Rights To Housing Vis-À-Vis Demolishing Informal Settlements In Ethiopia: Is Forced Eviction By Government The Answer? – Analysis

1. Background 

Urbanization in Ethiopia is a recent phenomenon and still, less than 20% of Ethiopians live in cities and towns. Most of these cities and towns do not fulfill or fall short of standard urban qualities i.e. they lack sufficient infrastructures and favorable governance for a quality life. However, the physical growth of urban areas can be explained demographically and functionally.

While the demographic definition of urbanization is restricted to factors such as population size and density, the economic functional definition refers to the territorial concentration of productive activities (industries and services) rather than population. (1) By the measure of these two definitions, Ethiopia lacks sufficient urban centers, especially in the second parameter which talks about the concentration of industries and services. 

Urbanization is by far lagging behind in Ethiopia. Many factors contributed to the least urbanization in Ethiopia. ‘Ethiopia’s relative lack of urbanization can be primarily attributed to the self-sufficiency of agriculture, which helped reinforce the rural peasant life.” (2) However, given the population boom and recent crisis-level land shortage, this ‘self-sufficiency’ of subsistence agriculture is under a big question mark. Besides, the rural-urban influx is not only quite massive but also reaching crisis level fueling informal settlements in peri-urban areas.

In Ethiopia, the population is on the rise, land degradation has become a phenomenal challenge and the rural areas are being rocked by frequent drought and famine. In view of these manifestations, one would expect the so-called excessive ‘premature urbanization’ which is often characterized by the influx of the rural poor to the cities, to happen. However, this typical process of rural-urban dynamics is, reportedly, not occurring in the country to the fullest. The land policy is reported to have impinged on this development. (3) The question is to what extent is legal to land provision suitable to the demands of the general population, especially for housing and starting businesses.

Ethiopia is rather known for its sheer number of younger people; 70% of Africans thereby Ethiopian people are under 35 years old. (4) The nation is often referred to as a young-generation-dominated country. The concern of the youth in terms of finding a decent life and ensuring for themselves (and their family) an adequate standard of living is quite a challenge. The land policy has some issues to be investigated on this line. The plight of the Ethiopian poor and youth for respect and fulfillment of the right to housing among others is a burning current topic. The younger generation and the very poor are unable to cope with ever-increasing land prices and thereby afford to house. Besides, under-urbanization and housing crisis are also attributable to the land policy of the country, especially a policy that sanctioned public ownership of land in 1975 exposing it to artificial soaring of land prices. 

Thus, one is to ask questions and ponder over the challenges of the right to the housing via the formal land provision procedures and subsequent credit systems toward home ownership. Furthermore, the challenges in condominium housing must also be figured out. Besides, the informal land dealing with construction (with the hope of formalization) has also its own battle to be won. The informal settlements are also recently complicated by the aggressive move of the state to demolish such settlements and forced evictions. Again, with the formation of sheggar city (5) demolishing houses has taken also an ethnic version.

In all these challenges and complications, the plight of the poor with no steady income, scanty income, or no income at all for that matter would be quite formidable. The legal provision of land and acquiring other inputs towards home ownership is ever getting expensive and unapproachable. In addition, there are building standards that are complicated further with corruption and administrative inefficiency.  These factors encourage informal land acquisition (squatting) toward home ownership.

Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate the land and housing schemes of the government, in particular, lease policy in place in terms of the rights of the very poor to have access to land and fulfill the right to shelter vis-à-vis the issue of ‘illegal’ informal settlement (the aggressive move of the government to demolish informal settlements) pervasive in all of the nation’s major cities. 

The above objective is underlined with the following research question. How far is the land tenure both historic and the socialist-oriented land system in place contributed to the lack of proper growth of urbanization? Why the pervasive prevalence of squatting in Ethiopia and the massive multifaceted problem associated with it? And, what must be done to change the status quo? How ought the recent aggressive move of the government with regard to ‘forced eviction’ to be handled compared to other nations’ experiences? Is forced eviction legal?

To answer these queries and attain the objectives of the research, suitable investigation methods are adopted. The research method largely depended on textual analysis of secondary sources and hence heavily relied on the legal doctrinal research method. The researcher has also relied on secondary data, government, and media reports. Hence, the research aggressively employed a comparative method to figure out how different countries tackled the problem of informal settlements and forced eviction thereby squatting. 

