October, 01 2010, 11:26am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7413 5566,After hours: +44 7778 472 126,Email:,press@amnesty.org
One Billion Slum Dwellers Cannot Be Ignored
Governments cannot celebrate the UN World Habitat Day on 4 October
while ignoring one billion people living in slums, Amnesty International
said today.
"A couple of weeks ago in New York, governments promised to help 100
million living in slums. The problem is that more than a billion people
live in slums. They don't have water, schools, sanitation, or health
care," said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and
Policy at Amnesty International.
LONDON
Governments cannot celebrate the UN World Habitat Day on 4 October
while ignoring one billion people living in slums, Amnesty International
said today.
"A couple of weeks ago in New York, governments promised to help 100
million living in slums. The problem is that more than a billion people
live in slums. They don't have water, schools, sanitation, or health
care," said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and
Policy at Amnesty International.
Mass forced evictions of people living in slums are being carried out
around the world, with Roma communities evicted across Europe, slum
dwellers in Delhi forcibly evicted to make way for the Commonwealth
games and more than 200,000 people facing eviction in Port Harcourt,
Nigeria.
The recent Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Summit failed to call on
governments to stop forced evictions, despite evidence that such
evictions drive people further into poverty and undermine all the MDGs.
It instead asked governments to 'reduce slum populations', raising fears
that this could encourage more forced evictions.
"From France to Zimbabwe to Cambodia, we have documented how
governments are destroying homes of some of the poorest people in their
countries. Those whose homes are destroyed are failed by the law, they
get no compensation and have no place to live," said Widney Brown.
"It is time for World leaders to move beyond the rhetoric we heard in
New York and take urgent action to protect the rights of people living
in slums."
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all. Our supporters are outraged by human rights abuses but inspired by hope for a better world - so we work to improve human rights through campaigning and international solidarity. We have more than 2.2 million members and subscribers in more than 150 countries and regions and we coordinate this support to act for justice on a wide range of issues.
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