training to give individuals and organisations the capacity to prevent or remedy forced evictions. Office: Pietermaritzburg, South Africa Email: evictions@cohre.org
“I have found COHRE to be one of the strongest human rights NGOs in terms of producing focused, reliable and intellectually challenging materials on economic and social rights.” Prof. Martin Scheinin, Executive Director, Abo Akademi University Institute for Human Rights and Member, UN Human Rights Committee
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HOUSING AND PROPERTY RESTITUTION The past decade was witness to an extraordinary human rights advancement which saw millions of formerly displaced persons returning to and repossessing their original homes and lands. Since 1998 COHRE’s Housing and Property Restitution Programme (HPRP) has worked closely with national governments, UN bodies such as UNHCR and UN-Habitat, and community-based groups to systematically address the immense housing, land and property restitution challenges facing refugees and internally displaced persons in numerous post-conflict nations.
The HPRP focuses on four key issues: Designing Restitution Institutions The HPRP has designed - generally at the request of the UN - laws, mechanisms, institutions and programmes to support restitution claims by displaced persons in Georgia, Kosovo, Timor Leste, Albania, Iraq, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Additional restitution work has been carried out in Burma, Guatemala and Serbia and Montenegro. COHRE is regularly called on by UNHCR, UN-Habitat, UNDP, OCHA and other UN agencies for policy and legal advice on restitution issues.
Country Activities The HPRP has worked in ten countries on finding viable and practical means for protecting housing and property restitution rights. Current efforts are focused on Bhutan, Burma, Croatia, Guatemala, Palestine/Israel, Sri Lanka and Sudan.
Standard-Setting The HPRP was the driving force behind the adoption of several new international standards on housing and property restitution by leading human rights bodies, including the UN’s Principles on Housing and Property Restitution.
Research The HPRP has produced more than ten publications, including Returning Home: Housing and Property Restitution Rights of Refugees and Displaced Persons. Two additional volumes from the Returning Home series are currently under preparation, as is a Proposed UN Policy on Housing, Land and Property Rights in Post-Conflict Areas. Office: Bangkok, Thailand Email: restitution@cohre.org
“COHRE is a trusted and indispensable source of human rights research and resources in the area of housing rights, evictions and ESC rights. If it did not exist, it would have to be established. COHRE is an extremely effective NGO that serves many functions around educating government officials and community activists throughout the world.” Prof. J. David Hulchanski, Director, Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto
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LITIGATION It is often said that human rights are only truly rights if they can be enforced in a court of law. The question of the justiciability of various economic and social rights – including housing rights – and the ability to bring such cases before a judge continue to result in often vexed debates in international legal circles. COHRE’s Litigation Programme (LP) promotes and protects economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) using three broad strategies: capacity-building and training in advocacy; litigation assistance at the domestic level and in international judicial and quasi-judicial fora; and writing, publishing and disseminating information on ESCR.
The Litigation Programme works in three main areas: Capacity-Building The LP has carried out workshops around the world for grassroots advocates and other stakeholders as well as seminars for judges and lawyers. These training programmes and seminars provide people at all levels of human rights advocacy with knowledge of relevant procedural and substantive ESCR law, as well as strategies on how best to judicially enforce those rights.
Litigation Domestic and international litigation components are often used as a follow-up to trainings and are designed primarily to prevent or remedy human rights violations, and thereby produce concrete benefits for victims and potential victims of such violations. A secondary aim is the creation of beneficial ESCR jurisprudence at all levels. To this end, the LP partners with locally-based organisations to develop test cases with the aim of producing the broadest possible beneficial outcomes. Recent litigation efforts are underway in Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan and Greece.