2. Urban land laws and policy of Ethiopia 

2.1. Historical and Legal Landscape 

Urbanization or urban development does not occupy a big space in the history of Ethiopia. We can talk of some patches of historical relics with regard to the Akumite, and Gondorian empires and their respective cities: Aksum and Gondar. Some cities like Harar have also flourished at some point in history. Nonetheless, the history of modern cities in Ethiopia began with the history of Addis Ababa itself which has only a little more than a century of time. (6) By comparison, most of the cities in Europe and around the world have centuries if not millennia of history. Thus, urbanization in Ethiopia is a recent occurrence. 

The ownership of land extends to sub-soil and above it to the extent necessary for the use of the land. (7) Hence, these provisions of the civil code confirm that both urban land and rural land can be private property as long the owner fulfills the requirements of the law. Evidently, these provisions coupled with the laws of compensation and town planning (8) prove reliably that urban land was private property and can be transferred as the owner wishes as long as he or she holds title deeds. It was not difficult to get urban land registered and certified as proof of ownership. However, with regard to the rural land such laws were not largely implemented as the administrative organ was under establishment as it was taken by surprise and crumbled owning to the 1974 revolution.

Accordingly, the revolution and the consecutive measures destroyed private property (especially private ownership of land) in urban areas. All extra houses had been nationalized in 1975. Hence, the property owner remained in his or her personal house, and all the extra houses or buildings for rent had been nationalized. The Derg government was attacking the economic base of the royal family and its adherents. All industries, hotels, business premises, and big buildings were nationalized along with the rural land they occupied in bulk. (9) The proclamation shocked the economic bases of the individuals owning urban houses, and buildings and urban development had been destroyed. The law and its brutal implementation had shocked urban people and deterred them not to construct or investing in housing and urban lands. Cities were on hold for development for the whole duration of the regime of the military government. Major cities like Addis Ababa have remained until recently a shabby and dirty city all the way with illegal squatting becoming the mainstay. It has been very difficult for the city municipalities right now to plan and put it in urban style, and perspectives are still entangled in massive corruption. (10)

On the other hand, the current government which came into force via insurrection and forcefully toppling the military government in 1991 adopted a lease system for the urban land while maintaining the socialist land regime. Land in Ethiopia, whether it is rural or urban is public property. (11) However, the lease system brought with it a lease price and competition for holding urban land via an auction system. The concern is that the very poor are unable to have access to land and that such a system totally ignores squatters. 

Thus, the question is whether the raison d’être of the land policy in Ethiopia is violated by the lease policy. On the other hand, the land policy is anchored on the principle and philosophy of serving all the people in a non-discriminatory manner and it’s also the emblem of equality rhetoric in Ethiopia. Or perhaps, this rhetoric only applies to the rural population. What is also the fate of the sizable section of the urban people living in ‘illegal settlements’ (squatters)? It is also very wise to ask questions related to the problem of corruption thereby compounding the problem of the very poor urban dwellers.

2.2. Formal Land Provision: A key driver for informal settlements  

Urban land system and administration are now embodied in the lease proclamation of 2011 which came into being after repealing both preceding proclamations. (12) The lease system is quite agreeable to urban development albeit the mal-administration and ensuing massive corruption. In fact, it has kicked in robust urban land and housing market after the fall of the derg military regime. Yet again, its side effects are not well analyzed in terms of the concerns of the very poor urban dweller and the younger generation forming a family of their own and trying to find space in society. 

The first lease proclamation was proclaimed in 1993 even before the advent of the FDRE constitution which came into being in 1995. Hence, there was doubt about the legitimacy of the law itself. However, the second lease proclamation which repealed its predecessor came in 2002 (13) and removed constitutional questions and cited the FDRE constitution itself for authority. Of course, the FDRE constitution under article 40 clearly declared that both rural and urban land belonged to the people and the state. Hence, urban land is under public ownership. 

The objective of the recent law (2011) is embodied in the preamble of the proclamation (14) with the development of the nation, urban land became so vital that it necessitated proper land administrations. Besides, it states that the lease system adheres to the principle of transparency and accountability toward establishing good governance. In the details of the law, it ordains that the lease system is the only acceptable urban land tenure and the only way to access urban land. 

