Nigeria, Philippines, Greece slammed over housing

GENEVA, Dec 6 (Reuters) Rights activists accused Nigeria, the Philippines and Greece of being the world's worst violators of housing rights in 2006, guilty of mass evictions and discrimination.

The Centre on Human Rights and Evictions (COHRE), a non-governmental group, estimated nearly 2 million people in Africa and 2.1 million in the Asia Pacific region had been forcibly evicted from their homes since 2003, mostly to make way for land development projects.

''Although many governments continue to violate the right to adequate housing, in 2006 Nigeria, the Philippines and Greece stand out for appalling disregard for this basic human right,'' COHRE said yesterday in a statement.

It accused Nigeria of forcibly evicting 800,000 people from Abuja over the past three years, destroying 49 informal settlements, in a drive to reallocate land use in the capital.

Only a handful of those evicted have been able to get plots of land at relocation sites in Nigeria, and few have been able to afford to build new homes, the Geneva-based group said.

It alleged some 145,000 people had been displaced from Manila and the Philippines' Bulacan province since early 2005 because of efforts to upgrade the railway system and to prepare for an Asian summit to be held next week.

''Most of the evictees have been moved to relocation sites where living conditions are appalling due to a lack of basic services such as potable water, electricity and sanitation facilities,'' the group said.

In European Union member Greece, COHRE said Roma communities faced segregation, discrimination in accessing housing services and forced evictions by local authorities.

''The conditions in which these communities live are dehumanising and constitute a grave human rights violation by the government of Greece,'' the group said.

Last year COHRE named Zimbabwe, China and the Indian state government of Maharashtra for housing violations. The United States was cited in 2004 for poor conditions at home and for bombing campaigns that caused homelessness in Iraq.

''Governments in both developed and developing countries are not taking their legal obligations seriously,'' said Jean du Plessis, the group's executive director. ''The world is, clearly, in the midst of a housing rights and evictions crisis.'' REUTERS SP HS0909