[Fwd: India: Stop Evicting Displaced People]
Henry Schwarz
the conversation...
Henry
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: India: Stop Evicting Displaced People
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:04:14 -0400
From: Jonathan Cohen <coh...@hrw.org>
To: Jonathan Cohen <coh...@hrw.org>
*For Immediate Release *
**
*India**: Stop Evicting Displaced People *
*/Government Should Ensure Protection and Assistance/*
(New York, April 14, 2008) -- The Indian government should stop forced
eviction and relocation of tens of thousands of men, women, and children
from their forest settlements in Andhra Pradesh where they sought safety
from the violence in neighboring Chhattisgarh state, Human Rights Watch
said today.
In the latest crackdown against displaced persons, the Andhra Pradesh
forest department on April 5, 2008, destroyed homes of displaced
indigenous persons residing in Kothooru village to forcibly evict them.
Since January 2007, the Andhra Pradesh forest department has made about
10 attempts to forcibly evict displaced persons from Kothooru.
"Many thousands of men, women, and children fled to Andhra Pradesh from
the conflict in Chhattisgarh," said Meenakshi Ganguly, senior researcher
for South Asia at Human Rights Watch. "Instead of providing them with
safe sanctuary, the authorities are tearing down their homes and putting
them in harm's way."
Since June 2005, between 30,000 and 50,000 people have fled to Khammam
and Warrangal districts of Andhra Pradesh following escalating tensions
in Chhattisgarh between Naxalites, an armed Maoist group, and a
state-supported vigilante group called Salwa Judum. Although the Indian
federal, and Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh state governments describe
Salwa Judum as a "spontaneous uprising against Naxal abuses," Human
Rights Watch found that police routinely participate in violent Salwa
Judum raids against villages suspected of being pro-Naxalite. According
to Human Rights Watch investigations in November and December 2007, most
villagers fled to Andhra Pradesh because of attacks by Salwa Judum and
police.
Once in neighboring Andhra Pradesh, many of these displaced persons
settled in reserved forest areas. Saying these settlements are illegal,
the authorities have without prior notice or due process repeatedly
burned down the hamlets of hundreds of displaced persons, forcibly
evicting them from forest lands. In some cases, Andhra Pradesh forest
department officials have forced them into trucks and dropped them close
to the Chhattisgarh state boundary.
A Human Rights Watch investigation in November and December 2007 found
that Andhra Pradesh authorities have also failed to provide the
displaced persons with basic assistance including food, water, shelter,
medical services, sanitation, and livelihood opportunities as set out by
the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. The
Andhra Pradesh government denies existing government welfare benefits to
those displaced on several grounds, including that they are not
residents of Andhra Pradesh.
"The Indian federal and Andhra Pradesh state governments have done
nothing in nearly three years to address the massive displacement of
people from Chhattisgarh," Ganguly said. "Thousands of people need help,
and the government has utterly failed to respond to their needs.
Instead, they try to force them back to areas where they are even more
vulnerable. It's unacceptable."
Human Rights Watch called on the Indian government to immediately draw
up a plan to address the specific protection and assistance needs of
displaced persons in Andhra Pradesh. The government should take
immediate steps to prevent the Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
governments from unlawful forced relocation and extend all government
welfare schemes to displaced persons without discriminating against them.
The Indian government should also develop a comprehensive national
policy for internally displaced persons in consultation with displaced
persons, governmental, non-governmental, and inter-governmental
organizations, and in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on
Internal Displacement.
*For more information, please contact:*
In Mumbai, Meenakshi Ganguly (Hindi, English): +91-9820036032 (mobile)
In New York, Aruna Kashyap (Hindi, English): +1-212-216-1255
In New York, Jo Becker (English): +1-212-216-1236; +1-914-263-9643 (mobile)
--
Henry Schwarz
Associate Professor
Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057-1131
414-795-0017
http://vimukta.org/