A Pandemic of Violations: Forced evictions and other habitat-related human rights violations amid Covid-19

This report by Housing and Land Rights Network and Habitat International Coalition looks into the violations of the right to adequate housing during the pandemic.

"The public-health crisis and related economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic have put the lives and/or livelihoods of millions — perhaps billions — of people around the globe in jeopardy. Physical-distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders have completely halted many normal activities that require physical interaction among people, leading to social estrangement and massive job lossesin many countries. These conditions also have aggravated the consequences of typical violations of the human rights to adequate housing in the forms of forced eviction, demolition, dispossession and privatization of the human habitat.

The most-prevalent violation of the human right to adequate housing is the practice of forced eviction, defined as “the permanent or temporary removal against their will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land which they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection.” Forced eviction has been authoritatively affirmed (in 1993 and 2004) to constitute a “gross violation” of human rights."