Documenting Housing Demolitions for Dummies

September 11, 2009 at 3:09 PM

This posting is part of our Forced Evictions in Africa Series.

New report documents housing demolitions and forced evictions in N’Djamena, Chad. Photo credit goes to Patrick Fort/AFP/Getty Images.

A few days ago we published a new report on housing demolitions and forced evictions in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad. Here is a little background info about how to conduct such a project.

1. Becoming aware of the problem
In my case, that meant reading the news. IRIN published an article this past January, describing the frightening scale of housing demolitions in N’Djamena. A few weeks before, Amnesty International had published a comprehensive report on human rights violations in connection with the attack by armed opposition groups on N’Djamena in February 2008. It included a chapter on housing demolitions and forced evictions. This is the key passage for me in the report:

Official figures from the N’Djaména municipal government state that 1,798 compounds were destroyed in 11 different neighbourhoods. It would appear however that there were evictions beyond those 11 neighborhoods. For example, Amnesty International documented extensive housing destruction in the neighbourhood of Farcha, which does not appear on the list of neighbourhoods provided to Amnesty International delegates by municipal officials. (…) The municipal government’s figures are clearly inadequate. Beyond the incomplete figure of 1,798 compounds destroyed in 11 neighbourhoods, no official figures have been gathered. There are no figures indicating the number of buildings in each compound and no information as to how many people lived in each house and/or compound.

Now compare a Human Rights Watch press release (yes, these are two different documents):

According to documents from the office of the mayor of N’Djamena obtained by Human Rights Watch, municipal authorities destroyed 1,798 homes in 11 neighborhoods in the capital during the 30-day state of emergency that ended on March 15. Human Rights Watch saw hundreds of demolished structures in two neighborhoods in the capital that were not included in the official figures, making it likely that the total number of homes destroyed exceeds 2,000. Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 10,000 people have been left homeless by the mass evictions. Many of those Chadians who fled N’Djamena following the February coup attempt returned to find that their homes had been destroyed.

2. Analyzing satellite images
In order to provide some of the missing information described in the above quoted excerpts, we ordered satellite images from N’Djamena from 3 different points in time: January 2008, November 2008 and January 2009. We compared and analyzed the images and thus clearly documented the shocking pace of housing demolitions: In a 12-month period, the government had demolished 3,700 homes and businesses, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.

3. Sending in the research troops
While the satellite images could provide us with hard numbers of homes demolished, they could not tell us which demolitions were clearly illegal. Our investigators on the ground gathered additional evidence, took photographs and collected testimonies. For example, they learned that the residents in the neighborhood of Chagoua 2 had lodged a complaint in court, which ruled that planned demolitions should cease, pending a final decision. Despite this order, the mayor of N’Djamena continued to demolish the houses.

Abakar Sakin, who has lost his motorcycle business in N'Djamena. (c) AI

Another story our researchers collected is about two business owners: Abakar Sakin, a motorcycle mechanic, and Ibrahim Abdulayhe Bulako, an auto mechanic, had operated their businesses in the 6th block in the neighborhood of Farcha for 25 years and 23 years respectively. Abakar Sakin employed four others and Ibrahim Abdulayhe Bulako employed five. They were given less than 48 hours notice before their homes, where they operated their businesses, would be destroyed. They lost everything associated with their trades and have received no compensation.

4. Publishing the Results and Taking Action
The analysis of the satellite images combined with on the ground investigations allowed us to show a very clear – and distressing – picture of the scale of housing demolitions and forced evictions in N’Djamena. Our brief report (pdf) gives a good summary of our findings, and you can also find more information on the Science for Human Rights project’s website. And if you feel as angry as me about this outrageous human rights violation, let the Chadian government know.

Extreme Makeover Needed in Chad: Government Kicks Tens of Thousands Out of Their Homes

By Christoph Koettl

September 8, 2009 at 12:21 AM

This is the the first posting in the Forced Evictions in Africa Series

Click on image to see full graphic:

Demolished houses in N'Djamena. Despite a court order to cease the demolitions, the mayor continued with the demolitions. Click on image to see full graphic. © 2009 Digital Globe. All Rights Reserved. Produced by AIUSA.

