URBAN
CLEANSING IN DHAKA
April 2002, by Lalith
Lankatilleke
Evictions
in Dhaka
The
city of Dhaka has a population of over 11 million today and it is
estimated to be growing at 4.7% per annum. Of this population, it is
estimated that 46.7 % are living in absolute poverty with about half
this group categorized as living in hard-core poverty. Landlessness,
natural calamities, river erosion and lack of income earning
opportunities, push the rural poor to urban areas indicating a process
of urbanization of poverty. This process is manifested by the
sprawling growth of slum and squatter settlements especially in the
capital city of Dhaka. Although
the poor are an integral part of the city, their rights to live in the
city are not recognized by the authorities including the central
Government agencies and local government. There is the school of
thought that the urban poor should be taken back to the villages and
resettled there and indeed such a programme is currently being
implemented. The National Housing Policy (1993 Revised in 1999)
recognizes that slum settlements should be upgraded with security of
tenure. However successive Governments have been resorting to violent
evictions and sometimes using subtle methods. Ironically during the
period of the Caretaker Government (July to October 2001) over 12,000
families were evicted in the name of cleaning up the city of criminal
elements.
The
Report of the Fact finding Mission of the Asian Coalition for Housing
Rights (ACHR) and Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) of
2000, documents in detail the situation faced by the poor of Dhaka.
Since the publication of this report, the Caretaker Government (July
to October 2001) commenced evictions under the pretext of cleaning up
the city before the general elections. During the month of August 2001
large scale demolitions and evictions were carried out by RAJUK and
other Government organisations. The worst affected by these evictions
were women garment workers who came back to their sleeping shacks
after the shift to find that they were no more. Rough counts made by
NGOs indicated that about 12 000 families were affected. Ironically
settlements upgraded under the UNICEF’s Urban Basic Services Programme were also demolished.
Coalition for the Urban Poor (CUP) organized a protest rally, prayers
and a high level seminar to stop the evictions. NGOs also organized
the communities who were threatened with eviction to resist. Under
tremendous pressure from organs of civil society and the resistance
from the communities the Government then stopped the evictions.
Urban
Cleansing of Agargoan
The
area known as Agargoan is the location of some of the new office
blocks of Government and international organizations. The view from
these modern offices is the sprawling slums down below. These slums
have been in existence for over twenty years although the lands have
been allocated to different Departments for the construction of
offices. In January 2002, an eviction order was issued by the Ministry
of Housing and Public Works to the inhabitants of the Amotoli Bustee.
Ain-O-Shalish Kendra, a human rights NGO, filed a case in the
High Court against this order. On
9 February 2002 the High Court issued a "show cause" notice
to the Ministry of Housing and Public Works and the Police. The ruling
of the High Court was that alternative accommodation must be provided.
This Court ruling was seen as a great victory for the poor people of
Agargoan and to the NGO community working with them. Sadly this
was not to be. Since the Court order made evictions illegal,
authorities devised new tactics of eviction. The new strategy takes
the form of the Police raiding the houses in the night and arresting
men and at the same time mastangs (thugs) move into the settlements
looting, harrassing and raping women. They carry on these activities
for a few days consecutively and the poor people have no choice but to
leave the settlement. Only a very few of the arrested people are
charged with charges like possession of drugs or illegal arms and rest
are released after a few days. None of the women have come forward to
make a complaint because of the Police involvement in the actions.
NGOs working with the people stated that this action is well organized
and that it has been carried out systematically with a similar pattern
in each case. Coalition for Urban Poor and their affiliated NGOs have
been gathering information regarding the movement of families out the
Agargoan slums. This information is presented in Annex A.
The information reveals that in July 2001, 13,613 families have
been living in the bustees in this area and by 10 March 2002 only 4620
still remained. As I am writing this on 20 of April
2002, I can see
out of my window, deserted settlements with only few shacks still
standing. People have moved out into other settlements in the
outskirts of the city towards the river bank. Rents in other slums
have gone up 3000 per month as result of the sudden demand.
This
subtle method of eviction is a violation of all forms of human dignity
and the fundamental rights of the poor.
This form of "Urban
Cleansing" can be compared only to ethnic cleansing. It is about
time that the international human rights organizations paid attention
to plight of the poor in Dhaka. A
detail investigation into what happened to the people in the slums
Agargoan has to be made urgently. The work done by Ain-O-Shalish
Kendra and Coalition for the Urban Poor needs to be supported in order
to bring some form of redress to the affected.