Publications The LP is one of the leading entities publishing in the area of ESCR advocacy. Publications include those dealing with emerging human rights issues and strategies as well as the Housing and ESC Rights Law Quarterly, which contains the latest information on ESCR cases, legislation and advocacy strategies from around the world. Offices: Duluth, USA and Colombo, Sri Lanka Email: litigation@cohre.org
“COHRE is considered as one of the few NGOs working on economic, social and cultural rights and primarily on the right to housing throughout the world. COHRE is an important actor operating from the grassroots to the international level, advocating for these rights.” Christine Lundberg, Swedish International Development Agency
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RIGHT TO WATER Up to half the world’s population does not have access to clean and affordable water. COHRE’s Right to Water Programme (RWP) is a leading global advocate for greater protection of the right to water and a key proponent of an international treaty on this right.
The RWP has four focus areas: Advocacy for international standards The RWP has actively promoted the right to water with many UN agencies and provided expert legal advice to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its adoption of a General Comment on the Right to Water in November 2002. The RWP is also involved in the drafting an International Convention on the Right to Water promoted by a broad coalition of civil society organisations.
Capacity-Building in Poor Communities The RWP is providing training and legal assistance to informal communities in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina assisting in successful negotiations for water services. The RWP has been also asked by its partners in Kenya, Ghana and Bangladesh to provide legal assistance on water issues affecting local communities.
Promoting National Laws and Policies The RWP is developing a database for the World Health Organisation analysing national law and standards against the substantive aspects of the right to water. The RWP has launched an ambitious process to develop indicators measuring implementation of the right to water. In the RWP’s focus countries (Argentina, Kenya, Bangladesh and Ghana), promoting national reforms will build upon and support its work with poor communities.
Publications The RWP’s reports such as Legal Resources for the Right to Water and Monitoring the Right to Water: A Framework for Developing Indicators are some of the most detailed publications on international and national standards and jurisprudence on this right. A Manual on the Right to Water will provide practical information for governments on policies to implement the right to water. Office: Oxford, UK Support Office: Buenos Aires, Argentina Email: water@cohre.org
“COHRE’s highly informed legal analysis and dedicated advocacy have been invaluable to the Committee’s task of monitoring the right to water around the world.” Eibe Riedel, Member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
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WOMEN AND HOUSING RIGHTS Hundreds of millions of women have no choice other than to live in slums, squatter settlements, shanties, transit centres, refugee camps or the streets, often for no reason other than their gender and the discrimination they face because they are women. Women are systematically denied land ownership and inheritance rights, forced to depend on male relatives and are vulnerable to violence both in and outside the home. Women and girl children make up 80% of the world’s estimated 50 million refugees and internally displaced persons. COHRE established its Women and Housing Rights Programme (WHRP) in 1998 and it remains the only international human rights programme focusing specifically on the right to housing for women.
The WHRP’s strategies include: Legal Advocacy The WHRP works with the UN, regional bodies, and national and local governments for policy and legal reform, and engages in test case litigation to set precedents on women’s housing and land rights. The WHRP has been a driving force behind the adoption of several UN standards protecting women’s right to inherit property on an equal basis to men.
Networking The WHRP links women’s rights and housing rights organisations to promote exchanges of information and strategies among groups worldwide. The WHRP’s efforts in Jordan, Rwanda, Kuwait, Zambia, South Africa and Ghana have been instrumental in building awareness of women’s housing rights issues.
Research and publications By issuing unique publications on violations of women’s housing rights, the WHRP seeks to find effective strategies and solutions for the realisation of women’s housing and land rights.
Education and training The WHRP provides training to community activists, judges and government officials on the content and obligations arising from housing rights, and on how individuals and communities can claim, protect and enforce such rights. Office: Accra, Ghana Email: women@cohre.org
“COHRE’s WHRP is conducting important research, advocacy and capacity-building on women’s housing rights around the world. It has provided invaluable guidance on international housing rights standards and their practical application to local and international human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch.” Janet Walsh, Deputy Director, Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch
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MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS Over one billion people living in slums worldwide… 100 million homeless on any given night… more than 50 million refugees… when was the last time you saw issues such as these featured on the TV news? Though violations of the right to housing constitute one of the most widespread forms of human rights abuse in the world today, they receive little attention and are largely unknown to the general public. COHRE’s Media and Communications Unit (MAC) seeks to create the tools – media releases, documentaries, online resources and publicity materials – needed to promote greater awareness of housing rights issues around the world. MAC’s work in recent years has led to a substantial increase in the amount of media attention given to COHRE and housing rights and eviction issues.