Demolished houses in the neigborhood of Chagoua 2 in N'Djamena. Despite a court order to cease the demolitions, the mayor continued with the demolitions. Click on image to see full graphic. © 2009 Digital Globe. All Rights Reserved. Produced by AIUSA.

Authorities in Chad have demolished 3,700 homes and businesses in the capital city N’Djamena, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless. We have exposed the pace of housing demolitions – which can only be described as shocking – in a groundbreaking new research project. Instead of giving up after Chadian officials provided us with inadequate figures last year, we turned to the power of satellite technology to put hard numbers behind the scale of destruction. On the ground research confirmed that many of the housing demolitions were in fact illegal and in violation of both Chadian and international law. But let’s not forget that behind these hard numbers and facts are human beings who are now standing before the rubble of their belongings and livelihoods. As a Chadian women – whose family home was destroyed in the neighborhood of Farcha – pointedly described to us: “We are broken – just like our homes”.

Wave of demolitions in wake of armed attack
The first wave of demolitions immediately followed an armed attack by armed opposition groups on N’Djamena in February 2008. Government forces responded to the attack by bombing the areas from which they believed the opposition forces were attacking. Hundreds of civilians were killed or injured and more than 50,000 fled the capital to seek refuge in neighboring Cameroon. The government of Chad – supported by France – regained control of N’Djaména and opposition forces retreated toward Sudan. On 22 February 2008, Chadian President Idriss Déby himself issued a decree authorizing the destruction of what were called illegally constructed buildings and structures. The first decree applied to two neighborhoods of N’Djamena. However, the destruction was later extended into other residential neighborhoods and houses were still being demolished in late July 2009. Many people remain at risk of being forcibly evicted. Most of the forced evictions have been carried out by the security forces. They order people to leave their properties and bar any residents who are not at home from returning. Some families were evicted by the government in direct contempt of court orders prohibiting their removal. For example, residents in the neighborhood of Chagoua 2 lodged a complaint in court, which ruled that planned demolitions should cease pending a final decision by the court. Despite this order, Mahamat Zène Bada, the mayor of N’Djamena, continued to demolish structures in that neighborhood.

Mme Dibie, aged 75, with neighbors in front of the ruins of her home in Farcha, N'Djamena. She had lived there for more than 42 years and supported herself by selling local beverages. © Amnesty International

Extreme Makeover Needed
Only a clear policy reversal by the Chadian government can stop the pace of housing demolitions in Chad. So far, the government of Chad has evidently failed its legal obligations: It neither consulted with the affected communities, nor provided proper compensation. The Déby government is doing what it wants with its own citizens and continues to kick people out of their homes. I have my doubts that the government will change its policy from one day to the next, and I believe the international community has a clear responsibility to protest the demolitions and forced evictions. Where are France, the US, the UN, the AU and the EU on this issue? If they remain silent on this blatant crime, more homes and lives will be broken in Chad.

Human Rights Flashpoints

By Christoph Koettl

July 21, 2009 at 10:15 AM

This is the first edition of Human Rights Flashpoints, a weekly column about countries at risk of escalating human rights violations.

SUDAN—Abyei decision and border skirmish with Chad

Tensions are rising in South Sudan. Both northerners and southerners in Sudan are awaiting the final ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the boundaries of Abyei, which will come on Wednesday. The borders of Abyei were one of the most sensitive issues left undecided in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the civil war between the North and the South. The BBC reports that the verdict is seen as a key test of the peace process. U.N. Special Representative Ashraf Qazi accused South Sudan over the weekend of having soldiers in Abyei but said he was “reassured” on Monday when the army took steps to withdraw its soldiers.

In a separate development, Sudan referred Chad to the U.N. Security Council on Monday, after the Sudanese army accused Chad of launching an air raid and attacking west Darfur district with two planes on Thursday. Khartoum claims that this is the fourth raid N’Djamena has carried out in Sudan in two months. Reuters reports that Sudan is claiming France, a permanent member of the Security Council, is supporting Chad’s attacks in Sudan.

