Stop forced eviction now: Geneva-based rights group

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

An international housing rights protection organization called on the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to put a stop to forced evictions in Indonesia.

The Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) said on Friday that forced evictions in Indonesia were "endemic" and had reached alarming levels, and the new administration must act quickly to stop the inhumane practice.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso recently gave orders to the new mayors of West and Central Jakarta to step up the evictions of street vendors and squatters in their respective mayoralties.

"We urge the new government to respect calls for a moratorium on forced evictions throughout Indonesia, suspend all plans for forced evictions immediately and ensure that no public or private institution carries out forced evictions," COHRE senior legal officer Cassandra Goldie told a press briefing here.

Goldie said that the government must ensure that policies at all administrative levels are consistent with housing rights.

She said evictions in the country were frequently carried out violently and violated the sense of justice. "They are carried out violently ... with bulldozers, sometimes with people still living in their homes," she said.

Indonesia has a poor record on housing rights protection. In 2001, about 50,000 people were forcefully evicted from their homes and places of work in Jakarta alone. Between August and October of last year, over 15,000 city dwellers were evicted by the Jakarta city administration.

COHRE also recorded the destruction of housing and loss of land in other areas of the country, including strife-torn provinces.

For its poor housing rights record, COHRE accorded Indonesia, along with Guatemala and Serbia Montenegro, a dubious international award for housing rights violators.

COHRE launched a five-year global campaign against evictions this year.

Goldie said that on the rare occasions when evictions were inevitable, the government must ensure that the human rights of the evictees were respected, that the evictees were consulted first before being told to leave their homes and that they received adequate compensation.

Barkah Gumulya of the Urban Poor Consortium, a local partner of COHRE, said that given the myriad factors contributing to forced evictions, the government, city dwellers and relevant non- governmental organizations must find workable solutions.

"One of the reasons for evictions of the urban poor is because the city administration never asks them to partake in drawing up policies concerning where they can live and do business," he said.