However, in practice, multiple systems operate in the cities of Ethiopia. The permit system was inherited from the derg and continued during the current government before the enactment of the lease system, communal tenures (kebelle house and condominium housing scheme), public domains, and informal land deals are quite common in addition to leases. 

Land provision with affordable prices and creating space for capacity building is what a government is normally expected to do. For those who are utterly unable to provide for themselves, a responsible government could even go to the extent of food and house provision as resources permit. Yet again, with bad government, resources are lost to elites and corruption which is a major human rights violation. 

The right to housing is one of the most important human rights and its fulfillment ensures the right to live in dignity. A decent living space is a sin quo non for a decent life and towards forming a family. A government that is productive and protective must be proactive toward ensuring human dignity and ensuring an adequate standard of life. In fact, it is the legal obligation of a given state to facilitate and create capacity for individuals to cater to their own basic needs. Among the major necessities of life is the right to housing and homeownership. 

3. Informal Settlements vis-à-vis forced Evictions 

‘UN-Habitat defines a slum household (informal settlements and houses) as a group of people living under the same roof in an urban area who lack one or more of the following conditions: durable housing, sufficient living area, access to clean water, access to proper sanitation and secure tenure. Besides, they lack also permanent tenure or title to their property. Slums or Informal settlements are pervasive in Ethiopia. It is estimated to be 30% of the nation’s urban settlement. However, this percentage could be an underestimation as there is no formal census on this subject matter. Be that as it may, informal settlements are the news of the day, and the preoccupation of the government is a hot topic for activists and foreign-based media about forced eviction. The government of Ethiopia (via the Oromia region) intensified the settlement demolishing as of 2023.  

Urbanization is intensifying in Ethiopia albeit poorly planned and administered. Addis Ababa is the capital, political, commercial, industrial, and residential city of Ethiopia. It is also often called the diplomatic capital of Africa. It is the largest city in the nation and also the least planned. It is a city where massive squatting is a formidable challenge, especially in its peripheries. The city has horizontally expanded three times since 1987. The expansions are more pronounced in other major cities of the nation too. For instance, the expansion is nearly six-fold for Hawassa and Adama cities from 1987-2017.  According to MDPI studies: 

“Addis Ababa experienced a 3-fold increment in urban land from 1987-2017. The increment was 6-fold (from 8.8 to 50.6 km) and 6-fold (6.1 to 39.1 km²) for Adama and Hawassa, respectively.” (Emphasis added) (15)

The situation of informal land deals and their damage to both the buyer and seller have never been fully understood in Ethiopia with changing factors. Peri-urban farmers fearing government expropriation, sell out their land at thrown away price but better than the amount given by government compensation. Yet again, the government is not happy with informal settlements nor are ‘native’ communities as the land price appreciates every year. Again, efforts of formalization, on the part of the government, create more resentment (on the part of the farming community) as the price of that specific land appreciates manifold when and as formalized. The formalization processes are infested with corrupt practices and discriminations, and itself fueling more conflict. Hence, the informal settlement is quite a place where many human rights are violated and a pure result of land tenure insecurity.  Indeed, there are also many ‘informal economic-development’ activities (such as dairy farms, poultry farms, metal works, etc.) taking place in such settlements contributing more to land-based competition. At any rate, the farming community is the ultimate loser as such business activities and settlements are expanding and taking more and more land. 

In many major cities of the nation, the situation of informal settlement is alarming. For instance, the challenges of squatting and thereby forced eviction in Addis Ababa, Hawassa, Mekele, Bahirdar, Dire-Dawa, Harar, Jimma, Hosana, etc. are quite formidable and the situation of informal settlements are quite worrisome. Rural localities (woredas and kebeles) close to these cities are enclosed to urban administration subjecting the farming community to the scrambling of land via expropriation and informal land deals. Many factors contribute to cities bulging out to the nearby rural community: among these factors are rural peoples migrate to cities looking for work and better opportunities, urban population natural growth, national economic growth, unresponsive land policy, shortage of legal provision of land, high lease price, high building standards, corruption, brokers, etc.