Must Reads

Reuters AlertNet Q&A: What is behind Sudan’s Abyei crisis?
UN’s IRIN: Abyei Timeline and Abyei Briefing
Enough’s Strategy Paper: Abyei: Sudan’s Next Test
Crisis States Working Paper: The Tormented Triangle: Regionalisation of Conflict in Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic

Overheard

“All these armed groups must be immediately withdrawn to outside the area, and.. the international community [is] closely monitoring the situation in and around Abyei and expects all sides to behave in the most responsible manner in order to avoid violence.”
Ashraf Qazi, U.N. Special Representative for Sudan, July 18, 2009.

“While the members of the international community will be on hand in Abyei to witness the announcement of the panel’s decision and to assist as appropriate with its implementation, it will ultimately be the responsibility of the two parties to ensure lasting peace, stability and security in Abyei, as well as continued implementation of the CPA.”
Ian Kelly, U.S. Department of State Spokesman, July 14, 2009.

IRAN—Call for referendum and Global Day of Action

While we can expect major protests around the world this weekend, the situation in Iran remains tense. Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami has called for a national referendum on the legitimacy of the current government in light of last month’s electoral uprising. Khatami was quoted as saying:

“The only way out of the current situation is to hold a referendum. People should be asked whether they are happy with the current situation … If the vast majority of people are happy with the current situation, we will accept it as well.”

This call joins a long string of challenges to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini’s demand that Mahmoud Ahmedinejad be accepted as the president of the Islamic Republic. Mir Hussain Mousavi, Ahmedinejad’s main opponent during the election cycle, also released a statement yesterday insisting on the immediate release of detained protesters while also laughing off the supposed role of foreign powers during the uprising.

To date, at least 20 people have been killed during the violent protests following the June 12 election. Hundreds of others, including politicians, journalists, and activists have been arrested and detained by police.

A Global Day of Action to demonstrate support for the civil rights movement in Iran has been planned by major human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, for this Saturday, July 25. To find events in your area, visit United4Iran.org for a complete listing.

Must Reads

The Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney liveblogging on Iran—a great source for up-to-date information
Al Jazeera video: Iran Remains in Crisis
Roger Cohen’s Op-Ed in the New York Times: Iran’s Tragic Joke

Overheard

“Durability of order and continuation of the country’s progress hinge on restoring public trust. From the start, we said there is a legal way to regain that trust. I openly say now that the solution to get out of the current crisis is holding a referendum.”
Mohammed Khatami, former Iranian President, July 20, 2009

“Neither the president nor I have any illusions that direct dialogue with the Islamic Republic will guarantee success. But we also understand the importance of trying to engage Iran and offering its leaders a clear choice: whether to join the international community as a responsible member or to continue down a path to further isolation…. The time for action is now. The opportunity will not remain open indefinitely.”
Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, July 15, 2009

“We’ve got some fixed national security interests in Iran not developing nuclear weapons, in not exporting terrorism, and we have offered a pathway for Iran to rejoining the international community.”
Barack Obama, July 11, 2009

Coming This Week

July 21: Presidential Task Forces on the War on Terror Fail to Meet Deadlines
July 21/22: Global Day of Action for the people of Gambia
July 21: Amnesty International USA 4:30pm rally at the Gambian embassy in Washington, DC to protest human rights abuses
July 22: Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague will issue a ruling on the boundary and status of Abyei, territory that lies at the juncture of South Sudan, North Sudan, and Darfur
July 22: Negotiations to resolve the crisis in Honduras to resume in San Jose, Costa Rica
July 25: Global Day of Action for Iran
Keep an eye out later on this week for a rebuttal to Khatami and Mousavi’s proposed referendum on the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s government

Juliette Rousselot and Samah Choudhury contributed to this post

Human Rights Flashpoints is a weekly column about countries at risk of escalating human rights violations and is brought to you by AIUSA’s Crisis Prevention and Response Campaign.

U.S. Obligation to Freed Gitmo Detainees

By Tom Parker

June 19, 2009 at 1:39 PM

(Originally posted on Daily Kos)

Four Uighur former Guantanamo inmates are now in Bermuda, other detainees have been released to France, Chad, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Hungary, Italy and Palau appear to have joined the ranks of countries prepared to accept detainees cleared for release. The pace of releases finally seems to be picking up and that is a cause for optimism.

But, while groups like Amnesty are pleased to see these individuals finally released from wrongful detention, we are disturbed that there has been no public announcement that any of these individuals will receive compensation for their ill-treatment or any assistance from the United States in rebuilding their lives or coming to terms with their experiences.

