Egyptian Housing Rights Day

A new habitat rights tradition has been born out of tragedy in Egypt. Since the disastrous since rock slide that killed untold numbers of inhabitants of the Duwiqa (East Cairo) informal settlement on 8 September 2008, housing rights activists across the country now commemorate that date as “Egyptian Housing Rights Day.” Egyptians keep this date by reflecting on the inadequate housing conditions of millions of Egyptians.

This year, the all-day Egyptian Housing Day commemoration convened under the slogan “Partners, Not Victims. No Forced Evictions.” The principle organizer of the event, Egyptian Center for Civil and Legislative Reform, opened the program with a panel of presenters, including a statement of international solidarity by Habitat International Coalition’s Housing and Land Rights Network coordinator, representatives of Witness, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Amnesty International and the Shadow Ministry of Housing.

At the event held in the Cairo Journalists Syndicate, representatives of evicted and threatened communities around the country gave witness to their struggles against displacement and dispossession. From Cairo, these featured testimonies from Maspero, Hilwan, Wadi Qamr, Duwiqa and the Pyramid City relocation site. Traditional land rights, dispossession and housing rights violations were the subjects of interventions from Sinai and the Nubian community representatives. The gathering benefitted from the active participation of a representative of the government’s Slum Development Fund, whose representative pledged to fill the current gap in local consultation with target communities.

The program also featured video documentaries produced by the Shadow Housing Ministry, Witness, Amnesty International and the Social Cinema Center, as well as a photo exhibit of forced evictions in Africa, provided by Amnesty International.

This year, activists, civic organizations and communities gathered at Cairo, in the context of the ongoing revolution and its current process of revising the Egyptian Constitution. Participants also reviewed a proposed contribution to the Constitution that affirmed the human right to adequate housing and included a definition of adequate housing that links enjoyment of the right to effective participation in urban planning as indispensable. The proposed text sets out conditions for public-purpose acquisitions consistent with the principle of free, prior and informed consent, as well as reparations for forced evictions, a “gross violation” of human rights. The draft constitutional provision proffered a ban on forced eviction and arbitrary displacement, and conditions on resettlement. Notably also, the draft recognized Egyptians’ right to land, particularly protecting the land and natural resource rights of indigenous peoples.

Photos: On front page: Scene from the Egyptian Land Day session. This page: View of collapsed structures at the remote Pyramid City resettlement site for displaced people from Duwiqa.

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