The expansions of cities in Ethiopia and informal settlements happened at the expense of the peri-urban farmers’ land. Informal land transactions have expedited the expansions ensuing administrative decisions to expand cities. The primary target of such expansions is the peri-urban farming community of all major cities of the nation. Not only it has affected the nearby farming community but also put a maximum strain on city administrations. At times, conflict of massive scale has ensued out of these informal transactions between the squatter and government on one hand, and between the local community and informal settlers on the other hand. (16) Litigations of various natures and scopes are also very common. 

The general challenges of informal settlements are low levels of tenure security or no tenures security in Ethiopia’s case and the constant threat of eviction; lack of access to basic services -safe water, roads, schools, and improved sanitation; overcrowding; poor structural quality of the house; higher vulnerability to insecurity, crime, and disasters; and lack of governance structures. In fact, in Ethiopia, the general characterization is to criminalize the whole issue and embark on forcefully evicting informal settlers. However, it is essential to understand the dynamic nature of the issues of informal settlements along with the legal rights of the settlers.

4. Making Sense out of Dealing with Informal Settlement

4.1 Actors’ Discourse 

There are many actors that affect the dynamic nature of informal settlements in Ethiopia. The challenges are to identify the different actors and their respective roles. On one hand, some depict the whole picture of informal settlement as a place where the poor and destitute come together to settle for lack of any other options. On the other hand, the whole settlement is depicted as natives’ land which has been snatched away by unpredictable and volatile informal land deals. Several pull and push drivers of the deal can be traced. Among the drivers of informal land deals are: shortages in the legal provision of land, high lease prices, high building standards, high rent prices, and availability of informal land markets, etc.

The government is also one main actor in as far as it is contributing to land policy confusion and evictions. There is also a huge political game often played in the forced evictions of the settlers. The settlers are often regarded as newcomers who displaced ethnic natives. In Ethiopia’s context, ethnic natives enjoy political autonomy on their land, and settlers are regarded as outsiders. Often informal settlements are happening near cities or towns competing with agricultural land and farmers sell out land in the informal market.

Again, human rights watch groups advocate for informal settlers as their rights are immensely violated while forced eviction is underway and because of a lack of basic utilities and facilities in the settlements themselves. Often, these settlements are cruel-game play-grounds for corrupt officials in the government, brokers, and activists for farmers and settlers, among others. All these actors have their own discourse to push forward. 

A. Informal Settlers Discourse 

Informal settlers’ discourse hinges on the violation of human rights. Indeed, they are victims of forced eviction. The whole discourse here hinges on blaming the government and actors of forced evictions. Often than not, children and women are shown on media as their houses are demolished weeping, and tormented. (17) These gruesome pictures are often played by the media to give a cruel face to the whole action. However, the settlers’ discourse is not alone; there are other versions from the other actors too equally sensitive and sentimental, for instance, government, and local farming communities. 

B. Government Discourse 

The government discourses base themselves on the violation of government land law, planning rules, and policy by settlers. It also talks of zoning and planning laws (urban planning laws and standards) being disregarded and that it has an obligation to ensure law and order. Besides, the government depicts the settlers as encroaching on the land of the farming community by cheating the farmers in the informal market. The government often wants to play siding with farmers who lost their farming land to settlements without mentioning other factors. In fact, it has been established that expropriation rules of the government along with other drivers have hugely contributed to flourishing informal settlements. (18)

C. Natives (farming community)

Natives’ discourse anchors on losing livelihood and being victims of landlessness as a result of settlers and government encroachment on their land as a result of city expansions, infrastructure development, and informal settlements. Natives’ discourse emanates from the plight of farmers who lost their land in one way or the other. The government uses their plight as well as the violation of urban planning laws to demolish informal settlements. 

D. Human Rights Group, Politicians and Media

Human rights group base their argument on respect and ensuring human rights in informal settlements. Indeed, the human rights argument is the most plausible in the whole dynamism of informal settlement and farmers’ concerns. (19) However, they are not alone here. Media and political activists capitalize on “natives” concerns and at times human rights to demonize the actions of the government understating other factors.