Many of you reading this blog may feel that this is a side issue but it is not. International law requires the U.S. to provide remedy to those who have been wrongfully imprisoned.

Consider for a moment what the men recently released have lost. They have lost seven years of their lives. Quite apart from the personal deprivation of liberty that is also seven years of lost earning potential – one fifth of a working life. Their families too have been without their primary breadwinner all this time.

Furthermore, what kind of future do they have to look forward to? They certainly haven’t had the opportunity to learn or develop a trade while in detention, nor are many of them returning to a society they know well. Some may not even speak the local language. However idyllic Bermuda may appear in press photographs, it is a world away from the Central Asian steppe the Uighurs are used to.

Some released inmates may be grappling with medical or mental health problems. Defense attorney, Jeffrey Colman, a thirty-five year veteran of the criminal justice system who has represented four GITMO inmates this week described the facility as:

“Unlike any other institution… there is a level of hopelessness unlike anything I have ever seen.”

We know 5 inmates have committed suicide since the camp opened and in March this year the Department of Defense reported that 34 inmates were on hunger strike. Such figures give some insight into the harrowing nature of the detainees’ experiences – yet no provision has been made to support their rehabilitation.

Closing Guantanamo is not in and of itself enough. We have a moral and legal obligation to aid the reintegration of former inmates back into society. These men have been convicted of no crime. In our system that means they are innocent. No ifs or buts.

Innocent men wrongly held for seven years have a right to compensation. The Obama administration can’t simply shove them out the gates of Camp Delta and forget about them. The United States must take responsibility for rebuilding lives it has ruined.

Life for Darfuri Refugees in Chad Still Desperate

By Guest Writer

May 15, 2009 at 8:53 AM

Amnesty International researchers just completed a mission to Chad to investigate the growing number of Darfuri refugees there. Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty Canada, has been documenting the mission:

Amnesty International delegation with Marie Larlem, Coordinator of the Association for the Promotion of Fundamental Liberties in Chad.

We left Chad [on Tuesday], with heavy hearts, a sense of regret that much of our work was curtailed because of insecurity, and a determination to intensify our efforts to bring safety back to eastern Chad. And as always — after spending time at the frontlines of human rights struggle — we have also left with the inspiration of this country’s many courageous and ingenious human rights defenders well lodged in our hearts and minds.

When I was last in eastern Chad with an Amnesty team, in late 2006, safety and security was the overwhelming concern. In the face of relentless Janjawid attacks from Darfur, people throughout the east were left to fend for themselves. The Chadian military and police did not care enough to help. Their only preoccupation was fending off the efforts of armed opposition groups to topple the government. There was no international force on the ground. There was nothing. And the cost was immense: thousands killed and injured, untold number of women raped, and hundreds of villages razed to the ground.

We called on the international community to respond. And they did. But more than a year later, with several thousand European and UN soldiers having passed through the region and with hundreds of international and Chadian police tasked with providing protection to refugees, displaced Chadians and humanitarian workers, eastern Chad is still a very dangerous place to be. It is especially dangerous for women and girls who take major risks every day when they head far outside refugee camps and displacement sites in search of firewood, hay and water.

In 2006 we called on the international community to go to eastern Chad. Now we will call on the international community to strengthen and improve the mission they have established. And we will insist that the Chadian government itself play a more central role in protecting human rights in the region, including by finally ensuring that the lawlessness and impunity that plagues this country comes to an end. There must be a concerted effort to bring to justice the people who are responsible for widespread human rights violations throughout eastern Chad and the rest of the country, including beating and raping women, killing and attacking humanitarian workers, and recruiting child soldiers.

We began that work towards the end of our mission. We had meetings with senior French and US diplomats in N’Djamena, two countries whose influence here is considerable. We began laying out recommendations for action: steps the international community needs to take, and steps that the government of Chad must be pressed to take. We will refine our recommendations over the coming days as we pull together the findings of our research over the past two weeks. No doubt there will be more work with members of the UN Security Council in New York. And we will certainly want to make sure that governments hear the powerful worldwide voices of Amnesty International’s members, insisting that insecurity give way to justice in eastern Chad.

As we leave, yes, my heart is heavy.