MAC’s key activities include: Media liaison COHRE’s Media Officer works closely with a network of media contacts around the globe to ensure housing rights issues receive the maximum possible attention in as many different media formats as possible.
Documentary films MAC has produced 3 short documentaries to date: Vuka Vrcevica (7 mins), Pommahakan (12 mins) and On the Map (8 mins). The Unit is currently working on several longer projects and hopes to produce a series on housing rights for broadcast around the world.
Website and online resources COHRE’s website at www.cohre.org is well known as an authoritative resource on all aspects of housing rights and forced evictions. In 2005 COHRE will launch our new-look site and develop a range of new online resources including multimedia projects.
Housing Rights Awards Each year COHRE gives a Housing Rights Violator Award to a government guilty of particularly serious housing rights violations. A Housing Rights Protector Award goes to a government demonstrating strong support for housing rights, and the annual Housing Rights Defender Award is presented to an individual who has shown outstanding commitment to the protection of housing rights. Office: Melbourne, Australia Email: media@cohre.org
“One does not have to look far for instances where the activities of this NGO have led to concrete protection for individuals facing eviction or denial of rights. COHRE is rare in that it combines a fact-finding, field-based approach with conceptual work. My impression is that both sides of its work are going from strength to strength.” Andrew Clapham, Prof. of Public International Law, Graduate Institute of International Studies
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PLANNED PROJECTS COHRE’s continually expanding reach throughout the international housing community routinely brings new issues to the attention of the organisation. In order to keep pace with fast-changing global housing rights developments, COHRE regularly seeks to expand its areas of expertise and the efficiency of its responses to housing deprivation. In the coming years COHRE plans to expand its overall plan of action to include a range of new projects. These include:
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People with Disabilities and Housing Rights
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Employer-provided Housing
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Children and Housing Rights
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Elderly Persons and Housing Rights
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Natural Disasters and Housing Rights
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The Prosecution of Housing Rights Violators
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Nomadic Peoples and Housing Rights
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Building Codes and Housing Rights
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Housing Rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People
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Migrant Workers and Housing Rights
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EVERYONE HAS A ROLE TO PLAY IN ENSURING HOUSING FOR ALL
Tonight as you climb into bed, spare a moment for the hundreds of millions of people whose experience of home, of a bed, even of sleep will be so different to your own. Tonight well over one billion people will sleep in shacks, huts and other hastily built dwellings they must call home. They will have no running water, toilets, sanitation or drainage, and rodents and other disease vectors will likely be present. This is what it means to have a home in the slums. Tonight over 100 million people will sleep on streets and park benches, in empty doorways or simply on a free piece of ground. Millions more will spend the night in refugee camps, unable to return to the homes they were forced to flee. Tonight women around the world will sleep in homes they do not have equal rights to own, acquire or inherit. Tonight further tens of millions of urban and rural poor, in both the developing and developed worlds, will be fearful that tomorrow will see their families forcibly evicted and their homes demolished. Tonight – and every night – the world goes to sleep in the midst of a hidden global calamity. When the world awakes, the global housing rights crisis continues unabated, without change…
It doesn’t have to be this way. You can do something to achieve real change. Support COHRE to End the Global Housing Rights Crisis
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HELP COHRE ACHIEVE REAL CHANGE
COHRE is unique: it is the only international human rights organisation systematically monitoring the practice of forced evictions and seeking to prevent them wherever they occur or are planned. COHRE stands alone in focusing on the legal aspects of housing rights throughout the world, and is devoted to finding creative solutions to all housing-related problems, using international human rights law as a key tool. Though COHRE has had many victories, its work remains as necessary as ever. We believe COHRE’s work is increasingly supported by donors because of the success of our efforts and our growing reach and impact in the developing world. While COHRE’s work has already protected the housing rights of hundreds of thousands of slum dwellers, displaced persons and disadvantaged women, requests for assistance and advice from grassroots groups, popular movements and victims of housing rights violations around the world still overwhelm our capacity to respond. This has resulted in dramatic growth in our programmes over the past few years. In order to continue meeting these demands and providing the assistance requested from us, COHRE requires greater financial resources. Thanks to the generous support of COHRE’s 30 donors, the organisation’s annual budget in 2005 is just over US$2,500,000. We can achieve a lot with this budget, but with additional funds we can clearly do much more. To enable us to deal effectively with the dramatic increases in demand for COHRE’s assistance, we aim to raise additional funds to increase our annual budget in coming years to US$5,000,000.