4.2. Informal settlements and Human Rights: Global best practices  

Informal settlements or squatting is not unique to Ethiopia, in fact, it is largely a global problem of developing countries. As it is an enormous challenge, many countries resorted to different techniques and strategies to deal with the issue of squatting from human rights and environmental protection perspectives. Some are successful, others are partially successful and still, the rest are living with the problem while even compounding it. Ethiopia is one such nation that is compounding the problem via forced eviction than dealing with it in a subtle and sustainable way. In fact, Ethiopia was also engaged in regularization measures albeit infested with irregularity and corruption. However, the effort and pace of regularization are not much to the extent of informal settlers, and the rate at which it is still growing. Hence, what can we pick up from successful counties’ experiences so our policymakers, the justice sector, and land administration institutions would react in harmony? In particular, advocates must resort to foreign experience in order to invigorate judicial activism on the matter. The critical matter here is where the government resorts to forced eviction of informal settlers. Can it legally do so? Is there any situation of lawful forced eviction?

Indeed, not all evictions are prohibited under international human rights law. The prohibition of forced evictions does not apply to evictions carried out both in accordance with the law and in conformity with the provisions of international human rights treaties. For instance, it may be necessary to displace people from hazard-prone land to protect lives. Nevertheless, even under these circumstances, evictions should be in line with national law and relevant international standards, including due process. (20) Noting legally justified eviction, all other eviction cannot be justified under international human rights law and thereby are illegal. Once more, forced evictions violate, directly and indirectly, the full spectrum of civil, cultural, economic, political, and social rights enshrined in international instruments, including: 

“The right to life (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 6.1); Freedom from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (ibid., art. 7);  The right to security of the person (ibid., art. 9.1);  The right to an adequate standard of living, including the right to adequate housing, food, water and sanitation (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 11, and related Human Rights Council resolutions);  The right to non-interference with privacy, home and family (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 17); Freedom of movement and to choose one’s residence (ibid., art. 12.1); The right to health (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 12);  The right to education (ibid., art. 13);  The right to work (ibid., art. 6.1); The right to an effective remedy (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, arts. 2.3 and 26); The right to property (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 17); The rights to vote and take part in the conduct of public affairs (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 25).” (21)

According to the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, “forced evictions to intensify inequality, social conflict, segregation and ‘ghettoization’, and invariably affect the poorest, most socially and economically vulnerable and marginalized sectors of society, especially women, children, minorities and indigenous peoples.” (22) Thus, if these rights are affected by forced eviction and it is quite un-proportionally affecting the very poor, nations are under a legal obligation to protect them. The question is how this could be done as the situation of squatting puts the government in dilemma: between respecting rights and keeping at bay illegality, for instance, encroachment of land and violation of urban planning laws. 

In Brazil, the National Fund for Social Interest Housing, whose main aim is to urbanize slums, build housing and improve housing conditions for low-income groups was quite successful. In Haiti, UN-habitat identified tenure insecurity as one serious factor affecting the right to housing, and the government worked with some success on strengthening tenure security. In Kenya, judicial activism was the one that brought significant change. The human rights of the residents, namely the right to life, freedom, food, to adequate housing, supersede the statutory duties of the Council with respect to urban planning and eviction. The petitioners’ fundamental right to adequate housing overrides the city planning duties of the Nairobi City Council. (23) In the Philippines, the Community Mortgage Program (CMP) is one novel component, utilizing an innovative system of mortgage financing whereby an undivided tract of land might be acquired by several beneficiaries through the concept of community ownership. (24) 

Hence, different nations resorted to different means and policy options to balance regulatory obligation with the basic rights of people to housing, food, work, security, and overall adequate standards of living.  In India, for example, the government opted for prioritizing slum improvement and poverty alleviation by enhancing the productivity of the urban poor by building skills and providing access to micro-credit; improving the living conditions of the poor through the provision of basic services and in-situ development of slum settlements; providing security of tenure to poor families living in unauthorized settlements and improving their access to serviced low-cost housing and subsidized housing finance; and empowering the urban poor through community development and encouraging their participation in decision-making. (25) In general, many nations resort to either in-situ redevelopment or relocation to alternative sites in proximity to livelihoods in line with the ethos of human rights. 

5. Conclusions and Recommendations  

In Ethiopia, land governance in general and urban land governance, in particular, is in bad shape. Politicking land is the preoccupation of both governments and activists of the nation. Suitable land governance has never been attempted in Ethiopia towards forging robust tenures, functioning land administration system, formalization, and property rights.  It is high time for the nation to rethink its land policy in the framework of multiple land tenure systems and enable a land market that aids the installation of a good land administration system.  Urban land policy in particular should be designed to foster market, and tenure security, narrow conflicts, and formalize informal tenures. The policy reconsideration must also consult SDGs and in particular goal-11.