But the heaviness is made much lighter by the great work underway here. I had a chance to reconnect with several remarkable human rights defenders I had met and worked with during our May 2008 mission to N’Djamena.

Blaise, the tenacious journalist whose independent radio station, FM Liberté, had been forced to close last year, is back on the air covering issues that matter, issues of justice, fairness and equality.

Celine, whose irrepressible energy in working with marginalized women was matched only by the power of the motorcycle with which she roared into neighbourhoods across the city, is still at it even though she has had some worrying anonymous death threats.

And Marie, the head of the Association for the Promotion of Fundamental Liberties in Chad, who we had to meet in exile across the border in Cameroon last year because of threats she had received, is once again at her desk, overseeing a growing nationwide independent human rights organization.

And this trip has introduced us to so many more.

I will of course long recall Houada, the brave journalist taking to the airwaves to discuss violence against women.

And remember Isaak, the Darfuri refugee and schoolteacher who has once been abducted from his classroom by armed opposition groups but goes on because he knows how important it is to “feed the minds” of young refugee children.

And be humbled when I think of our driver, Ibrahim, whose first concern, after being held captive by armed bandits for 6 or 7 hours was to ask about the safety of the Amnesty team.

Alongside these men and women, and the many others working for change in Chad, we will push on. There is no other option.

– Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada

Amnesty Researchers On-the-Ground in Chad

By Guest Writer

May 6, 2009 at 10:57 AM

Amnesty International researchers are currently on-the-ground in Chad investigating the growing numbers of refugees streaming across the border from Darfur. Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty Canada, has been documenting the mission online. Here is an excerpt from a podcast posted yesterday detailing the still desperate situation:

Darfuri refugee women and girls at Bredjing camp filling water containers.

“They are there on their own.”

Those words have been haunting us all day. We have now come further east from Abéché to Farchana. Within perhaps a 30-40 kilometre semi-circle around Farchana there are 3 major refugee camps as well as 12 sites for displaced Chadians. Farchana itself is not far from Chad’s border with Darfur.

Our intention today had been to travel to one of the sites for displaced Chadians in this region, Arkoum. We want to make it to several IDP sites during our mission because we have certainly come to understand that their safety and well-being is extremely precarious.

It is a universal story. Without any doubt refugees, including Darfuri refugees here in Chad, face considerable hardship, insecurity and violence. The international community does, however, have a much clearer role and responsibility for their protection. Not so with IDP’s, who remain, of course, citizens of the country, in this case Chad. Here, as is so often the case around the world, Chadians displaced within their own country have only minimal protection. Largely abandoned by their own government and not fully protected by the international community. And of course, still very near to the terrible human rights violations that forced them from their homes in the first place.

It is so important that we get access to some of the sites, to see and hear first hand the challenges displaced Chadians face. But while the refugee camps are all within fairly easy reach of the town of Farchana, our base, the sites for IDP’s are more remote and difficult to reach. And because of growing security concerns in eastern Chad, in the wake of a rebel incursion far to the south of here in Goz Beida, the UN decided today to cancel plans for a convoy to Arkoum, which we would have been part of. Instead we travelled to a nearby refugee camp, Bredjing, and spent the day working with Darfuri refugees.

A human rights monitor with the Association for the Promotion of Fundamental Rights in Chad who is usually based in Arkoum had intended to travel back out to the site with us today, but was obviously unable to do so. His worry was palpable. It was he who kept saying: “ils sont là; tous seuls” – they are there on their own.

It all comes down to security. In the midst of insecurity, the full range of human rights teeters and collapses. That of course has been the horrible reality in both eastern Chad and Darfur for the past five years. Insecurity means killings and rape; homes destroyed and crops burned. But it also means education, health, food and water supplies, and livelihoods are also turned inside out.

And it is still insecurity that reigns in eastern Chad. When I was here with an Amnesty team in late 2006 the local population, thousands of whom had recently been chased from their homes in a brutal wave of attacks, felt completely abandoned. The sad truth is that 2 ½ years later, even though international troops and police are now deployed here, displaced Chadians remain at terrible risk.

And whenever security concerns arise here, as they have again, they are the first to be cut off, the first to be abandoned. In so many respects, the most vulnerable yet the least protected. As our friend kept saying, they are on their own. We must find a way to stand with them.