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INSTITUTIONAL DONORS To continue COHRE’s global campaigns for housing rights and against forced evictions, the organisation has developed detailed proposals and plans of action for 2006-2008 which envisage steady growth and improved effectiveness. While all our programmes have a range of specific goals and objectives for the next three years, several key targets for 2006-2008 include:
Protecting Tsunami Survivors’ Land and Housing Rights Total three-year requirement: US$450,000 COHRE continues to work in all tsunami-affected countries to assist victims in asserting their rights to return to their former lands and homes. Working from COHRE’s Sri Lanka office, we will monitor and seek to remedy alleged human rights abuses carried out in tsunami-affected areas. Assisting Colombia’s Conflict IDPs to Return Home Total three-year requirement: US$300,000 With one of the world’s largest populations of internally displaced persons, Colombia presents immense challenges. During 2006-2008, COHRE will focus on developing strategies and mechanisms to assist IDPs to return home, in accordance with international human rights principles. Preventing Forced Evictions in Africa Total three-year requirement: US$300,000 The world’s poorest continent is also the continent of displacement, with tens of millions of urban and rural poor in the Sudan, Congo, Zimbabwe, Angola and South Africa searching for permanent and safe homes. COHRE will assist in preventing forced evictions in Africa through legal and other strategies, working in partnership with threatened communities. Recovering Refugee and IDP Homes Total three-year requirement: US$600,000 COHRE’s leadership in the field of housing and property restitution is now widely recognised. To increase the impact of our expertise, COHRE hopes to hire additional staff to work on restitution issues. Priority attention will be given to refugees and IDPs from Sri Lanka, Burma, Bhutan and Croatia. Ending Housing Discrimination Against Women Total three-year requirement: US$750,000 Women in many countries lack the legal right to inherit property in the event of their spouse’s death. COHRE has been active for many years on the issue of women’s inheritance rights and plans to hire new staff to assist governments in overcoming these long-held prejudices.
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Building the Rule of Law Total three-year requirement: US$300,000 Through the work of its Litigation Programme, COHRE has played a key role in having housing rights test cases heard in courtrooms around the world. During 2006-2008, COHRE hopes to bring new test cases before national and regional human rights courts in Africa, Europe and South America. COHRE’s Housing Rights Awards Total three-year requirement: US$150,000 Our Housing Rights Violator, Housing Rights Protector and Housing Rights Defender Awards are presented annually to raise awareness of housing rights issues, “name and shame” those guilty of particularly serious abuses and recognise and reward those who have sought to protect and promote the human right to housing. Global Monitoring of Forced Evictions Total three-year requirement: US$750,000 COHRE plans to hire additional staff to focus on preventing evictions before they are carried out. These staff will be based in COHRE offices worldwide and provide free legal assistance to communities under threat of displacement. Spreading Housing Rights Awareness Total three-year requirement: US$750,000 COHRE’s documentary films and multimedia projects are important tools in convincing policy-makers of the need to do more to protect housing rights. During 2006-2008 COHRE hopes to produce three major one hour documentaries on housing rights themes for television broadcast. An International Convention on Water Rights Total three-year requirement: US$300,000 COHRE’s Right to Water Programme is the leading global voice supporting a new treaty to ensure that everyone, everywhere has an enforceable right to water. A major campaign to support the drafting of the Convention and its facilitation will require two new staff for three years.