In nutshell, bringing order to the urban land governance of Ethiopia requires harmonizing all the de facto tenures and bringing them to the formal legal domain in one way or the other. Indeed, many factors need to be considered to bring order and make sense to the chaotic urban administration of the nation. First and foremost, a workable and robust comprehensive land policy (confirming tenure security) must be implemented. Second, urban land transactions need to be amenable to market force (preferably under a private property regime) instead of a government-dictated lease system. Third, formalization of the informal tenures should be achieved in a fashion that punishes elite land grabbing and benefits the very poor. Fourth, in doing so, Ethiopia must also live up to its global commitments to human rights and pay attention to global experiences in this regard. It must employ in situs development or/and relocation to alternative sites as the case warrants. Short of these options, eviction is illegal. 

Daniel Behailu (Ph.D.) is a land governance policy advisor and associate professor of law

Endnotes:

1.  Tsegaye Tegenu,’Urbanization in Ethiopia: Study on Growth, Patterns, Functions and Alternative Policy Strategy’ Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University Stockholm, 2010. P.2 
2.  http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/44.htm, accessed on November 10, 2017.
3.  Solomon Abebe Haile and Reinfried Mansberger, ‘ Land Policy, Urban-Rural Interaction and Land administration Differentiation in Ethiopia ‘, FIG Regional Conference, Marrakech, Morocco, December 2-5, 2003 
4.  The Population of Ethiopia has increased enormously since 1955 (Total Population 19,947,292) and projected national population size in 2018 (107,534,882). Nearly 2.46% (2,577,444) yearly change, 4.5 fertility rate),…Thus, the country’s share from world population stands at 1.41% and it ranked 12th from all countries in the globe (www.Worldometers.info)).
5.  Shegar city is formed out of five satellite cities near Addis Ababa normally bustling with informal settlements owing to their proximity to the capital city. The Oromia region is on massive campaign settlement demolishing as of 2023. As a result the no. of IDPs is inflating further fueling the crisis of civil war and drought. 
6.  Addis Ababa was founded in 1887 during the reign of emperor Menelik II.
7.  Article 1209 and 1211 of the CC
8.  Article 1535 and the following of the cc
9.  Daniel Behailu, Transfer of Land Rights in Ethiopia: Towards a Sustainable Policy Framework, (Elven International Publishing, The Hague, 2015) P.64/65
10.  Daniel, Ibid, p. 66
11.  FDRE Constitution, article 40 (3)
12.  Urban land holding proclamation no.721/2011
13.    Reenactment of the urban lease holding proclamation no.272.2002
14.  Urban land holding proclamation no.721/2011
15. Berhanu Keno Terfa and others, Urban Expansion in Ethiopia from 1987 to 2017: Characteristics, Spatial Patterns, and Driving Forces. (Sustainability 2019, MDPI), P. 8
16. Asmamaw Legass Bahir,’ Challenges and consequences of displacement and squatting: the case of Kore area in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’, Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa (Volume 12, No.3, 2010)
17.  For instance, Amharic reporter newspaper published on 26 May 2016, and 5 June 2016, Fana TV reports on 25 December 2019, and 11 February 2020, Addis Admas new paper published on on 2 June 2029. Etc. and, the most gruesome picture of IPDs from 2023 evictions. 
18.  Muradu Abdo, Reforming Ethiopia’s Expropriation Law, (Mizan Law Review, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2015)
19.  “The practice of forced eviction constitutes a gross violation of human rights, in particular the right to adequate housing” (Commission on Human Rights, Resolution 1993/77)
20.  UN-Habitat, Forced Evictions, Fact Sheet No. 25/Rev. 1, P. 5
21.  Ibid. 
22.  Basic principles and guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement (A/HRC/4/18, annex I).
23.  UN-habitat,alternative solutions to forced evictions and slum demolitions case studies from Africa, Asia, north and South America, 2018.
24.  Ibid. 
25.  Integrating Informal Settlements in Urban Centres, 14-16 December 2016, India 6th Asian Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development