INDIVIDUAL DONORS COHRE is engaged in a wide range of activities in support of housing rights for everyone, everywhere. Individual donors interested in supporting COHRE’s work are invited to make annual contributions to COHRE’s global efforts. US$250
could train a community activist to advocate for housing rights
US$500
could help women fight for inheritance rights in Africa and the Middle East
US$1,000
could assist an evicted community to present their case to the media
US$5,000
could allow a community to gain access to clean water
US$10,000
could assist housing rights victims to take their case before a judge
US$20,000
could assist refugees to gain the right to return to their homes
US$50,000
could establish a new programme on children and housing rights
Every donation makes a difference.
✁- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - YES, I want to support the vital work COHRE is doing around the world. I am enclosing my ❑ Cheque ❑ Credit Card ❑ Money Order donation for the amount of: Please make all Cheques and Money Orders out to COHRE If using a credit card, please fill out the following information: Card Type ❑ Mastercard ❑ Visa ❑ Other (Please specify)
❑ American Express ❑ Diners Club
Card No Expiry Date Name on Card Please fax your pledge to COHRE on:
+41.22.733.8336 Or you can mail your contribution to:
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions 83 rue de Montbrillant 1202 Geneva, Switzerland You can also donate directly on our website
www.cohre.org
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND ADVISORY BOARD
COHRE’s Board of Directors and Advisory Board provide oversight and advice on COHRE’s work throughout the world. These bodies are made up of the following internationally respected persons:
Board of Directors
Advisory Board
Mr. John Packer Chairperson Independent Human Rights Advocate Canada
Prof. Philip Alston New York University Law School United States
Prof. Aart Hendriks Secretary Equal Treatment Commission / Leiden University Netherlands
Mr. Geoff Budlender Legal Resource Centre South Africa
Prof. Virginia Leary Treasurer Universities of Buffalo and California United States
Prof. Cees Flinterman Netherlands Institute for Human Rights Netherlands
Prof. Virginia Dandan University of the Philippines Philippines
Prof. Savaitri Goonesekere University of Colombo Sri Lanka
Prof. Sandy Liebenberg University of Stellenbosch South Africa
Fr. Joe Maier Human Development Centre Thailand
Prof. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro University of Sao Paulo Brazil
Mr. Felix Morka Social and Economic Rights Action Centre Nigeria Mr. Enrique Ortiz Habitat International Coalition Mexico Dame Anita Roddick DBE Founder, The Body Shop United Kingdom
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COHRE’S FINANCIAL HISTORY 1994 -2005
ABOUT COHRE COHRE is an independent, non-governmental, notfor-profit human rights organisation operating at the international level. COHRE is governed by a six-member Board of Directors made up of prominent figures in the field of international human rights law. COHRE is an NGO in Special Consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC), the principal form of NGO accreditation to the UN. COHRE also has consultative status with the Organisation of American States, observer status with the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and participatory status with the Council of Europe, all of which enables COHRE to officially engage with the regional human rights mechanisms created by these bodies.
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COHRE is registered as a not-for-profit foundation or Stichting in the Netherlands (No. 41186752) and in the United States as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organisation. COHRE is also registered in Australia, Brazil and Ghana. COHRE receives and accepts funding from governments, academic organisations, faith-based groups, UN and other international agencies, philanthropic foundations, other NGOs and private individuals throughout the world.
Donations to COHRE are tax deductible under the tax regulations of many countries.
Forced evictions constitute a gross violation of human rights, in particular the right to adequate housing. - UN Commission on Human Rights (Res. 1993/77)
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions COHRE International Secretariat 83 rue de Montbrillant 1202 Geneva Switzerland Tel: + 41 22 734 1028 Fax: + 41 22 733 8336 Email: cohre@cohre.org
www.cohre.org